Recruitment for the Life Sciences, Pharmaceutical, Biotech & Medical Devices industries

Finding exceptional life sciences professionals for permanent roles is our specialty. Whether you’re looking for sales experts, regulatory specialists, clinical professionals, market access managers or executive leadership, our permanent recruitment process ensures you hire high-performing, long-term employees who drive success.

Need contractors, freelancers, or temporary staffing for specialized projects? Our life sciences recruiters and healthcare recruitment experts connect you with highly skilled professionals ready to deliver results. Whether you need clinical research consultants, regulatory affairs specialists, sales, marketing managers or medical affairs experts, we provide end-to-end staffing support.

Commercial teams in the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries bring together a wide range of professionals responsible for transforming scientific innovation into successful products that reach healthcare professionals and, ultimately, patients.

Unlike in many other industries, pharmaceutical commercial functions operate in a highly regulated environment. Marketing, sales and market access teams must therefore combine commercial thinking with scientific understanding, regulatory awareness, knowledge of healthcare systems and a strong focus on patient value.

The exact structure of a commercial organisation varies according to the company, therapeutic area, product lifecycle and sector. A large pharmaceutical company preparing a major product launch may have highly specialised marketing, sales, market access and commercial excellence teams, while a growing biotech may combine several of these responsibilities within smaller cross-functional teams.

Pharmaceutical marketing roles

Pharmaceutical marketing is responsible for developing the strategy and positioning of a medicine or healthcare product within its market.

Typical roles include:

• Product Manager or Brand Manager: develops and executes the brand strategy, marketing plan, campaigns and promotional activities for one or several products.
• Senior Product Manager: manages larger brands, complex therapeutic areas or products at important stages of their lifecycle.
• Marketing Manager: oversees several brands or product managers and translates business objectives into an overall marketing strategy.
• Digital Marketing Manager: develops digital engagement strategies for healthcare professionals and other relevant audiences.
  Omnichannel Manager: coordinates interactions across face-to-face, remote and digital channels to create a consistent customer experience.
• Customer Experience Manager: focuses on how healthcare professionals and other stakeholders interact with the company throughout their journey.
• Commercial or Marketing Director: leads the commercial or marketing strategy at affiliate, regional or business-unit level.

Pharmaceutical marketers work closely with Medical Affairs, Sales, Market Access, Regulatory Affairs and Compliance. Their role is therefore not simply to promote a product. They need to understand clinical data, treatment pathways, competitors, prescriber behaviour and the specific needs of the healthcare ecosystem.

During a product launch, for example, marketing teams may contribute to market preparation, segmentation, positioning, customer journeys, campaign development, sales-force materials and post-launch performance analysis.

Pharmaceutical sales roles

Sales professionals are responsible for building relationships with healthcare professionals, hospitals, pharmacies, purchasing organisations and other relevant stakeholders.

Common roles include:

• Medical or Pharmaceutical Sales Representative: engages healthcare professionals within a defined geographical territory or customer segment.
• Hospital Sales Representative: focuses on hospital-based healthcare professionals and hospital accounts.
  Key Account Manager (KAM): manages strategically important accounts involving several stakeholders and more complex decision-making processes.
• Hospital Key Account Manager: specialises in hospital networks, multidisciplinary stakeholders and institutional purchasing environments.
• Territory Manager: owns commercial performance within a specific geographic area.
• Sales Manager or District Manager: coaches and manages a team of field-based sales professionals.
• National Sales Manager: leads the national sales organisation and supports execution of the commercial strategy.
• Sales Director or Business Unit Director: combines commercial leadership, team management and business responsibility.

The nature of pharmaceutical sales has evolved considerably. Successful sales professionals increasingly need to understand the entire healthcare environment around their product rather than focusing only on individual prescribers.

For specialised medicines, rare diseases or hospital products, commercial conversations can involve physicians, pharmacists, nurses, procurement teams, hospital management and sometimes market access stakeholders.

Market Access roles

Market Access focuses on one fundamental question: how can an effective healthcare innovation obtain sustainable access to the patients who need it?

These professionals work at the intersection of healthcare policy, reimbursement, economics, evidence generation and commercial strategy.

