At Roche you can show up as yourself, embraced for the unique qualities you bring. Our culture encourages personal expression, open dialogue, and genuine connections, where you are valued, accepted and respected for who you are, allowing you to thrive both personally and professionally. This is how we aim to prevent, stop and cure diseases and ensure everyone has access to healthcare today and for generations to come. Join Roche, where every voice matters.
The PositionHead of Digital Strategy, Excellence & Standards, Global Digital & Data Analytics
Why Roche
At Roche you can show up as yourself, embraced for the unique qualities you bring. Our culture encourages personal expression, open dialogue, and genuine connections, where you are valued, accepted and respected for who you are, allowing you to thrive both personally and professionally. This is how we aim to prevent, stop and cure diseases and ensure everyone has access to healthcare today and for generations to come. Join Roche, where every voice matters.
Who We Are
The Global Data, Digital & AI (GDDA) organization plays a central role in Roche Pharma Commercial’s digital and AI ecosystem. GDDA sets the enterprise digital strategy, translates commercial objectives into a coordinated portfolio of investments, and defines the standards and operating model that enable scalable execution across programs and products. By connecting strategy, portfolio, standards, programs, and products, GDDA ensures that data, digital, and AI capabilities are delivered as scalable, enterprise solutions that drive adoption and improve outcomes for patients, healthcare providers, and the broader healthcare ecosystem.
The Opportunity
The Head of Digital Strategy, Excellence & Standards is responsible for shaping and driving the strategic agenda of the Global Data, Digital & AI organization within Pharma Commercial. This role leads development of the GDDA strategic plan, ensuring strategic coherence with GDDA’s core mandates while translating enterprise and Pharma Commercial priorities into clear GDDA objectives, outcomes, and prioritization principles that guide investment decisions. This role also drives the design of GDDA’s operating model and organizational approach including the definition of global vs. local standards and operating discipline for digital products, data, and technology— establishing the bar for quality and consistency across markets and local execution. This role also owns change enablement across the digital ecosystem — ensuring that new standards, processes, and capabilities are adopted effectively through structured communication, stakeholder engagement, and organizational readiness. Partnering closely with leaders across Roche Pharma, the Head of Strategy defines interfaces, aligns initiatives, and avoids duplication across the broader digital ecosystem. Acting as Chief of Staff to the GDDA Leader, this role represents GDDA perspectives in leadership forums, develops executive narratives, and ensures strong cross-functional alignment and a coherent path from strategy to impact. Over time, the role will build and lead a team responsible for delivering and scaling these mandates.
What you will be working on
Strategy & Standards
Lead development and evolution of the enterprise GDDA strategy, including mandate definition, ambition setting, and a multi-year capability vision and strategic direction ensuring alignment with enterprise priorities and continuous evolution based on value realization and external signals.
Define and evolve testable, repeatable, and scalable global standards across digital products, data, technology, and ways of working — enabling consistent adoption across markets.
Engage in enterprise strategic conversations to ensure pharma commercial digital priorities are represented as enterprise strategies are shaped.
Ensure ongoing strategic alignment of GDDA initiatives with broader Roche Pharma and enterprise priorities.
Continuously refresh, connect, and groom strategy based on value metrics and external signals to align to pharma commercial goals.
Operating Model & Organizational Capabilities
Lead the design and evolution of the GDDA operating model, including decision rights, governance forums, and product-centric ways of working.
Shape the broader organizational operating model across Roche Pharma, defining how GDDA interfaces with adjacent organizations (e.g., Global Pharma Strategy (GPS),Pharma International (P)I, Roche DigitalTechnologies ( RDT) and Data, Digital and Analytics (DDA).
Ensure clarity of interfaces, roles, interfaces, and decision-making boundaries with adjacent organizations to enable a scalable, networked operating model.
Define the strategic prioritization framework and decision principles, establishing how investments should be evaluated and aligned to business value
Define the global vs. local operating model and strategic guardrails — clarifying where capabilities are standardized versus locally adapted across markets, with operationalization through portfolio and product teams.
Define the enterprise digital capability model and workforce strategy, including critical roles, team structures (e.g., product-centric teams), and capacity planning required to deliver at scale.
Set enterprise standards for digital roles, career paths, and skill development, partnering with People & Culture to scale high-performing teams and embed digital capabilities across the organization.
