Novartis Posted September 30, 2026

Therapy Area Head

New South Wales (NSW), Australia FULL_TIME
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Novartis is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

Novartis is seeking an exceptional Therapy Area Head to lead a key therapy area across ANZ. Reporting to the Country President, ANZ, this senior leadership role sits on the Country Leadership Team and is accountable for driving the strategy, performance and growth of the therapy area portfolio. This role will lead commercial teams across sales and marketing, support the successful launch and growth of current and future indications, and partner closely with Medical Affairs, Value & Access, Customer & Market Activation, regional teams and key market stakeholders. We are looking for a leader with a strong track record of performance, matched by equally strong values, behaviours, integrity and people leadership. We value authentic leadership: someone who can be a trusted and valued member of the leadership team, navigate the complexity of healthcare, and identify innovative solutions by being willing to do things a little differently.

Key ResponsibilitiesLead the therapy area strategy, portfolio performance and growth agenda across ANZ, delivering sales, market share, profitability and budget targets.Develop and oversee short- and long-term commercial, marketing and sales plans aligned with regional and global strategy.Drive launch excellence, lifecycle management, product growth, line extensions and new product introductions.Monitor market trends, customer insights, sales performance and competitive dynamics, using data-driven insights to inform decisions and actions.Partner with Medical Affairs, Value & Access, Customer & Market Activation, regional teams and launch teams to ensure aligned strategy and execution.Build effective and enduring relationships with key customers and stakeholders, including healthcare professionals, key accounts, KOLs and payors, in line with compliance requirements.Lead, coach and develop a high-performing sales and marketing team, strengthening capability, succession planning and talent pipelines.Enhance sales force effectiveness, digital and customer-led solutions, and operational excellence in an evolving healthcare environment.Ensure full alignment with Ethics, Risk and Compliance policies, including reporting of technical complaints, adverse events and special case scenarios within required timeframes.We are looking for a leader who can deliver outstanding performance while building trust, developing people and leading with integrity.What You’ll Bring:The successful candidate will bring proven senior commercial leadership experience in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology or healthcare, with a strong record of delivering growth and leading high-performing teams. You will have experience in brand strategy, launch execution, portfolio management and cross-functional leadership, combined with strong stakeholder management and a deep understanding of customer and market dynamics. You will be an authentic, values-led leader who demonstrates integrity, collaboration, inclusion and accountability. You will be comfortable operating as a valued member of the country leadership team, navigating complexity across the healthcare landscape, challenging conventional thinking, and inspiring teams to deliver strong performance while building a positive and sustainable culture.Why Novartis:At Novartis, our purpose is to reimagine medicine to improve and extend people’s lives. This is an opportunity to take on a highly visible leadership role, shape the future of a key therapy area, and make a meaningful impact for patients, customers and the business across ANZ.

Job details

Seniority
Not listed
Function
Commercial & General Management
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
New South Wales (NSW), Australia
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Commercial & General Management role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 47 comparable Commercial & General Management roles across 7 biopharma companies.

47Comparable roles tracked
40Currently active
7Companies hiring similar roles
12Countries represented

Salary context

8 of 47 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 Not listed on this posting
Highest disclosed · Sr Director, Business Strategy and Operations · Gilead Sciences, Inc. $243,100/yr – $314,600/yr
Peer group range $156,390 – $278,850 (median $252,792)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 47 comparable roles

United States27
Canada4
Spain3
United Kingdom2
Japan2
Czechia2

+ 6 more countries

Seniority mix

36 of 47 peers have a known seniority level

Director13
Manager9
Senior Director7
Associate Director6
Executive/VP1

Therapeutic area mix

12 of 47 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology6
Cardiovascular / CVRM3
Immunology2
Vaccines & Infectious Disease1

Similar opportunities

The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.

25%similar
Novartis Bucuresti, Romania
Same function

Matched on job function only -- seniority, specialty, and location weren't confirmed as aligned.

25%similar
Gilead Sciences, Inc. Foster City, United States Director
Same function

Matched on job function only -- seniority, specialty, and location weren't confirmed as aligned.

25%similar
Gilead Sciences, Inc. Foster City, United States Associate Director
Same function

Matched on job function only -- seniority, specialty, and location weren't confirmed as aligned.

25%similar
Gilead Sciences, Inc. Foster City, United States Executive/VP
Same function

Matched on job function only -- seniority, specialty, and location weren't confirmed as aligned.

25%similar
AstraZeneca Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan Director
Same function

Matched on job function only -- seniority, specialty, and location weren't confirmed as aligned.

25%similar
AstraZeneca Mississauga, Ontario, Canada Manager
Same function

Matched on job function only -- seniority, specialty, and location weren't confirmed as aligned.

Notify me about similar jobs

Get an email when we spot other openings like this one – same job function, comparable seniority, roles you'd actually want to see.

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.

25%
Commercial Portfolio Head
Novartis · Bucuresti, Romania · Seniority not listed
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
25%
Senior Vice President, Chief Ethics & Compliance Office
Gilead Sciences, Inc. · Foster City, United States · Executive/VP
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
25%
Associate Director, US Field Force Deployment and Sales Force Effectiveness
AstraZeneca · Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
25%
Specialty Business Unit Head
Sandoz · Vietnam, Vietnam · Seniority not listed
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.