Head of Global Development Process Excellence (m/f/d)

Job Description Summary

As Head of Global Development Process Excellence, you will lead and embed a culture of operational excellence, innovation efficiency, and continuous improvement across the Sandoz Global Development (SGD) organization. You will drive strategic transformation of processes to accelerate time-to-market, enhance regulatory readiness, and improve cost-efficiency - while maintaining high standards of scientific rigor and compliance. You will partner closely with Technology and cross-functional teams to optimize end-to-end development workflows, embed automation, adopt data-driven decision-making, and help implement digital solutions across the SGD value chain.

Job Description

Sandoz continues to go through an exciting and transformative period as a global leader and pioneering provider of sustainable Biosimilar and Generic medicines. As we continue down this new and ambitious path, unique opportunities will present themselves, both professionally and personally. Join us, the future is ours to shape!

Your Key Responsibilities:

Your responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Define and execute a process excellence strategy tailored to the needs and strategic goals of Sandoz Global Development.
• Closely collaborate with Technology team on definition and implementation of technology-driven transformation in SGD; aligning disruptive initiatives with broader business goals (e.g., data integrity, automation of key processes, speed to market).
• Champion robust data governance, interoperability, and FAIR principles. Drive business adoption of platforms that enable real-time insights, predictive modelling, and automation
• Prioritize and allocate resources to high-impact disruptive initiatives. Balance short-term deliverables with long-term innovation bets
• Foster a culture of experimentation, agility, accountability and digital fluency. Upskill teams and embed digital capabilities across SGD functions.
• Define KPIs to measure SGD productivity (e.g., reduction in cycle time, improved trial design, enhanced safety signal detection, reduced time for creation of submission documents)
• Drive data-driven decision-making and continuous improvement across development functions.
• Collaborates with internal (e.g., Technology, Platform heads, Regulatory, Clinical, Safety) and external partners when / where applicable (academia, regulators). Ensure alignment and buy-in across the ecosystem.
• Facilitate harmonization of global development practices across regions and sites.
• Anticipate and mitigate risks related to data privacy, algorithmic bias, and patient trust. Promote responsible innovation and compliance with global standards.
• Follow industry trends and emerging practices to drive agility, speed, efficiency, and effectiveness.

What you’ll bring to the role:

Essential Requirements:

• Advanced degree in pharmaceutical sciences, engineering, or business (PhD, PharmD, MBA preferred).
• Fluent English required (oral and written)
• 15+ years of experience in pharmaceutical R&D, with significant exposure to Generics and/or Biosimilars (strong experience from FMCG industry would be seen as a plus).
• Proven track record in leading large-scale transformation and process excellence initiatives.
• Demonstrated success in designing and implementing Lean, Six Sigma, or Agile methodologies within a scientific or technical environment.
• Track record of reducing development cycle times, improving cost efficiency, and enhancing quality and compliance
• Proven track record in Generics and biopharma R&D, ideally across multiple phases (early pipeline, product development, clinical, post approval phase).
• Strong experience collaborating with Technology / IT teams to implement digital tools with strong efficiency gains (e.g., LIMS, ELN, RIM, Safety, CTMS, automations, data lakes, AI/ML models).
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills across global, matrixed environments.

You’ll receive:

Sandoz has an employee-first approach and that’s why your personal growth is so important to us. You will have access to Coursera and other learning platforms with more than 200,000 learning videos and 5000+ courses.

In addition to the various learning opportunities, we offer company benefits, such as:

• 30 days of annual leave
• Holiday allowance
• Additional rewards for special occasions (e.g. service length awards, marriage celebration, etc.)
• Company pension schemes and capital formation benefits
• Parental leave
• Other offerings, such as bike leasing

Why Sandoz?

Generic and Biosimilar medicines are the backbone of the global medicines industry. Sandoz, a leader in this sector, provided more than 900 million patient treatments across 100+ countries in 2024 and while we are proud of this achievement, we have an ambition to do more!

With investments in new development capabilities, production sites, new acquisitions, and partnerships, we have the opportunity to shape the future of Sandoz and help more patients gain access to low-cost, high-quality medicines, sustainably.

Our momentum is powered by an open, collaborative culture driven by our talented and ambitious colleagues, who, in return for applying their skills experience an agile and collegiate environment with impactful, flexible-hybrid careers, where diversity is welcomed and where personal growth is supported! 

Join us!

Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion:

We are committed to building an outstanding, inclusive work environment and diverse teams representative of the patients and communities we serve.

Hiring decisions are only based on the qualification for the position, regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, age and disability.

The law provides for severely disabled / equal applicants the opportunity to involve the local representative body for disabled employees (SBV) in the application process. If you would like to request this, please let us know in advance as a note on your CV.

#Sandoz

Skills Desired

Accountability, Budget Management, Change Management, Clinical Research, Cross-Functional Teams, Drug Development, Financial Management, Leadership, Microsoft Project, Npd (New Product Development), Organizational Management, Oscilloscope, Pmi (Project Management Institute), Pmp (Project Management Professional), Prioritization, Program Management, Project Execution, Project Planning, R&D (Research And Development), Risk Management, Senior Management, Strategic Management, Strategy, Waterfall Project Management