Country Head Kazakhstan

Major accountabilities:

·         Strategic Planning and Execution: Develop and implement a comprehensive long-term strategy for the country, focusing on territory development and translating goals into concrete sales objectives and business targets.

·         Alignment with Global Strategies to drive at Local Level: Ensure alignment between local and regional/cluster strategies, adapting global initiatives to fit the local context while driving tactical execution.

·         Tactical Plan Implementation: Define brand-specific tactical plans and establish clear actions and measurable targets. Assign roles and responsibilities to ensure efficient execution within the team.

·         Business Performance Leadership: Lead the execution of strategic and tactical plans, ensuring the achievement of business objectives and financial targets in Kazakhstan.

·         Cross-Functional Leadership: Oversee the sales team and foster collaboration across key functions, including Sales, Marketing, Market Access, Medical Affairs and regional/global services.

·         Innovative Contractual Strategies: Drive the implementation of strategic development initiatives, including new procurement approaches and managed import strategies to optimize resource utilization.

·         Market Insights and Analysis: Continuously monitor market trends, analyze competitor activities, evaluate sales performance, and identify commercial opportunities to inform decision-making.

·         Stakeholder Engagement: Build and maintain productive relationships with key partners, including medical and non-medical stakeholders, government authorities, commercial organizations, agencies, and trade bodies.

·         Resource Optimization: Manage and allocate resources efficiently to ensure financial targets are met while enabling sustained patient access to products and services.

·         Forecasting and Financial Oversight: Ensure accurate and reliable phasing & forecasting of sales and expenses. Oversee Profit & Loss (P&L) management and implement financial monitoring to achieve country financial objectives.

·         Change Management: Lead and support change management initiatives within the country, aligning transformation processes with strategic priorities.

·         Operational Excellence: Drive operational excellence by optimizing local business processes and improving execution at all levels to maximize value delivery.

·         Compliance and Ethics: Ensure that all sales and marketing activities are conducted in full adherence to corporate ethics, compliance codes, and local regulatory requirements.

·         Workforce Planning: Develop and implement workforce plans that establish effective organizational structures and align headcount with strategic priorities.

·         Talent Management: Recruit, develop, and retain top talent. Lead performance management, foster team engagement, and create motivating environments to achieve collective and individual success.

·         Corporate Reputation: Strengthen Novartis’ role as a trusted partner within targeted healthcare sectors and enhance the company’s presence and credibility in the market.

·         Internal Collaboration: Build productive internal relationships across Novartis’ global and regional teams, contributing to knowledge-sharing initiatives and advancing local and global product strategies.

·         International Commercial Support: Act as a key contributor to international commercial efforts by providing strategic insights and operational support as needed.

Key performance indicators:

·         Financial Performance: Achieve financial KPIs such as revenue growth, market share expansion, sales targets, and Profit & Loss (P&L) management, including country-level planning and prioritization of key brands.

·         Strategic & Tactical Planning: Develop, align, and secure approval for strategic and tactical plans in collaboration with the global franchise and local leadership.

·         Market Access: Ensure priority brands successful inclusion in the defined reimbursement lists to expand market accessibility.

·         Launch Readiness & Product Launch Excellence: Deliver successful product launches with defined milestones, efficient execution, and optimized time to peak sales performance.

·         Resource Optimization: Ensure efficient resource allocation, achieving target sales mix within the Novartis country organization and maximizing resource utilization.

·         Performance Management: Set clear, timely targets and implement regular performance reviews to drive accountability and results achievement.

·         Team Engagement: Maintain or exceed corporate average engagement levels within the Cluster team, as measured by the "OurVoice" engagement survey.

·         Talent Development: Drive talent management initiatives, including succession planning, development of talents and exporting talent to other markets.

·         Market Reputation: Enhance Novartis' market reputation, ensuring strong brand perception and stakeholder trust.

Minimum Requirements:

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in medicine, pharmacy, business management or related fields
• Master’s degree in business management (MBA or Executive MBA)

      Professional Experience

• Minimum of 3 years’ experience in a Business Unit (BU), Franchise Head or Country Head position within a multinational pharmaceutical organization.
• Demonstrated track record of P&L management and accountability.
• Extensive experience in Account Management within the pharmaceutical industry.
• Proven expertise in leading, managing, and developing large, diverse, and cross-functional teams.
• Strong understanding of the healthcare system structure, dynamics, and market specifics in Kazakhstan.
• In-depth experience with product launches in the pharmaceuticals.
• Strong business acumen and commercial insight.
• Proven ability to lead complex projects and foster collaboration across cross-functional teams and business units in a matrix organization.

      Core Values and Competencies

• Enterprise leadership
• Resilience and adaptability when navigating high levels of ambiguity, uncertainty, and complexity. Proven skills in crisis management and leading business turnarounds.
• Outstanding people management capabilities, with a track record of leading large, multinational, and culturally diverse teams.
• Results-oriented mindset with a strong focus on problem-solving and delivering outcomes under pressure.
• Highly effective communication and presentation skills, with the ability to engage and influence stakeholders at all organizational levels.
• Prioritization skills to manage multiple objectives in a dynamic environment.
• Strong collaborator with demonstrated networking and stakeholder relationship management skills.
• Advanced analytical and leadership abilities, with a balance of qualitative and quantitative expertise.

Languages:

Russian, English, Kazakh is an advantage

Business travels:

~30-40%