Associate Director, CRM Innovation Labs

Novartis • East Hanover, NJ

1d • $152,600 - $283,400 • Onsite

About The Position

Novartis is a global healthcare leader focused on transforming medicine and improving lives through advanced technology and data. The SPT (Strategy, Platforms & Transformation) function integrates strategy, data, AI, and platforms to enhance the US Commercial organization's speed, decision-making, and impact. Within SPT, the US CRM organization is driving the transformation to a next-generation Customer360 operating model. The Associate Director, CRM Innovation Labs, reporting to the Executive Director, CRM Labs, will support the strategy, development, and execution of CRM Labs priorities, including shaping, prototyping, and proof-of-concept activities. This role implements the CRM Labs iterative de-risking model by translating innovation demand into disciplined experimentation to validate business value, user experience, and technical feasibility before enterprise commitment. The Associate Director will collaborate with various teams, including Product Owners, business stakeholders, DDIT, architecture, engineering, UX, analytics, privacy, legal, and compliance, to conduct rapid, evidence-based cycles. The goal is to refine, advance, or discontinue ideas quickly and transparently, ensuring successful concepts are prepared for scaled delivery through standard product road mapping and production processes. This position is based in East Hanover, NJ, and is not remote. It requires 10% travel.

Requirements

• 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

Nice To Haves

• Master of Science and/or MBA preferred
• Experience enabling the transition from prototype to production is preferred, including partnering with delivery teams to package outputs, define next steps, and minimize rework

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, DDIT, 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, DDIT, and lab-sourced opportunities, helping assess fit, readiness, and strategic value.

Benefits

• health, life and disability benefits
• a 401(k) with company contribution and match
• a variety of other benefits
• generous time off package including vacation, personal days, holidays and other leaves
• performance-based cash incentive
• eligibility to be considered for annual equity awards

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level