Director, Implementation & Adoption Business Partner

Job Description Summary #LI-Hybrid

The ideal location for this role is the East Hanover, NJ site but remote work may be possible (there may be some restrictions based on legal entity). Please note that this role would not provide relocation as a result. If associate is remote, all home office expenses and any travel/lodging to this site for periodic live meetings will be at the employee’s expense. The expectation of working hours and travel (domestic and/or international) will be defined by the hiring manager. This position will require travel.

Imagine shaping how transformation comes to life across one of the world's leading medicines companies. As a Director, Implementation & Adoption Business Partner, you will play a critical role in turning bold transformation ambitions into sustainable business outcomes. Partnering directly with Engine teams and business leaders, you will embed adoption, readiness, and implementation strategies from the earliest stages of solution design through deployment and stabilization. This is a unique opportunity to influence how people, processes, technology, and ways of working evolve across Novartis, helping leaders and teams embrace change, accelerate value realization, and build lasting capabilities that improve the lives of patients worldwide.

Job Description

Key Responsibilities:

• Partner with transformation teams to embed adoption and implementation considerations from design through deployment.
• Assess change and stakeholder impacts, behavioral shifts, readiness needs, and adoption metrics and risks across business functions.
• Develop and lead implementation and adoption plans, driven by expected outcomes and key conditions to enable success, behavioral changes required, key interventions/actions, evolution of roles & responsibilities, training/upskilling requirements, communications.
• Align deployment and change management activities across business, technology, people, learning, communications, and operational teams.
• Equip leaders, sponsors, and champions with tools and strategies to drive successful change adoption.
• Monitor readiness, adoption, usage, and feedback to identify barriers and accelerate business outcomes.
• Lead interventions to address risks, remove obstacles, and support sustainable post-launch adoption.
• Capture lessons learned and develop reusable adoption practices to strengthen future transformation initiatives.

Essential Requirements:

• Education: Bachelor's degree in business, organizational development, psychology, communications, HR/P&O, healthcare, life sciences, or related discipline required. Master's degree or certification in change management, organizational development, communications, design thinking, Agile change, Prosci/ADKAR, CCMP, or Lean preferred
• 8+ years of experience in change management, implementation, adoption, transformation delivery, organizational effectiveness, consulting, commercial operations, or digital/business transformation.
• Experience in pharma, biotech, healthcare, consulting, or technology-enabled transformation, especially commercial transformation, field deployment, workflow redesign, AI/digital tool adoption, or new ways of working.
• Experience converting future-state designs into practical implementation and adoption plans with owners, milestones, readiness criteria, stakeholder impacts, leadership actions, local deployment requirements, and sustainment measures.
• Experience facilitating change management assessments and developing successful readiness and adoption plans, leveraging innovative tools and embedding AI, where possible, to simplify and accelerate outcomes.
• Experience working directly with and influencing sponsors, people leaders, functional teams, product/technology teams, P&O, communications, learning, controls, and external partners.
• Ability to identify adoption risks early, translate evidence into interventions, and escalate barriers related to leadership, capability, process, policy, controls, capacity, or ownership.
• Exceptional executive and frontline communication skills, with the ability to tailor adoption plans by audience while preserving transformation intent.

Desirable Requirements:

• Experience with role-based learning, sponsor coaching, readiness measurement, adoption analytics, and stabilization after launch
• Experience operating as an embedded business partner rather than a downstream communications or training resource

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.

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

Salary Range

$185,500.00 - $344,500.00

Skills Desired