Global Operational Excellence, Director

Location: Novartis, UK, London
#LI-Hybrid
When you are a part of the Global Operational Excellence team, you'll have countless opportunities to develop your career, as you’ll be surrounded by people you can learn from and help you reach your full potential.
Our team is seeking a Global Operational Excellence (OpEx) Director who is a cross-disciplinary thinker with a positive personality, entrepreneurial mindset, and an uncompromising drive to transform drug development and improve patient lives.
Defined by highly proficient program management expertise, this role is a proven project leader who can drive highly performant cross-functional teams (Global Drug Development Units and Functions), challenge the status quo through novel thinking and deliver measurable organizational impact.
This role is accountable for delivering strategic imperatives for Global Drug Development (GDD) by taking ownership for the creation, planning and independent operationalization of specific improvement projects. The role is expected to enhance the executional certainty of assigned change initiatives by deploying best-in-class project management practices, successfully leading multi-disciplinary teams (influencing through the matrix) and integrating insights from internal and external specialists.
The impact of this role will be measured though executional success as well as the clarity of connection between Operational Excellence projects and influence on GDD objectives, strategy and priorities , including enhancing drug asset value, financial benefits of efficiency or productivity, improved operational outcomes or accelerating our cultural roadmap.
Major responsibilities:
Your responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
• Identify, propose, and deliver strategic and operational imperatives for Global Drug Development (GDD) as functional improvement projects using data as the performance baseline.
• Accountable for the faultless, independent delivery of large-scale improvement projects that employ project management best practices to enhance certainty of success.
• Structure ambiguous problems and take action to solve them, with clear linkage to GDD objectives, strategy and priorities.
• Synthesize clear takeaways from complex information into outcomes and recommendations using both qualitative and quantitative methods.
• Lead cross-functional teams, influencing without authority, to develop the best solution and move stakeholders and the organization to act.
• Establish trust-based relationships with leaders and stakeholders to better serve their organisations.
• Deploy excellent verbal and written communication skills to transmit information effectively to all audiences, including senior leaders, in a structured manner.
• Drive project teams and organizations to comprehensively improve operating model design, process simplification, data & technology enablement, and financial success, whilst ensuring quality standards and regulatory compliance.
• Maintain awareness of process improvement methodologies and best practices.

Minimum requirements:
What you'll bring to the role:
• Bachelor’s degree in life science and/or in business administration and an advance degree preferred (e.g., MBA desired or equivalent)
• 8-10 years of pharmaceutical industry, life sciences / drug development or equivalent working experience.
• Good understanding of drug research and development: expertise in organizational improvement methodologies (i.e., process reengineering, organizational development etc.).
• International and/or cross-disciplinary background; appreciation of complex operating models and proven ability to influence without direct authority
• Highly proficient program/project management capabilities by qualification, training, and experience, and awareness of IQP, lean six sigma, Scrum, Agile methodologies.
• Initiative taker, eager to break new ground, create opportunities for others.
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills - both verbal and written: Ability to present complex ideas effectively.
• Strong leadership presence and proven ability to work effectively with people at all levels in an organization.
• Team-orientated and collaborative approaches; outstanding listening skills and the ability to manage through influence to optimize contributions from team members as individuals and members of a cohesive team.
• Strong analytical skills, critical thinker, and problem-solving abilities to structure ambiguous problems and take action to solve them.
• Self-motivated with a remarkably high degree of ownership and accountability for results.
• Willingness to travel.
Why Novartis? Our purpose is to reimagine medicine to improve and extend people’s lives and our vision is to become the most valued and trusted medicines company in the world. How can we achieve this? With our people. It is our associates that drive us each day to reach our ambitions. Be a part of this mission and join us! Learn more here: https://www.novartis.com/about/strategy/people-and-culture
You’ll receive: You can find everything you need to know about our benefits and rewards in the Novartis Life Handbook. https://www.novartis.com/careers/benefits-rewards
Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion: Novartis is committed to building an outstanding, inclusive work environment and diverse teams' representative of the patients and communities we serve.
Join our Novartis Network: If this role is not suitable to your experience or career goals but you wish to stay connected to hear more about Novartis and our career opportunities, join the Novartis Network here: https://talentnetwork.novartis.com/network