Syneos Health

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Syneos Health is a biopharmaceutical solutions management consulting firm making waves in the healthcare and life sciences consulting space.
Today, we’re uncovering the inner workings of Syneos Health to uncover key insights related to Syneos Health careers, culture, salary, interviews, and more.

Contents:

  1. Syneos Health Stats
  2. Syneos Health History
  3. Syneos Health Careers
  4. Industries
  5. Syneos Health Locations
  6. Career Path
  7. Exit Opportunities
  8. Notable Alumni
  9. Diversity Programs
  10. Syneos Health Internships
  11. Syneos Health Culture
  12. Syneos Health Interview
  13. Target Schools
  14. Syneos Health Salary

Syneos Health Stats

  • Syneos Health Website: https://www.syneoshealth.com/
  • Syneos Health Headquarters: Morrisville, NC
  • Number of Employees: 27,000
  • Number of Locations: 88
  • Syneos Health Chief Executive: Alistair MacDonald
  • Syneos Health Revenue: ~$4.7B

Syneos Health History

Syneos Health was formed out of a merger between InVentiv Health Incorporated and INC Research in 2018. Post-merger, over 27,000 talentedsyneos health individuals now form one unique brand that offers a mix of research and advisory services.

Bringing together the industry-leading capabilities of the Contract Research Organization (CRO) and Contract Commercial Organization (CCO), Syneos Health is a firm designed to serve the modern biopharmaceutical market. In fact, it is the only fully integrated consulting firm providing comprehensive biopharmaceutical solutions.

The company’s name is intended to communicate the value of synchronizing clinical and commercial abilities to act as a catalyst of improved customer performance. The pitch seems to be working – Syneos Health continues to grow with customers in over 110 countries and over 88 office locations worldwide.

Syneos Health Careers

Syneos Health careers involve exciting strategy, growth, and restructuring work, reflecting its three distinct businesses: Contract Research Organization (CRO), Contract Commercial Organization (CCO), and Syneos Health Consulting.

Taking the approach of an Empowered Employment Experience, the firm focuses on the growth of its employees by teaching new skills through structured coaching and mentoring.

Practice Areas

Syneos Health practice areas include three main business activities: clinical development, commercialization, and consulting. Let’s focus on Syneos Health Consulting, which consists of four advisory groups:

Commercial Advisory Group

Focuses on portfolio strategy and transactions, health economics and outcome research, product and franchise strategy, value and access, customer and digital engagement.

Scientific and Medical Affairs Advisory Group

Focuses on medical affairs, quality and compliance, and regulatory.

Risk and Program Management Advisory Group

REMS and Risk Management (PMO).

R&D Advisory Group

Integrates research and development into the overall strategy of a pharmaceutical client.

Industries

The firm plays in most sub-sectors of the broader life sciences market. Its expertise in advising on biopharmaceutical solutions spans:

    • Clinical research
    • Clinical development
    • Commercialization
    • Consulting
    • Real-world evidence
    • Regulatory affairs
    • Medical affairs
    • Market access
    • Sales
    • Marketing

The specifical therapeutic areas in which the firm claims expertise include cardiovascular, central nervous system, endocrine, gastroenterology, immunology, infectious disease, ophthalmology, respiratory, women’s health, and oncology.

Syneos Health Locations

Syneos Health locations can be found across 5 continents and over 110 countries.

North America

Austin, TX; Blue Bell, PA; Boston MA; Carlsbad, CA; Charlotte, NC, Denver, CO; Irvine, CA; Irving, TX; Miami, FL; Montreal, Quebec; Morrisville, NC; New York, NY; Newtown, PA; Princeton, NJ; Quebec City, Quebec; Santa Monica, CA; Saratoga Springs, NY; Somerset, NJ; South San Francisco, CA; Toronto, Ontario; Westerville, OH; Wilmington, NC.

Latin America

Bogotá, Colombia; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Lima, Perú; Mexico City, Mexico; Mexico City, Mexico (North); Rio De Janeiro, Brazil; Santiago, Chile; São Paulo, Brazil.

Europe

Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Barcelona, Spain; Belgrade, Serbia; Bratislava, Slovakia; Brighton, UK; Bucharest, Romania; Budapest, Hungary; Edinburgh, UK; Farnborough, UK; Istanbul, Turkey; Krakow, Poland; Lewes, UK; London, UK; Machalen, Belgium; Madrid, Spain; Milan, Italy; Moscow, Russia; Munich, Germany; Nice, France; Paris, France; Prague, Czech Republic; Saronno, Italy; Sofia, Bulgaria; St. Petersburg, Russia; Stockholm, Sweden; Vrilissia, Greece; Warsaw, Poland; Wiesbaden, Germany; Zurich, Switzerland.

Asia Pacific

Adelaide, Australia; Auckland, New Zealand; Bangalore, India; Bangkok, Thailand; Beijing, China; Dalian, China; Gurgaon, India; Hong Kong; Hyderabad, India; Jakarta, Indonesia; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Makati City, Philippines; Osaka, Japan; Pasig City, Philippines; Pune, India; Seoul, South Korea; Shanghai, China; Singapore; Sydney, Australia; Taipei, Taiwan; Tokyo, Japan.

Middle East

Kiryat Ono, Israel; Mar Roukoz, Lebanon.

Africa

Cairo, Egypt; Bloemfontein, South Africa.

