Senior Director, External Expert Engagement – Standards & Excellence

Job Description

<p><h3>Job Description Summary</h3>
<p>Step into a high-impact leadership role as Senior Director, External Expert Engagement – Standards & Excellence at Novartis, where you will drive business excellence in the External Expert Engagement (EEE) Center of Excellence. You will be accountable for the strategic design, integration, and continuous improvement of global standards, processes, training, and business systems supporting external expert engagement across Global and International Medical Affairs. Your work will ensure governance clarity, operational scalability, and performance transparency, enabling cross‑functional alignment and digital integration with Legal, ERC, IT, and Compliance stakeholders.</p>
<p>Location: Barcelona, Spain / Dublin, Ireland</p>
<p>Novartis is unable to offer relocation support for this role: please only apply if this location is accessible for you.</p>
<h3>Job Description</h3>
<h3>Responsibilities</h3>
<ul>
<li><p>Lead the definition, refinement, and implementation of global standards, SOPs, and external expert engagement processes.</p></li>
<li><p>Ensure ongoing review and alignment of processes with regulatory requirements, internal policies, and business needs.</p></li>
<li><p>Partner with Governance and Operations leads to translate standards into scalable workflows and ensure consistent execution across regions.</p></li>
<li><p>Oversee monitoring activities to track process adherence and quality performance.</p></li>
<li><p>Drive the development and deployment of global training programmes for expert engagement stakeholders and support teams.</p></li>
<li><p>Oversee content design strategy and coordinate outsourcing or central delivery of training materials.</p></li>
<li><p>Promote knowledge sharing, best practice documentation, and onboarding toolkits to build capability and ensure operational consistency.</p></li>
<li><p>Serve as business owner for expert engagement systems (e.g., HIP / ENGAGE), partnering with IT and system teams on enhancements and compliance integration.</p></li>
<li><p>Oversee compliant data aggregation and regulatory reporting across jurisdictions, collaborating closely with Legal and governance functions.</p></li>
<li><p>Define and lead execution of performance measurement frameworks and dashboards to support enterprise-level transparency and decision‑making.</p></li>
</ul>
<h3>Essential for the role</h3>
<ul>
<li><p>Master’s degree in Life Sciences, Business, Legal, or a related discipline.</p></li>
<li><p>12+ years of experience in pharmaceutical operations, governance, process excellence, or global operations management.</p></li>
<li><p>Demonstrated success in designing and deploying enterprise processes and performance frameworks.</p></li>
<li><p>Strong background in cross‑functional stakeholder engagement and matrix collaboration.</p></li>
<li><p>Experience managing or overseeing operational reporting, systems integration, or analytics.</p></li>
<li><p>Proven ability to influence change, drive simplification, and lead global initiatives.</p></li>
<li><p>Proven leadership skills with project management and people management experience, including direct leadership of large teams and complex multi‑functional teams.</p></li>
<li><p>Excellent English language skills, both written and spoken.</p></li>
</ul>
<h3>Desirable for the role</h3>
<ul>
<li><p>Additional certifications in process excellence, training, or digital systems (e.g., Lean, Agile, Lean Six Sigma).</p></li>
<li><p>Analytical mindset with ability to translate data into operational insights, and strategic thinking with strong process and systems orientation.</p></li>
</ul>
<h3>Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion</h3>
<p>Novartis is committed to building an outstanding, inclusive work environment and diverse teams representative of the patients and communities we serve.</p>
<h3>Skills Desired</h3>
<ul>
<li>Agility</li>
<li>Clinical Practices</li>
<li>Cross‑Functional Collaboration</li>
<li>Data Analysis</li>
<li>Drug Development</li>
<li>Employee Development</li>
<li>Healthcare Sector Understanding</li>
<li>Health Sciences</li>
<li>Influencing Skills</li>
<li>Innovation</li>
<li>Inspirational Leadership</li>
<li>Integrated Evidence Generation</li>
<li>Medical Affairs</li>
<li>Medical Communication</li>
<li>Medical Education</li>
<li>Patient Care</li>
<li>People Management</li>
<li>Pharmaceutics</li>
<li>Priority Disease Areas Expertise</li>
<li>Product Launches</li>
<li>Product Strategy</li>
<li>Real World Evidence (RWE)</li>
<li>Regulatory Compliance</li>
<li>Research Methodologies</li>
<li>+ 4 more</li>
</ul></p>
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