Novartis Posted September 22, 2026

Site MS&T Head SMO - Drug Substance

Morrisville (North Carolina), United States FULL_TIME
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About this opportunity

Location: Morrisville, NC**The Site, Manufacturing, Science & Technology Head - Small Molecule Drug Substance is an Associate Director level role.**Imagine leading the scientific and technical strategy behind a cutting-edge manufacturing site that delivers life-changing medicines to patients around the world. As the Site MS&T Head for Drug Substance (DS), you will play a critical leadership role in shaping manufacturing excellence, driving innovation, and ensuring robust product stewardship across the full product lifecycle. You will lead a highly skilled Manufacturing Science & Technology DS organization, partnering across site functions and global teams to optimize processes, enable successful product launches and transfers, strengthen validation and compliance programs, and build the technical capabilities that support the future growth of the Morrisville site. In this highly visible position, you will influence site strategy, develop top talent, and help bring breakthrough therapies to patients with quality, reliability, and speed.

Key ResponsibilitiesLead the site MS&T DS organization, setting vision, priorities, and technical strategy aligned with site objectives.Ensure end-to-end product stewardship and technical oversight throughout the commercial product lifecycle.Drive process robustness, continuous improvement, and manufacturing excellence across products, processes, and technologies.Oversee technical changes, validation programs, and compliance activities to maintain inspection readiness.Lead technology transfers, product launches, and scale-up activities to deliver successful implementation outcomes.Partner with site and global teams to resolve technical challenges and strengthen process capability.Develop technical talent, succession plans, and knowledge-sharing programs to build organizational capability.Essential RequirementsBachelor’s Degree Required. Master’s degree in Science, Pharmacy, Chemical Engineering, Pharmaceutical Technology, or equivalent scientific discipline preferred.Minimum 10 years of experience in manufacturing. Additional specialist experience is preferred (e.g., pharmaceutical formulation, process development, manufacturing technology).Proven experience driving quality and compliance in an organization.Strong working knowledge of applied statistics, quality systems and regulatory requirements across multiple health authorities.Fundamental understanding of standard pharmaceutical analytical testing. .Demonstrated leadership experience building, developing, and leading high-performing technical and scientific teams.Desirable RequirementsDiverse pharmaceutical experience needed.  Specifically, Small Molecule experience - API/Drug Substance/Oligonucleotide is highly preferred.   The salary for this position is expected to range between $138,600 and $257,400 per year. The final salary offered is determined based on factors like, but not limited to, relevant skills and experience, and upon joining Novartis will be reviewed periodically. Novartis may change the published salary range based on company and market factors. Your compensation will include a performance-based cash incentive and, depending on the level of the role, eligibility to be considered for annual equity awards. US-based eligible employees will receive a comprehensive benefits package that includes health, life and disability benefits, a 401(k) with company contribution and match, and a variety of other benefits. In addition, employees are eligible for a generous time off package including vacation, personal days, holidays and other leaves.To learn more about the culture, rewards and benefits we offer our people click here.#LI-Onsite

Job details

Seniority
Not listed
Function
Manufacturing & CMC
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Morrisville (North Carolina), United States
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Manufacturing & CMC role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 2556 comparable Manufacturing & CMC roles across 173 biopharma companies.

2556Comparable roles tracked
2344Currently active
173Companies hiring similar roles
56Countries represented

Salary context

662 of 2556 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function. This posting doesn't list a seniority level, so peers aren't narrowed by seniority either -- the range below may span more levels than usual.

This roleSubject $138,600/yr – $257,400/yr
Lowest disclosed · Associate Director, Digital Scientific Workflows · Merck $0/hr – $0/hr (≈ $0–$0/yr)
Highest disclosed · VP, CMC Development Technical Strategy · ModernaTX, Inc. $272,200/yr – $490,100/yr
Peer group range $0 – $381,150 (median $122,400)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 2556 comparable roles

United States1232
India167
Germany134
France95
Ireland91
Netherlands77

+ 50 more countries

Seniority mix

1172 of 2556 peers have a known seniority level

Senior323
Manager265
Associate154
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc147
Principal88
Director79
Associate Director75
Senior Director34
Executive/VP7

Therapeutic area mix

12 of 2556 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Vaccines & Infectious Disease7
Rare Disease2
Oncology2
Dermatology & Aesthetics1

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How we calculate "similar"

No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.

Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.

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Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
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Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.