Executive Director, Tax Planning

Job Description

750 million. That is how many lives our products touch and while we’re proud of that fact, in this world of digital and technological transformation, we must ask ourselves this: how can we continue to improve and extend even more people’s lives ?

The Executive Director, Tax Planning role brings exciting opportunities to lead and oversee the tax planning function with the US being a critical focus of the Novartis corporate strategy. This role will be responsible for identifying and driving tax-planning strategies and initiatives; leading the tax aspects of M&A and BD&L transactions; and incorporating tax planning into the tax compliance and tax reporting. The Executive Director will report to the VP, Head U.S. Tax and Insurance and partner with local and cross-border corporate and functional leaders.

Your Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Lead and oversee domestic and U.S. international tax planning in close alignment with the global tax strategy. Identify, evaluate and implement opportunities to minimize the global effective tax rate and cash taxes while effectively managing risk.
• Provide technical leadership and actively participate in federal, state, local, and international research and tax planning activities. Assess the impact of new legislation, business restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, accounting methods or pronouncements. Monitor federal, state, international and OECD legislative and statutory tax changes and evaluate the potential impact to the Company.
• Lead U.S. M&A for acquisitions, business development and licensing deals, joint ventures, divestitures and restructurings including due diligence, design and implementation of structuring, financing and post-acquisition integration.
• Support all aspects of transfer pricing including cross-border funds flow and financing, documentation, intercompany agreements and audit defense.
  Provide technical leadership and actively participate in federal, state, local, and international research and tax planning activities. Assess the impact of new legislation, business restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, accounting methods or pronouncements. Monitor federal, state, international and OECD legislative and statutory tax changes and evaluate the potential impact to the Company.
• Assess and mitigate tax risk and determine action regarding uncertain international and U.S. tax rules and application, and the changing regulatory landscape.
• Ensure all tax aspects of tax planning and transactions are properly reported and appropriately disclosed in the tax compliance and tax reporting.
• Strategize and partner on resolution of tax controversies involving subject matter experts, business and support functions in the process.
• Strategize and direct resolution of tax controversies involving internal stakeholders in the process. Team with Public Affairs to shape tax policy development and support advocacy efforts of external organizations. Provide technical feedback on federal and state legislation. Strong business collaboration with local and cross-border corporate and functional leaders.
• Collaborate within the tax department to develop professional tax staff and foster a team-based work environment providing supervision and development opportunities for the team.
• Lead continuous improvement practices for the tax planning function. Other projects and duties as required/assigned.

EEO Statement

The Novartis Group of Companies are Equal Opportunity Employers and take pride in maintaining a diverse environment. We do not discriminate in recruitment, hiring, training, promotion or other employment practices for reasons of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital or veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status. We are committed to building diverse teams, representative of the patients and communities we serve, and we strive to create an inclusive workplace that cultivates bold innovation through collaboration and empowers our people to unleash their full potential.

Minimum Requirements

What you will bring to this role:

• Minimum Education Requirements: JD with LLM in Taxation or Masters of Science of Taxation (required); Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance (highly preferred).
• Minimum of 15 years progressive strategic tax experience with a large multinational corporate tax department and/or a major law firm or Big 4 Accounting firm handling complex federal, state and international tax issues and analysis.
• Minimum 8 years supervisory experience and strong leadership, diverse professional and technical skills, and exceptional judgment. A strong team player who generates enthusiasm, collaboration, credibility and commitment.
• Extensive experience in tax planning, M&A, international, transfer pricing and tax controversy as well as comprehensive understanding and experience with complex transactions.
• Exceptional business communication skills to effectively relate tax issues to senior leadership; demonstrated understanding of business implications of key actions and decisions as they relate to tax strategy.
• Able to handle and manage change in a proactive way.
• Travel Requirements: Less than 20%.
• Company/Industry Related Knowledge: Pharmaceutical industry experience preferred.

Why Novartis?

769 million lives were touched by Novartis medicines in 2020, and while we’re

proud of this, we know there is so much more we could do to help improve and

extend people’s lives.

We believe new insights, perspectives and ground-breaking solutions can be found

at the intersection of medical science and digital innovation. That a diverse,

equitable and inclusive environment inspires new ways of working.

We believe our potential can thrive and grow in an unbossed culture underpinned

by integrity, curiosity and flexibility. And we can reinvent what’s possible, when we

collaborate with courage to aggressively and ambitiously tackle the world’s

toughest medical challenges. Because the greatest risk in life, is the risk of never

trying!

Imagine what you could do here at Novartis!

Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion:

Novartis is committed to building an outstanding, inclusive work environment and diverse

team’s 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:

Accessibility and 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 in order to perform the essential functions of a position, please send an e-mail to View email address on click.appcast.io call View phone number on click.appcast.io and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information. Please include the job requisition number in your message.

Division

CORPORATE

Business Unit

Global Corp. Finance

Country

USA

Work Location

East Hanover, NJ

Company/Legal Entity

Novartis Corporation

Functional Area

Legal & Intellectual Property & Compliance

Job Type

Full Time

Employment Type

Regular

Shift Work

No

Early Talent

No