Digital Innovation Associate Director

Job Purpose  

The Development organization oversees the development of new medicines discovered by our researchers and partners. We transform the lives of people by developing innovative and life-changing medicines. We are 11,000 associates worldwide working together to reimagine medicine.

Novartis is looking for a Digital Innovation Associate Director to join the Digital Process Innovation team within the Strategy, Program and Portfolio Operation (SPPO) function. The successful candidate will be responsible for supporting and accelerating digital innovation initiatives that impact Novartis drug development. The role will be a core member of the Digital Process Innovation Team of associates working on innovative initiatives across all areas of drug development. The Digital Innovation Associate Director will be responsible for the execution of digital initiatives and requires the ability to manage and drive initiatives from a wide variety of innovative digital capabilities and drug development disciplines.

Specific responsibilities in this role include:

• Identifies opportunities to scale new and existing digital innovative technologies and capabilities across Development and Novartis
• Contributes to the formulation and implementation of Digital innovation strategy
• With the support of subject matter experts, defines Development business problems and needs, and contributes to the development of business cases to fund programs to tackle them
• Comfortable navigating ambiguity and complexity to determine methods and procedures for effective initiative delivery
• Acts as a key expert who plans, coordinates, and executes activities on digital initiatives with strong project management expertise
• Drives the decision making process within initiatives, including the engagement with, and coordination of multi-disciplinary stakeholders
• Anticipates, identifies and communicates risks and issues, and formulates mitigation approaches with support of broader initiative and digital team
• Ensures effective team dynamics, performance, communication, collaboration and prioritization

Major Accountabilities 

Digital innovation

• Partner with Global Line Functions to identify business challenges, match needs with potential digital solutions, and drive scoping activities
• Develops compelling, value-driven business proposals for project funding
• Evaluates disruptive technologies for the business through delivery of minimum viable products (MVPs) and proof of concepts (PoCs)
• Works closely with business SMEs and technology experts to structure and deliver innovative programs that deliver value to Novartis processes and drug development pipeline
• Identifies and shares learnings and process changes needed for more effective technology adoption as identified through pilot programs and/or gap analyses
• Support effective communication of Digital innovation strategy within Development and across Novartis

Initiative delivery

• Supports digital initiatives across varying areas of technological disciplines (analytics, automation, artificial intelligence, NLP/G) with the core objective of meeting key business needs
• Leads the implementation and scale-up of innovative digital initiatives in collaboration with Global Line Functions and technical delivery teams across the Development organization in line with
• Accountable for initiative execution and progress tracking
• Represents broader business needs and priorities on innovative digital initiatives, and works with technical teams and business stakeholders to deliver outcomes in line with time, cost and quality expectations
• Communicates initiative progress, issues and opportunities horizontally and vertically in an open and timely manner

Collaboration and engagement

• Builds trusting relationships and supports team members as needed for effective initiative delivery
• Responsible for collaborating Collaborates effectively with teams to ensure proactive identification of issues, developing mitigation plans and tracking resolutions
• Supports digital partners and leaders in effectively implementing data and digital technologies and strategies across Development and the wider Novartis organization
• Acts as representative and point of contact for the Digital innovation community on a range of topics including potential opportunities, challenges and issues

Capability building and leadership

• Identifies and implements best practices for innovative project, program and change management
• Participates in initiatives (within and outside of Development) to identify, develop and implement improvements to ways of working and to accelerate innovative initiatives
• Builds an understanding of cutting edge internal and external digital innovation capabilities

Ideal Background 

*Advanced degree in business or life sciences or equivalent experience in life science      

*4+ years industry or consulting experience

*4+ years project leadership experience

*3+ years pharmaceutical experience

*Advanced understanding and direct relevant experience with digital technology and pharmaceutical development

*Advanced project/program management skills, and ideally change management experience

*Experience developing, launching and leading projects/programs within a complex matrix environment

*Experience of working with large scale and complex international and multidisciplinary teams

*Strong experience in engaging and communicating with, and influencing senior leaders