Novartis India

Novartis runs a structured, largely virtual process for its Indian hub roles. Commercial sales roles are shorter. Most candidates go through the stages below.

1. Online application and recruiter screening

Apply through the Novartis careers portal, a campus drive, a referral or a job portal such as Jobaaj. A talent acquisition partner reviews your profile and calls to confirm role fit, experience, location and expectations. Applications for Hyderabad roles compete with a global candidate pool, so a tailored resume matters.

2. Online assessment or video interview

Depending on the role, you may complete an online aptitude or role-specific test, for example SAS or statistics for programming roles, coding for technology roles, or a recorded video interview answering a few competency questions. Early-career programmes often include a game-based or situational assessment.

3. Functional or technical interview

A 45 minute interview with the hiring manager or a senior team member. It combines domain questions, such as clinical trial phases, GCP, pharmacovigilance case processing, financial close or a coding exercise, with behavioural questions mapped to Novartis's values.

4. Panel or second-line interview

A second interview with a functional head, a global stakeholder in another time zone, or a small panel. It focuses on collaboration, handling ambiguity and long-term fit, and for senior roles on leadership examples.

5. HR discussion

Compensation, benefits, hybrid working, joining date and documentation. Novartis runs background checks and, for some roles, education verification before releasing the offer.

6. Offer and onboarding

Offer letters are issued digitally, followed by a structured onboarding with compliance and integrity training in the first weeks.

The rounds below describe a typical Hyderabad hub loop for clinical, data and business-services roles, with notes on sales.

Round 1: Assessment or video interview

Thirty to 60 minutes, completed at home. Role-specific tests are practical rather than theoretical.

• Aptitude, reasoning and English for early-career roles
• SAS or R exercise for statistical programmers; SQL or Python for data roles
• Recorded answers on motivation and past teamwork

Round 2: Functional or technical interview

Forty-five minutes on video with the hiring manager. Expect half domain, half behavioural.

• Explain the phases of a clinical trial and what GCP requires
• How do you process and report an adverse event case
• Walk through a month-end close or a procurement sourcing event
• A time you found an error in data and what you did

Round 3: Panel or stakeholder interview

Forty-five minutes with a functional head or a global stakeholder, sometimes early morning or late evening to suit their time zone.

• Working with colleagues across countries and cultures
• Handling a compliance concern raised by a colleague
• How you prioritise when three global teams need you at once
• Sales: how would you engage a cardiologist on a new therapy

Round 4: HR interview

Twenty minutes on compensation, benefits, hybrid policy and joining.

• Tell me about yourself
• Expected CTC and notice period
• Comfort with shifts aligned to European or US hours where applicable