Director, Field Execution Lead

Summary

#LI-Remote

This position can be based remotely anywhere in the U.S. (there may be some restrictions based on legal entity). The expectation of working hours and travel (domestic and/or international) will be defined by the hiring manager. This position will require 30% travel.

Novartis is unable to offer relocation support for this role: please only apply if this location is accessible to you.

Company will not sponsor visas for this position.

The Director, Field Execution Lead is a senior execution leadership role within Field Operations Performance & Enablement, responsible for ensuring execution ownership, execution health, and closed loop delivery are applied consistently across Therapeutic Areas (TA) through a team of Field Execution Leads.

This role serves as the people and system anchor between enterprise strategy and field reality, ensuring clarity of ownership once initiatives enter execution and that execution discipline is sustained at scale. By operating within the standardized execution system, the Director replaces variability in execution judgment with consistent expectations, accountability, and decision discipline, ensuring issues are identified early, escalated appropriately, and resolved once at the system level.

Partnering closely with Therapeutic Area leadership, Strategy & Execution Leads, and enablement functions, this role preserves TA context while ensuring execution maturity, capacity, and reliability are consistently delivered across the portfolio.

About the Role

Key Responsibilities:

• Ensure end‑to‑end execution outcomes are owned and delivered across assigned Therapeutic Areas through a team of Field Execution Leads, spanning steady‑state operations, launches, and enterprise change initiatives.
• Hold Field Execution Leads accountable as the single points of execution ownership for their assigned Therapeutic Areas, ensuring priorities are delivered with clarity, sequencing, and follow‑through.
• Oversee execution health across Therapeutic Areas, identifying systemic risks, recurring friction, and execution breakdowns that require intervention beyond a single TA.
• Ensure Field Execution Leads accurately interpret execution health and drive timely decisions and corrective actions based on standardized business review outputs.
• Ensure escalation paths, decision rights, and governance are applied consistently, and that execution issues are resolved once and at the system level, rather than repeatedly across TAs.
• Partner with planning, enablement, and infrastructure teams to ensure execution prerequisites (processes, tools, training, sequencing) are consistently validated prior to field deployment across Therapeutic Areas.
• Serve as a senior execution partner to Therapeutic Area leadership, reinforcing a shared enterprise execution system while preserving TA‑specific priorities and constraints.
• Lead, coach, and develop a team of Field Execution Leads, setting clear expectations for execution ownership, decision discipline, and accountability.
• Calibrate execution judgment across the team, ensuring consistent standards for escalation, risk management, and resolution.

Essential Requirements: 

• Bachelor’s degree required from 4-year college or university.
• 8+ years’ of experience in commercial execution, field operations, launch management, or complex enterprise delivery roles within pharmaceutical, biotech, healthcare, or similarly complex industries.
• Proven people‑leadership experience, including coaching and developing execution‑focused roles.
• Demonstrated ability to ensure consistent execution outcomes across multiple Therapeutic Areas within a shared execution system.
• Proven experience operating within structured governance, operating cadences, and decision models.
• Strong judgment and communication skills, with the ability to translate execution signals into system‑level decisions and improvements.
• Comfortable operating in highly visible, change‑intensive environments with accountability for execution quality and results.

Desirable Requirements:

• Experience leading execution or operations roles supporting large, geographically dispersed field organizations.
• Familiarity with enterprise operating models, execution governance, or performance management systems.

Novartis Compensation Summary :

The salary for this position is expected to range between $185,500 and $344,500 per year.

The final salary offered is determined based on factors like, but not limited to, relevant skills and experience, and upon joining Novartis will be reviewed periodically. Novartis may change the published salary range based on company and market factors.

Your compensation will include a performance-based cash incentive and, depending on the level of the role, eligibility to be considered for annual equity awards.

US-based eligible employees will receive a comprehensive benefits package that includes health, life and disability benefits, a 401(k) with company contribution and match, and a variety of other benefits. In addition, employees are eligible for a generous time off package including vacation, personal days, holidays and other leaves.

Why Novartis: Helping people with disease and their families takes more than innovative science. It takes a community of smart, passionate people like you. Collaborating, supporting and inspiring each other. Combining to achieve breakthroughs that change patients’ lives. Ready to create a brighter future together?

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EEO Statement:

The Novartis Group of Companies are Equal Opportunity Employers. We do not discriminate in recruitment, hiring, training, promotion or other employment practices for reasons of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital or veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status.

Accessibility & Reasonable Accommodations

The Novartis Group of Companies are committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If, because of a medical condition or disability, you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application process, or to perform the essential functions of a position, please send an e-mail to [email protected] or call Show phone number and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information. Please include the job requisition number in your message.