♦ Roche’s flagship global talent development program aimed at preparing participants for signifcant commercial and management responsibilities at Roche within an accelerated timeframe; ♦2-year ‘rapid fire’ understanding of Roche Diagnostics or Pharmaceutical (4 six-month rotations across the organization); ♦ Dedicated senior development coach as well as a deep and engaged support network during the program and beyond as you prepare for a general management career.
We now have about 30 Perspectives “alumni” who have taken roles in Argentina, Chile, China, Colombia, Dubai, Germany, Panama, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, U.S., and others. We have a couple of Roche General Managers among our graduates, and a long list of Business Unit Directors, Heads of Marketing for a Roche affiliate, and International Business Leaders.
We typically have Roche managers who are familiar with the program conduct first round interviews. Perspectives Alumni and the program manager conduct a second round of interviews, and the final round will include interviews with senior leadership and scenario-based assessments.
The experiences of delivering on substantial projects in a variety of business functions and cultural contexts are the primary source of development in Perspectives. But we supplement these experiences with a dedicated senior leader mentor, annual leadership training with expert providers, and regular peer feedback and sharing across the Perspectives network. Perspectives provides an incredibly rich learning experience.
Participants themselves play the most critical role in identifying projects for Perspectives rotations. They identify the location and function that they’d like to target, and then work with the program manager and their mentor for feedback and potential leads. In an overwhelming number of cases, they are able to find a project that fits both their geographic and functional areas of interest.
Perspectives is highly regarded by the senior leadership at Roche. We hold quarterly “Fireside Chats” for the Perspectives community that have included Severin Schwan (our CEO), Daniel O’Day (CEO Roche Pharmaceuticals) and many other senior leaders across the business. In Diagnostics, development coaches are typically a member of the Diagnostics Leadership Team. In Pharma, development coaches are typically a member of the Regional Leadership Team and affiliate General Managers.
Prior to becoming CEO, Severin Schwan served as a mentor for the Perspectives Program. As a participant in Perspectives, you will have a senior leader in the business as a mentor / development coach – and we regularly send out updates to senior leadership about the progress of current Perspectives and program graduates.
Through your rotations in the program you have exposure to senior leaders as part of your projects on a consistent basis.
This is a pipeline program for a general management career path at Roche. Candidates should be committed to learning, and to getting the experiences that will prepare them for leadership roles at Roche. Candidates should be early in their career with ~2 to 5 years of work experience.
Candidates should have advanced degree(s), for example MBA with a strong commitment to a career in a life sciences company. Candidates with PhD and MD degrees are also encouraged to apply if they have some business experience as well. Candidates should be fluent in English and at least one additional language.
Candidates should be highly mobile – able and eager to rotate into developing markets in addition to more established markets. We are particularly interested in candidates with language and cultural ability to work in Asia, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa.
We have about 12 people in the program at a time, which means we hire about 6 per year. We try to keep a roughly even balance across the Pharma and the Diagnostics divisions.
