Portfolio & Lifecycle Manager
Novartis · Barcelona Gran Vía, Spain · hybrid
Salary Range:
€58,200.00 - €108,000.00
Job Description Summary
The Commercial Portfolio Unit is a newly established strategic unit within Novartis Spain. Its mission is to maximise the contribution of the Rest of Portfolio to the business by identifying, prioritising and activating the opportunities with the greatest potential to create or protect value.
Taking a cross-portfolio perspective, the unit brings together commercial, financial, market access, regulatory and operational considerations to support better business decisions and turn portfolio complexity into sustainable growth.
Job Description
The Portfolio & Life-Cycle Management Lead will act as a catalyst for strategic business decisions across the portfolio.
The role will continuously assess portfolio performance, market dynamics and critical life-cycle milestones to identify opportunities to accelerate growth, improve profitability, protect value and mitigate risk. It will translate insights into clear recommendations, robust business cases and executable plans.
The successful candidate will also play a central role in building and embedding Portfolio and Life-Cycle Management as a strategic capability within Novartis Spain. This includes establishing decision-making frameworks, governance mechanisms and cross-functional ways of working that strengthen portfolio prioritisation and execution.
This is not a traditional single-brand management role. It requires an enterprise-wide perspective, strong business judgement and the ability to influence decisions across functions and therapeutic areas without formal authority.
Key responsibilities
Portfolio strategy and opportunity identification
- Conduct proactive and continuous portfolio reviews to identify opportunities for growth, value protection, efficiency and risk mitigation.
- Assess the performance, future potential and strategic relevance of brands at different stages of their life cycle.
- Translate portfolio insights into clear strategic priorities and actionable business recommendations.
- Evaluate and prioritise opportunities based on their potential impact, feasibility, level of investment, expected return and associated risks.
- Develop business cases, financial assessments and scenarios to support resource-allocation and investment decisions.
- Monitor the implementation and business impact of prioritised portfolio initiatives.
Life-cycle management and LoE readiness
- Anticipate critical product life-cycle milestones, including Loss of Exclusivity, changes in market dynamics and shifts in the competitive, regulatory or access environment.
- Develop differentiated life-cycle strategies based on the maturity, performance and strategic relevance of each brand.
- Build structured LoE readiness and risk-mitigation plans in collaboration with the relevant cross-functional teams.
- Identify and activate value-optimisation levers across areas such as pricing, supply strategy, demand management, brand maintenance, operating-model simplification and resource allocation.
- Support brand transitions into the Commercial Portfolio Unit, ensuring that relevant business knowledge, performance insights, responsibilities and strategic priorities are effectively transferred.
- Identify opportunities to simplify, externalise or rationalise selected portfolio activities or assets when appropriate.
Cross-functional leadership and execution
- Lead the assessment, prioritisation and activation of cross-functional portfolio initiatives.
- Bring together Marketing, Market Access, Finance, Regulatory Affairs, Supply, Legal and other relevant functions around a common fact base and recommendation.
- Create alignment among stakeholders with different objectives, perspectives and incentives.
- Constructively challenge existing assumptions and ways of working to identify better solutions for the business.
- Present portfolio recommendations, business cases and strategic trade-offs to senior stakeholders and decision-making forums.
- Ensure that agreed priorities are translated into clear ownership, implementation plans and follow-up mechanisms.
Capability building and organisational transformation
- Help establish the Commercial Portfolio Unit as a strategic portfolio-management capability within Novartis Spain.
- Design and implement portfolio-management frameworks, governance forums, tools, processes and decision-making criteria.
- Promote a culture of value creation, prioritisation, simplification and data-driven decision-making.
- Act as an internal thought leader in Portfolio and Life-Cycle Management.
- Encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing across therapeutic areas and functions.
- Identify opportunities to strengthen portfolio-management capabilities through new approaches, analytics, technologies and ways of working.
Candidate profile
We are looking for an experienced professional with strong business acumen, strategic judgement and the ability to convert complexity into business decisions and action.
The ideal candidate will be intellectually curious, commercially minded and comfortable challenging the status quo. Rather than requiring experience in one specific position, we are looking for someone who can identify, prioritise and capture opportunities across a diverse portfolio.
Education
- University degree in Health Sciences, Pharmacy, Business Administration, Economics, Engineering or a related discipline.
- An MBA or postgraduate qualification in Strategy, Marketing, Finance or Business Management would be an advantage.
Professional experience
- Approximately 7–10 years of relevant professional experience in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology or healthcare industry, or in strategy consulting.
- Experience in one or more commercial or strategic functions, such as Marketing, Market Access, Sales, Commercial Excellence, Finance, Strategic Planning, Portfolio Management or Life-Cycle Management.
- Exposure to brands at different stages of their life cycle, including mature brands and products approaching Loss of Exclusivity.
- Experience in assessing business opportunities, developing business cases and supporting investment or resource-allocation decisions.
- Demonstrated ability to lead complex, cross-functional initiatives in matrix organisations.
- Experience working with senior stakeholders and influencing decisions without formal authority.
- Experience in pharmaceutical product transitions, late life-cycle strategies or LoE preparation would be an advantage, but is not essential if the candidate demonstrates strong strategic and commercial capabilities.
Key capabilities
Business and technical capabilities
- Strategic portfolio and product life-cycle management.
- Opportunity identification, assessment and sizing.
- Business-case development and financial evaluation.
- Scenario modelling and risk assessment.
- Market, customer and competitive analysis.
- Portfolio prioritisation and resource-allocation decisions.
- Interpretation of commercial and financial data.
- Cross-functional programme and project leadership.
- Translation of insights into actionable business recommendations.
Leadership capabilities and mindset
- Strategic thinking and strong business judgement.
- Ability to connect the broader portfolio perspective with concrete business actions.
- Strong analytical skills and the ability to make decisions with incomplete information.
- Critical thinking and confidence to constructively challenge established assumptions.
- Ability to influence, create alignment and drive progress without formal authority.
- Clear and compelling communication and storytelling skills.
- Strong stakeholder-management capabilities.
- Pragmatism, accountability and a strong orientation towards execution.
- Intellectual curiosity and openness to new approaches and technologies.
- Ability to navigate ambiguity and create structure, priorities and