About the role

Aplyr's Quick Take

This role is about leading medical affairs for Novartis in the Philippines, focusing on strategy execution, scientific excellence, and stakeholder engagement. It’s a senior leadership position requiring a Medical Doctor with significant experience in medical affairs and team management.

Good fit

Ideal candidates have over 10 years in medical affairs, including leadership roles, and a strong grasp of the local healthcare landscape. They should be strategic thinkers who excel in building partnerships and leading teams.

Worth noting

The role emphasizes digital innovation and transformation within the medical organization, which may appeal to candidates interested in modernizing healthcare practices. The requirement for extensive experience may deter less seasoned professionals.

Job Description Summary

Country Medical Affairs Head
Location: Manila

#LI-Hybrid

As Medical Affairs Head, Philippines, you will serve as the lead medical representative in the country and a trusted advisor to the Country Leadership Team. You will define and execute the near- and long-term medical strategy, strengthen scientific and medical excellence across disease areas, and ensure best-in-class launch readiness. You will also play a key role in shaping the external healthcare environment, building partnerships with healthcare communities and government stakeholders, and transforming the medical organization to meet evolving scientific, business, and patient needs.

Job Description

Major accountabilities:

Shape and execute the Philippines medical strategy in alignment with global and international priorities.
Serve as the scientific, ethical, and medical authority within the Country Leadership Team.
Drive medical excellence, governance, evidence generation, and scientific leadership across therapeutic areas.
Lead end-to-end launch readiness in partnership with commercial, access, regulatory, and cross-functional teams.
Build strategic partnerships with healthcare professionals, scientific societies, payers, policymakers, patient groups, and broader ecosystem stakeholders.
Champion innovative and digital approaches to data generation, stakeholder engagement, and medical insights.
Lead and transform the medical organization to be future-ready, agile, compliant, and digitally enabled.
Build a high-performing culture by attracting, developing, coaching, and retaining strong medical talent.

Requirements:

Medical Doctor (MD) qualification
10+ years of experience in Medical Affairs, including 3–5 years in senior medical leadership roles such as Medical Director, Medical Unit Lead, or TA Medical Lead.
Proven people leadership experience, including building, developing, and leading high-performing medical or scientific teams.
Strong understanding of the local healthcare system, payer dynamics, policy frameworks, and therapeutic area science.
Successful track record in pre-launch and launch strategy across therapeutic areas.
Experience shaping HTA, reimbursement, pricing, access, and local evidence strategies.
Strong background in evidence generation, including IITs, MAPs, real-world evidence, observational studies, and clinical trial collaboration.
Established external engagement experience with KOLs, scientific societies, policymakers, payers, regulators, and broader healthcare ecosystem partners.
Experience leading transformation, capability building, and digital enablement within Medical Affairs.

Skills Desired

Agility (Inactive), Cross-Functional Collaboration, Healthcare Sector Understanding (Inactive), Influencing Skills, Innovation, Inspirational Leadership, Integrated Evidence Generation (Inactive), Medical Affairs, Medical Communications, People Management, Priority Disease Areas Expertise (Inactive), Product Launches, Real World Evidence (RWE), Regulatory Compliance, Research Methodologies, Results-Oriented, Stakeholder Engagement, Stakeholder Management

Skills & Tags

Aplyr's read

Novartis is a Swiss-based global healthcare leader, known for its focus on innovative medicines and commitment to addressing patient needs through diverse roles.
Synthesized from recent postings & public sources

What's promising

•Novartis invests heavily in research and development, driving innovation in pharmaceuticals.
•The company offers a wide range of global career opportunities across various fields.
•Strong focus on cutting-edge therapies, including gene therapy and AI-driven solutions.

What to watch

•Regulatory challenges can impact the speed of drug approval and market entry.
•High competition in the pharmaceutical industry requires constant innovation to maintain market position.
•Complex organizational structure may slow decision-making processes.

Why Novartis

•Novartis has a robust pipeline of innovative medicines, setting it apart in the healthcare sector.
•The company emphasizes a diverse and inclusive workplace culture across its global operations.
•Novartis is a leader in digital transformation within pharmaceuticals, integrating AI and data science.

Aplyr’s read is generated by AI from public sources. Was it useful?

About Novartis

Novartis

novartis.com

View company

Novartis is a global healthcare company based in Switzerland that provides solutions to address the evolving needs of patients worldwide. It focuses on innovative medicines, generics, and eye care.