Associate Director, CRM Innovation Labs (East Hanover)

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Summary

#LI-Hybrid

Novartis is on a mission to transform medicine and improve lives worldwide. As a global leader in healthcare, we leverage advanced technology and data to deliver patient-centric solutions, enhance customer engagement, and drive innovation. SPT (Strategy, Platforms & Transformation) was established to seamlessly integrate strategy, data, AI, and platforms into a single powerhouse function, propelling our US Commercial organization forward. Our goal is to empower teams to move faster, make better informed decisions, and ultimately drive greater impact for patients and healthcare providers. Within SPT, you'll discover how our teams lay the data foundations that fuel critical decision-making, develop and scale AI-driven products, and shepherd transformation programs that translate strategy into tangible business outcomes. The US CRM organization sits within SPT and plays a crucial role in driving the transformation to a next-generation Customer360 operating model.

Reporting to the Executive Director, CRM Labs, the Associate Director, CRM Innovation Labs supports the strategy, development, and execution of CRM Labs priorities across shaping, prototyping, and proof-of-concept activities. This role tactically implements the CRM Labs iterative de-risking model by translating innovation demand into disciplined experimentation that validates business value, user experience, and technical feasibility before enterprise commitment. The Associate Director partners closely with Product Owners, business stakeholders, IT, architecture, engineering, UX, analytics, privacy, legal, and compliance teams to run rapid, evidence-based cycles that refine, advance, or off-ramp ideas quickly and transparently while ensuring successful concepts are positioned for transition into scaled delivery through standard product road mapping and production processes.

This position will be located at East Hanover, NJ and will not have the ability to be located remotely. This position will require 10% travel as defined by the business (domestic and/ or international).

About the Role

Key Responsibilities:

• Execute the CRM Labs de-risking model: Run work through structured, timeboxed stages including ideation support, shaping, prototyping, review and decision, and proof-of-concept readiness.
• Lead tactical implementation of rapid prototyping: Plan and oversee 1-to-2-week prototype iterations with a maximum four-week lifecycle per initiative, ensuring disciplined scope and clear endpoints.
• Translate opportunities into testable concepts: Partner with Product Owners, business stakeholders, and technical teams to define value hypotheses, assumptions, success criteria, and practical build plans.
• Drive evidence-based decision making: Capture learnings from each cycle and prepare recommendations to refine, advance to proof of concept, or off-ramp initiatives based on business value, technical signal, and enterprise readiness.
• Coordinate cross-functional execution: Work across CRM Product, IT, architecture, engineering, UX, analytics, privacy, legal, security, and compliance teams to ensure experimentation is feasible, governed, and aligned to enterprise standards.
• Support proof-of-concept planning and transition: Clarify scope, dependencies, risks, governance needs, user involvement, and enterprise gates required to test in real environments.
• Protect production capacity and enterprise investment: Ensure Lab work remains focused on de-risking and does not become shadow delivery, unmanaged customization, or parallel production execution.
• Document and operationalize learnings : Produce concise outputs including findings, decision logs, opportunity assessments, prototype outcomes, and recommendations that inform product roadmap and scaled delivery decisions.
• Maintain governance, privacy, and compliance: Follow established guardrails for privacy, security, compliance, and data usage, especially as initiatives progress from prototype into proof of concept.
• Partner in demand intake and prioritization: Support regular triage of ideas from leadership, Product, business and field teams, IT, and lab-sourced opportunities, helping assess fit, readiness, and strategic value.

Essential Requirements:

• Education: Bachelor's degree in related field is required; Master of Science and/or MBA preferred
• Minimum 6+ years of experience in CRM, product management, innovation delivery, consulting, technology strategy, or related leadership roles, preferably in the pharmaceutical, healthcare, or CRM sectors
• Strong partnership, execution discipline, and intellectual maturity are needed. A comprehensive understanding of best practices in CRM, Data, and AI-enabled customer engagement is important to success in this role.
• Proven success executing rapid experimentation, prototyping, or proof-of-concept work that tests business value and feasibility before larger-scale investment
• Strong understanding of the CRM landscape (Sales, Marketing, and Service), including Salesforce (Agentforce, Data Cloud, core platform), Veeva, and adjacent technologies in the customer engagement ecosystem
• Understanding of CRM, AI, and data platforms and architectures (e.g., Salesforce, Salesforce Data Cloud, Veeva, OpenAI, Snowflake, or similar enterprise technologies)
• Experience translating ambiguous ideas into clear experiments, including framing the use case, defining assumptions, identifying success criteria, and shaping practical build plans
• Experience working across business and technical teams, including Product, architecture, engineering, UX, analytics, privacy, legal, compliance, and operations
• Strong operational discipline in agile delivery, work management, documentation, decision tracking, and transparent status communication
• Comfort working hands-on in iterative delivery cycles with a bias toward action, speed, learning, and practical outcomes over excessive polish
• Experience supporting governance in regulated environments, including privacy, security, compliance, and risk management considerations relevant to healthcare and customer engagement platforms
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to build stakeholder alignment, synthesize learnings, and recommend decisions grounded in business value and empirical evidence
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to interpret complex inputs, challenge assumptions, and adapt approaches in a rapidly evolving technological landscape
• Experience enabling the transition from prototype to production is preferred, including partnering with delivery teams to package outputs, define next steps, and minimize rework

The salary for this position is expected to range between $152,600.00 and $283,400.00per 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?

Benefits and Rewards: Learn about all the ways we'll help you thrive personally and professionally.
Read our handbook (PDF 30 MB)

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.

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