Early Careers

Trainee Program

Are you creative, curious and enthusiastic? Do you want to reimagine medicine with us? Explore our tailor-made trainee programs, through which you will have the opportunity to sharpen your individual profile and network across the organization. Throughout the year we offer trainee programs across; marketing, sales, market access, medical, digital, communications, finance and P&O (People & Organization). Our well-established program contributes highly to the success of our organization. It connects us with an agile and bold mind-set of the next generation and our talent bring in and develop key capabilities that are essential for our future as an innovation-driven company.

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Chemical and Analytical Development (CHAD) Program

Offering 3 rotations through 3 functions, the 2 year Chemical and Analytical Development (CHAD) Program offers the opportunity to get to know our global functions in Chemical Research and Development and Drug Substance Supply.

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The Regulatory Affairs (RA) Postgraduate Program

The 2 year Regulatory Affairs (RA) Postgraduate Program enables you to expand your regulatory knowledge, becoming familiar with dossier content and acquiring significant practical experience through cross-functional projects in different areas in a dynamic environment to build on your potential future career at Novartis.

Recruitment start for 2024: end of Q2 2023

Read more about the program (PDF 0.9 MB)

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Clinical Development (CD within CD&A GDD)

The Clinical Drug Development Postgraduate Training Program offers the opportunity to learn about the global Clinical Development function and work on clinical trials in cross-functional drug development teams.

Duration: 2 years

Program start: Q3

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Finance Rotation Program

The Finance Rotation Program (FRP) offers recent Master graduates in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration or similar an exciting 3-year development opportunity across different finance functions and divisions. In addition, the exposure to senior management and various training opportunities builds the foundation for a successful international career in Finance. Supported by a strong community of FRP Alumni, Program Sponsors and Senior Managers, you will enjoy a steady learning curve in each of our 6 to 12 month rotations.

Program start: currently paused.

Read more about the program (PDF 1.3 MB)

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Translational Clinical Oncology (TCO) Program

The Translational Clinical Oncology (TCO) Program is a global, science-focused group working under the Novartis research umbrella: the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR). Within this program, you will work hand in hand with experienced scientists and clinicians of TCO who are primarily responsible for the design and conduct of early-stage clinical trials in cancer patients. These studies investigate and define the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics (PK), pharmacodynamics (PD) and initial efficacy of small molecules, biologicals or cell-based therapies in oncology. Imagine your impact here at Novartis!

Duration of the program: 2 years.

Program start: Second quarter every 2 years.

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Trainee Program Rotkreuz

During twelve months you will gain a comprehensive insight into the exciting world of Novartis. You will experience the organization of a leading pharmaceutical company first-hand and have the opportunity to gain insight into the areas of Product Management (Marketing), Medical or Commercial Execution (Digital, Analytics, etc.) and take on direct responsibility. In addition, we offer each trainee so-called Jokerweeks, in which you can get a taste of another team (e.g. Market Access, Regulatory Affairs, Quality Assurance, etc.).

Duration: 1 year

Recruitment start: Recruitment on rolling basis throughout the year

Apply directly at [email protected]

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Postgraduate Program Biologics

The Biologics Early Talent Program is designed for Master's graduates who want to gain first experience in the industry. The four rotations over a period of 24 months provide insight into our global functions Drug Substance Development, Drug Product Development, Cell & Gene Therapies and Analytical Development.

Duration: 2 years, start Q4

Recruitment start: Q3

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Legal Postgraduates

For 6 months, we offer several volunteer positions in various legal departments throughout the year to help you gain practical experience as a trainee in a multinational unbossed environment of a leading pharmaceutical company.

Duration of program: 6 months.

Program start: all year round.

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Postdoc Programs

The mission of our Postdoctoral program is to train and inspire the next generation of scientific leaders in a unique drug discovery environment. Our Innovation and Discovery Postdoctoral Fellowships offer exciting opportunities for talented scientists to join our teams at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR) and perform cutting-edge research with guidance from world-class scientists.

• Novartis Innovation Postdoctoral Fellowship

The Novartis Innovation Postdoctoral Fellowship offers talented scientists the unique opportunity to join our teams at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR), the innovation engine of Novartis. Supervised by experienced NIBR scientists, Innovation Fellows will have the opportunity to gain first-hand experience in the design and development of breakthrough therapies and innovative technologies. We are looking for fellows who will use their scientific creativity and natural curiosity to offer transformative treatments to patients.

Reimagine medicine with us!

For more information about the program, please visit the PostDoc Program.

Duration of the program: 3 - 4 years.

• The Novartis Discovery Postdoctoral Fellowship

Research at NIBR comprises a broad range of areas from which discovery fellows and their mentors create research projects. Ideally, these projects take advantage of the rich and unique drug discovery environment, including access to sophisticated research tools. Projects are often interdisciplinary in nature, combining biology and chemistry and/or computational approaches, or bridging different disease areas.

To view this content in German, please click here.

Please, note that all our vacancies for trainee programs are published on our career website, unless something else is mentioned here. Therefore, please apply directly on https://www.novartis.com/ch-de/.

Postdoc Programs

The mission of our Postdoctoral program is to train and inspire the next generation of scientific leaders in a unique drug discovery environment. Our Innovation and Discovery Postdoctoral Fellowships offer exciting opportunities for talented scientists to join our teams at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR) and perform cutting-edge research with guidance from world-class scientists.

• Novartis Innovation Postdoctoral Fellowship

The Novartis Innovation Postdoctoral Fellowship offers talented scientists the unique opportunity to join our teams at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR), the innovation engine of Novartis. Supervised by experienced NIBR scientists, Innovation Fellows will have the opportunity to gain first-hand experience in the design and development of breakthrough therapies and innovative technologies. We are looking for fellows who will use their scientific creativity and natural curiosity to offer transformative treatments to patients.

Reimagine medicine with us!

For more information about the program, please visit the PostDoc Program.

Duration of the program: 3 - 4 years.

• The Novartis Discovery Postdoctoral Fellowship

Research at NIBR comprises a broad range of areas from which discovery fellows and their mentors create research projects. Ideally, these projects take advantage of the rich and unique drug discovery environment, including access to sophisticated research tools. Projects are often interdisciplinary in nature, combining biology and chemistry and/or computational approaches, or bridging different disease areas.