AD, Data Governance Solutions Lead (3 Openings)
About The Position
Novartis is hiring three Associate Director, Data Governance Solutions Leads for its Data Governance Solutions team within Strategy, Platforms & Transformation. These leaders will help build and scale enterprise governance capabilities so data is easier to understand, access, protect, and use confidently. Candidates may be considered for the specialization most aligned with their experience: KPI Governance & Councils, Governance Platforms, or Data Access & Security. The KPI Governance & Councils specialization establishes and leads enterprise approaches for defining, managing, and governing key performance indicators, creating a consistent source of truth for metrics and strengthening business performance evaluation. The Governance Platforms specialization owns the build and operation of the data governance platform as the unified system of record for catalog, lineage, glossary, and data contracts, and supports Data Command Center pipeline-health, observability, and incident-management panels. The Data Access & Security specialization operates fine-grained, policy-based access control across Novartis data layers, scaling production controls for people and AI agents. The position provides strategic and operational leadership for an enterprise data governance capability, translating business priorities and data strategy into scalable solutions. The role collaborates across business, data, technology, analytics, privacy, legal, security, and compliance functions; supports enterprise data strategy and Data Command Center development; and promotes practical governance that balances business enablement, innovation, risk management, and regulatory expectations. The ideal location is the East Hanover, New Jersey site, though remote work may be possible subject to legal-entity restrictions. Relocation is not provided. Remote employees are responsible for home-office expenses and travel or lodging for periodic live meetings at the East Hanover site. Working hours and travel expectations will be defined by the hiring manager. The role requires 15% travel.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Information Systems, Data Management, Engineering, Finance, or a related field.
- For KPI Governance & Councils or Governance Platforms: at least 8 years in data platform engineering or data governance tooling.
- For KPI Governance & Councils or Governance Platforms: hands-on experience standing up a catalog or governance platform from scratch, such as Collate/OpenMetadata, Atlan, Collibra, or Alation.
- For KPI Governance & Councils or Governance Platforms: strong SQL skills and working knowledge of Snowflake; experience integrating catalog tools with cloud data warehouses.
- For KPI Governance & Councils or Governance Platforms: understanding of data lineage, metadata management, and data-contract concepts such as ODCS or equivalent.
- For KPI Governance & Councils or Governance Platforms: experience managing implementation vendors or surge teams against scope and timeline.
- For KPI Governance & Councils or Governance Platforms: comfort operating in an ambiguous, build-phase environment and turning a target-state diagram into running infrastructure.
- For Data Access & Security: at least 8 years in data access governance, identity and access management, or data security within a regulated industry.
- For Data Access & Security: hands-on experience with Immuta or equivalent policy-based access tools such as Privacera or Satori, and Snowflake RBAC/row-column security.
- For Data Access & Security: working knowledge of HIPAA, GDPR, and pharma-specific compliance regimes (OIG, Sunshine Act, 340B) as they affect data access design.
- For Data Access & Security: comfort operating at the intersection of engineering, legal, and compliance.
- Willingness to meet the role's 15% travel requirement.
Nice To Haves
- Pharma or Life Sciences industry experience for the KPI Governance & Councils or Governance Platforms specializations.
- Pharma or Life Sciences industry experience for the Data Access & Security specialization.
- Experience designing access frameworks for non-human or agent identities.
Responsibilities
- Provide strategic and operational leadership for an enterprise data governance capability, translating business priorities and data strategy into scalable solutions.
- Define, implement, and continuously improve governance frameworks, operating models, policies, standards, controls, and decision rights.
- Partner with business leaders, data owners, technology teams, analytics functions, and privacy, legal, security, and compliance stakeholders to align governance priorities and drive adoption.
- Establish ownership, accountability, and escalation paths for governance decisions, risks, issues, and remediation activities.
- Support enterprise data strategy and Data Command Center capabilities by improving visibility into data health, access, performance, and governance.
- Lead cross-functional forums, working groups, or implementation activities that enable timely decisions and measurable outcomes.
- Develop reporting, scorecards, and performance indicators communicating governance maturity, adoption, risk, and operational health to senior stakeholders.
- Manage external vendor and implementation-partner relationships, including scope, deliverables, milestones, quality, risks, and budget considerations.
- Identify opportunities to simplify governance processes, strengthen controls, improve user experience, and accelerate responsible access to trusted data.
- Champion a practical, collaborative governance culture balancing business enablement, innovation, risk management, and regulatory expectations.
- For KPI Governance & Councils, establish and lead enterprise approaches for defining, managing, and governing key performance indicators.
- For Governance Platforms, build and operate the data governance platform as the unified system of record for catalog, lineage, glossary, and data contracts; support Data Command Center data pipeline-health, observability, and incident-management panels.
- For Data Access & Security, operate and scale fine-grained, policy-based access controls across Novartis data layers for people and AI agents.
Benefits
- Comprehensive health, life, and disability benefits for eligible US-based employees.
- 401(k) with company contribution and match.
- Performance-based cash incentive.
- Depending on role level, eligibility to be considered for annual equity awards.
- Generous time off package including vacation, personal days, holidays, and other leaves.
- A variety of other benefits.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Director