Change & Enablement, Team Leadership
Design and lead change enablement strategies for GDDA-wide initiatives — ensuring new standards, operating model changes, and capability rollouts are accompanied by structured communications, adoption plans, and stakeholder readiness activities.
Oversee mechanisms for knowledge sharing, best practice dissemination, and continuous improvement across the digital ecosystem.
Build, develop, and lead a high-performing strategy team of managers and analysts, scaling capabilities as the organization evolves.
Chief of Staff Responsibilities
Own the digital planning cadence, ensuring coherence across GDDA priorities, initiatives, and outcomes.
Lead development of executive-level strategic narratives, including key questions, tradeoffs, and decisions required to advance GDDA priorities.
Advocate for the GDDA mandate across enterprise and above-commercial forums, ensuring GDDA's strategic direction is reflected in senior leadership decisions and providing framing to support program execution.
Orchestrate across the GDDA leadership team to prepare for key decision moments, stakeholder engagements, and leadership reviews.
Who You Are
Minimum Candidate Qualifications and Experience
15+ years of experience in strategy, management consulting, or digital/data leadership roles within pharma, life sciences, or large-scale tech organizations.
8+ years leading, coaching or mentoring talent.
Product or digital background: must engage credibly on digital product strategy, data platforms, and/or AI/ML.
Demonstrated experience operating as a senior strategic partner to C-suite or SVP-level .
Strong executive communication skills: can synthesize ambiguity into clear strategic narratives for diverse senior audiences.
Experience with organizational design, operating model evaluation, or enterprise transformation initiatives.
Experience leading organizational change, enablement, or transformation programs — including stakeholder communications, adoption planning, and capability rollout in complex matrixed environments.
Comfortable navigating political complexity and stakeholder dynamics across multiple business units and geographies.
Additional Desired Qualifications
Advanced degree (MBA or equivalent) or equivalent experience in a strategy or operating-model design context.
Prior experience in a data/digital – organization strategy role at a pharma or large-scale tech company.
Location: Basel is the preferred location with South San Francisco secondary
Travel Requirements
As this position is a global role, high flexibility and frequent international business travel will be required
Where pay transparency applies, details are provided based on the primary posting location. For this role, the primary location is Basel. If you are interested in additional locations where the role may be available, we will provide the relevant compensation details later in the hiring process.Who we are
A healthier future drives us to innovate. Together, more than 100’000 employees across the globe are dedicated to advance science, ensuring everyone has access to healthcare today and for generations to come. Our efforts result in more than 26 million people treated with our medicines and over 30 billion tests conducted using our Diagnostics products. We empower each other to explore new possibilities, foster creativity, and keep our ambitions high, so we can deliver life-changing healthcare solutions that make a global impact.
Let’s build a healthier future, together.
Roche is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Skills Required
- 15+ years in strategy or digital leadership roles
- 8+ years in coaching or mentoring talent
- Product or digital background, credible in digital product strategy
- Experience as a senior strategic partner to C-suite
- Experience leading organizational change or transformation programs
Roche Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Roche and has not been reviewed or approved by Roche.
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Retirement Support — U.S. materials describe a 401(k) with both matching and an additional company contribution, supported by formal plan documents and true‑up features. This structure is positioned as a standout element of the total package, particularly at Genentech.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time‑off provisions include substantial vacation, a year‑end shutdown, and a paid six‑week sabbatical after six years. These elements indicate a recharge‑oriented approach within the U.S. offering.
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Healthcare Strength — Company materials emphasize comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and mental‑health resources alongside well‑being programs. Benefits pages consistently highlight breadth across core health coverage elements.
Roche Insights
What We Do
Roche is a global pioneer in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics focused on advancing science to improve people’s lives. The combined strengths of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics under one roof have made Roche the leader in personalised healthcare – a strategy that aims to fit the right treatment to each patient in the best way possible. Roche is the world’s largest biotech company, with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, immunology, infectious diseases, ophthalmology and diseases of the central nervous system. Roche is also the world leader in in vitro diagnostics and tissue-based cancer diagnostics, and a frontrunner in diabetes management. Founded in 1896, Roche continues to search for better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases and make a sustainable contribution to society. The company also aims to improve patient access to medical innovations by working with all relevant stakeholders. Thirty medicines developed by Roche are included in the World Health Organization Model Lists of Essential Medicines, among them life-saving antibiotics, antimalarials and cancer medicines. Roche has been recognised as the Group Leader in sustainability within the Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology & Life Sciences Industry ten years in a row by the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI).