Career Path

Syneos Health makes space for job-specific training and certifications. As such, there are a variety of opportunities for employees to gain in-depth learning for their specific roles.

In the consulting line of business, the firm offers a career path that looks like the following:

    • Consulting Skill Development

Build a breadth of experience analyzing data across different accounts with different managers.

        • Analyst
        • Associate Consultant
        • Consultant
        • Senior Consultant
    • Consulting Project Management

Learn to manage projects, coach a team, and build influence with clients

        • Engagement Manager
        • Senior Engagement Manager
    • Commercial Leadership

Lead, recruit, develop new IP, and grow firm revenue.

        • Director
        • Managing Director

There are a variety of other titles that roughly map to these in other parts of the consulting business (the above is for the general advisory group track).

Other non-consulting tracks within the company have separate career paths and titles. Like many consulting firms, though, the consulting line of business is structured like a pyramid, with far more Consultants and Analysts at the bottom than Senior Engagement Managers and Directors at the top.

Exit Opportunities

Exit opportunities at Syneos Health aren’t too shabby. Breaking into a Tier 1 biotech or pharma firm (Pfizer, Novartis, Merck, etc.) or MBB is difficult – but not impossible – after a stint at Syneos. You will have to communicate your experience in a way that resonates, highlighting your ability to drive impact, elite consulting skillset, and deep industry expertise.

Other Syneos Health exit opportunities include the opportunity to work within clinical research companies, and many alumni of Syneos Health have moved into higher-level management and leadership positions in the broader life sciences industry.

Notable Alumni

The list below is a small sample of Syneos Health notable alumni and also functions as a guide for exit opportunities and career trajectories at the firm:

Diversity Programs

Syneos Health is committed to integrating diverse groups into the industry. Diversity, equality, and inclusion are all part of the culture of the firm. The Syneo Health Employee Resources Group (ERG) is a program developed and led by employees that focuses on integrating diverse groups into the work environment. The firm has a Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion Council and embeds DE&I into manager training. Select DE&I tactics include Early talent focus on HBCU recruitment.

Syneos Health Internships

Syneos Health internships are for undergraduates who demonstrate excellent critical and analytical thinking skills and have an interest in working in biopharmaceutical consulting. Qualified undergraduate students should excel in their academic endeavors and be part of significant extracurriculars such as honor societies, independent research studies, etc.

Syneos Health also offers internships at the MBA level and looks for candidates with either experience or interest in the biopharmaceutical / medical technology industries. The firm is most likely to interview candidates coming from a management, marketing, and medical science background, although coming from a different background isn’t an automatic disqualifier. To learn more about Syneos Health opportunities for undergraduate and MBA students, click here.

Syneos Health Culture

Syneos Health is unique within the biopharmaceutical services industry because of the business model we’ve already discussed. The firm builds its culture on five key values:

  1. Accountability
  2. Trust
  3. Collaboration
  4. Innovation
  5. Professional
  6. Advancement

These cultural attributes set the stage for everything else at the firm.

Notably, Syneos Health employs a People Pillar goal to increase diversity at the leadership level. The Syneos Health Employee Resource Group (ERG) is built and led by the companies’ employees, integrating diverse sub-groups within the firm to ensure employee representation to leadership as well as provide support resources.

Awards

    • “50 Companies to Watch” by Bloomberg BusinessWeek in 2017
    • 2020 Brandon Hall Award for Best Unique or Innovative Learning Program
    • Centerwatch’s Top Innovators List in 2018
    • Listed in FlexJobs Top 100 Companies to Watch for Remote Jobs in 2021

Syneos Health Interview

Now that you know more about the culture at Syneos Health, it’s time to think about Syneos Health interviews. There are three types of interviews, depending on the position, that potential employees must go through.

Type 1: Behavioral-based Interviewing:

Behavioral-based questions require short stories describing events when you have had to be a leader, meet a deadline, overcome a hard situation, etc. The interviewer will center her questions towards Planning & Prioritizing, Customer Focus and other core competencies.

Type 2: Sales Demonstration:

This is often used for commercial roles but is not completely unheard of within the consulting sphere. Candidates should prepare to make a short sales presentation based on specified services.

Type 3: Presenting a Case Study:

Generally, the case study will be presented to individuals before the interview to provide enough preparation time. A case study presentation consists of a business scenario in which you will be asked to analyze a business problem and present a proposed solution. Work with one of our expert coaches to prepare for this unique style of interview.

Target Schools

Syneos Health target schools are numerous. As a large, publicly traded company, it attends recruiting fairs and maintains a presence at many top universities in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

Syneos Health Salary

Syneos Health’s salary varies depending on the business line, specific position, location, and experience level of the employee. Syneos Health salary and broader compensation are in line with other life sciences boutiques. Read our Management Consultant Salary Report for more info.

Conclusion

Syneos Health is a unique biopharmaceutical solutions firm. Yes, it’s a leading biopharmaceutical consulting firm, but it’s also a Contract Research Organization and a Contract Commercial Organization.

A role at the firm gives you holistic exposure to biopharma and the business problems faced by players across the industry, setting you up for an exit into a startup or established multinational company. Interested in a role at Syneos health? Get your application ready and prepare for the tough interview process with the help of our expert team.

 

 

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Filed Under: Boutique Consulting Firms, Consulting Firms