Area Manager (Senior Regional Business Manager)

Novartis India; Hyderabad; On-site; INR 2,500,000 - 4,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Novartis India in Mumbai seeks an Institutional Regional Business Manager/First Line Sales Manager to lead a high-performing government and institutional sales team. You will drive strategic initiatives, coaching, and day-to-day execution to ensure targets are met and access is optimized for institutional accounts.

You will translate national strategies into local actions, engage with key stakeholders, ensure compliant promotion, and collaborate with Marketing, Medical, and Value & Access teams

Qualifications

• 6–10 years pharma sales experience.
• 3–4 years of managing Institutional/Government business.
• Experience navigating Indian government healthcare ecosystem.

Responsibilities

• Lead and coach the team to achieve targets through in-field coaching and disciplined execution.
• Develop and execute strategic account plans for government and institutional healthcare accounts.
• Build advocacy among key healthcare professionals and institutional decision-makers.
• Ensure access and utilization within institutional formularies and treatment protocols.
• Map stakeholders across institutional accounts and drive account-based strategies.
• Drive omnichannel execution and data quality.

Skills

Pharma sales

Stakeholder mgmt

Strategic account planning

Team leadership

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Life Sciences/Pharmacy/Business

MBA/PGDM

Tools

MS Office

Job description

Summary

The Institutional Regional Business Manager/First Line Sales Manager is responsible for leading a high-performing sales team to deliver exceptional customer engagement and achieve commercial objectives. This role requires strategic thinking, deep payer market knowledge and the ability to translate national strategies into effective local execution.

About The Role

Location- Mumbai

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and coach the team to achieve sales, productivity and performance targets through strong in-field coaching, call planning and disciplined execution.
• Drive business growth for innovative, concept-driven brands across government and institutional healthcare accounts by developing and executing strategic account plans.
• Navigate the complex Indian public healthcare ecosystem, including Central and State Government institutions, CGHS, ESIC, Defence, Railways, leading government medical colleges, to optimize brand access and utilization.
• Build and strengthen advocacy among key healthcare professionals, institutional decision-makers, and opinion leaders through scientific engagement and evidence-based value discussions.
• Facilitate inclusion and sustained utilization of company brands within institutional formularies, treatment protocols, and clinical pathways through compliant stakeholder engagement.
• Map and engage key stakeholders across institutional accounts, including department heads, formulary committee members, procurement authorities, pharmacists, administrators, and clinical influencers.
• Identify access barriers impacting patient availability and collaborate with cross-functional teams to develop solutions that improve institutional adoption and patient access.
• Track institutional business performance, analyze account trends, and implement corrective actions to achieve short-term targets and long-term strategic objectives.
• Create and execute regional/territory business plans aligned to brand strategy (targeting, coverage, quarterly priorities, cycle plans) and review progress through regular business reviews.
• Use sales and prescription insights, analytics and market intelligence to optimize targeting, improve call effectiveness and implement timely corrective actions.
• Ensure brand plan execution and KPI governance (coverage, call quality, demand drivers, availability) and manage risks across competition, access and supply.
• Operate within company policies and ethical codes
• Partner with Marketing, Medical, Value & Access and Supply to deliver regional initiatives, resolve customer issues and improve patient access where applicable.
• Build team capability through structured coaching (joint work, role plays, feedback), onboarding, performance reviews and talent development/succession planning.
• Own forecasting and business hygiene: accurate outlook, budget/expense discipline, and timely reporting/documentation.
• Work with distribution/trade partners to ensure availability, primary–secondary alignment and stock/expiry risk control in priority channels.
• Drive omnichannel execution and ensure data quality, privacy and use of approved content.
• Continuously track competition and guideline/evidence updates and translate insights into local actions to protect and grow share.

Essential Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree (Life Sciences/Pharmacy/Business or related).
• MBA/PGDM preferred.
• 6–10 years pharma sales experience, with 3-4 years of managing Institutional/Government business.
• Immunology, Vaccines, Oncology, Cardiovascular/ Specialty therapy exposure preferred.
• 2–4 years team handling with strong coaching and performance management skills.
• Mandatory requirement of proven experience in navigating the Indian government healthcare ecosystem, including Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS), ESIC, State Government Health Programs, Railways, Defence, ECHS, Municipal Corporations, and major government medical colleges.
• Experience launching or scaling innovative therapies in institutional or government segments is highly preferred.
• Strong analytics; proficient in MS Office.
• Strong communication, influencing and stakeholder management skills.
• High ethics and compliance orientation; working knowledge of promotional codes/SOPs.
• Employees with CRM team experience will be preferred
• High field orientation; willing to travel extensively within the region.

Commitment To Diversity And Inclusion / EEO Paragraph

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

Why Novartis:

Helping people with disease and their families takes more than innovative science. It takes a community of smart, passionate people like you. Collaborating, supporting and inspiring each other. Combining to achieve breakthroughs that change patients’ lives. Ready to create a brighter future together? https://www.novartis.com/about/strategy/people-and-culture

Benefits and Rewards:

Read our handbook to learn about all the ways we’ll help you thrive personally and professionally: https://www.novartis.com/careers/benefits-rewards

Read our handbook (PDF 30 MB)