Typical Market Access positions include:

• Market Access Manager
• Pricing & Reimbursement Manager
• Health Economics or HEOR Specialist
• Value & Evidence Manager
• Market Access Lead
• Market Access Director
• Tender or Institutional Access Manager, depending on the organisation and market

Market Access professionals develop value propositions, analyse reimbursement pathways, contribute to health technology assessment strategies, work on pricing and reimbursement submissions and engage with relevant healthcare stakeholders.

They often collaborate closely with Medical Affairs, Regulatory Affairs, Marketing, Finance and regional or global access teams.

In markets such as Belgium and the Netherlands, strong knowledge of the local healthcare and reimbursement environment can be particularly valuable. Market Access strategy may also start well before regulatory approval, particularly for innovative medicines where evidence, pricing and reimbursement considerations influence launch planning.

Commercial Excellence, Business Intelligence and related roles

Modern commercial organisations increasingly include functions dedicated to improving commercial effectiveness and decision-making.

These can include:

• Commercial Excellence Manager
• Sales Force Effectiveness Manager
• Business Intelligence Manager
• CRM Manager
• Business Analyst
• Customer Insights Manager
• Forecasting Manager
• Omnichannel Excellence Manager

These professionals analyse market data, customer segmentation, sales performance and engagement behaviour to help commercial teams make better decisions.

For larger pharmaceutical companies, they can form a dedicated Commercial Excellence department. In smaller organisations, these responsibilities may sit within Marketing, Sales Operations or Business Operations.

How do commercial roles differ between pharma, biotech and medical devices?

The fundamental commercial capabilities are similar, but the way teams operate can differ significantly.

• Pharmaceutical companies

Large pharmaceutical companies typically have highly structured commercial organisations with clearly defined responsibilities across Marketing, Sales, Market Access, Medical Affairs and Commercial Excellence.

Professionals often specialise in one therapeutic area or product portfolio and operate within strict regulatory and compliance frameworks.

Product launches can involve large cross-functional teams and extensive preparation before reimbursement and commercialisation.

• Biotech companies

Biotech organisations are often smaller and more specialised, particularly before or during their first commercial launches.

Commercial professionals may therefore have broader responsibilities. A marketing or market access leader in a growing biotech might simultaneously contribute to launch strategy, forecasting, stakeholder mapping, market development and European expansion.

This environment can be particularly attractive to professionals who enjoy entrepreneurship, cross-functional collaboration and building commercial capabilities from the ground up.

• Medical device and diagnostics companies

Commercial teams in medical devices and diagnostics tend to have an even stronger connection between sales and technical product expertise.

Sales professionals may participate in product demonstrations, clinical discussions, implementation, training or support around the use of a device.

Hospital procurement, tenders and account management can also play a particularly important role. Depending on the technology, sales cycles may involve physicians, nurses, laboratory professionals, biomedical engineers, procurement departments and hospital management.

Although these functions have different responsibilities, successful pharmaceutical commercialisation depends on close collaboration between them.

Marketing defines how the product should be positioned and which customer needs it addresses.

Sales and Key Account Management translate that strategy into relevant conversations and relationships within the healthcare ecosystem.

Market Access works to establish the value, pricing and reimbursement conditions required for patients to access the product.

At the same time, Medical Affairs provides scientific expertise and ensures that clinical evidence remains central to stakeholder engagement.

The strongest life sciences organisations therefore increasingly work through cross-functional teams rather than isolated departments, particularly during product launches and major lifecycle milestones.

Finding the right commercial opportunity in life sciences

The right role depends on much more than a job title. Therapeutic area, company size, product lifecycle, geographical scope, customer environment and organisational maturity can all significantly change the nature of a position.

A Product Manager launching an innovative oncology medicine, for example, can have a very different role from a Product Manager managing an established primary-care portfolio. The same applies to a Key Account Manager working with hospital specialists compared with a field sales representative covering primary care.

This is where specialist life sciences recruitment makes a difference.

Novellas Healthcare works specifically within the life sciences sector and recruits across pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device organisations in Belgium and the Netherlands. Our recruiters understand the differences between commercial job families and the environments in which these professionals operate.

We support careers and organisations across permanent recruitment, freelance assignments and outsourcing, from operational and specialist positions through to senior leadership roles.

Whether your next step is in pharmaceutical marketing, medical sales, key account management, market access, commercial excellence or commercial leadership, discovering the right opportunity starts with understanding where your experience can create the greatest value.

Looking for your next opportunity in pharma, biotech or medical devices?