Director, Launch Excellence Strategy (1 of 2)

Novartis • East Hanover, NJ

3d • Hybrid

About The Position

Novartis is preparing to launch several innovative medicines across four therapeutic areas over the next five years as part of its commitment to reimagine medicine. To enable these launches, we are seeking a Director to join the U.S. Launch Excellence Team. This role is for a senior commercial strategist with direct experience building and leading brand or franchise strategy for complex U.S. biopharmaceutical launches. The Director will partner with cross-functional leadership teams to shape, challenge, and strengthen launch strategy from launch minus 3 years through launch plus 1 year, ensuring that launch plans are bold, integrated, and patient-driven. Success in this position requires direct experience and deep understanding of U.S. brand/product strategy development, launch decision-making, and cross-functional trade-offs in a rapidly evolving healthcare ecosystem.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required; MBA or equivalent advanced degree strongly preferred.
• 10+ years of experience in U.S. biopharmaceutical brand strategy, marketing, commercial strategy, with direct ownership of brand or franchise strategy. Candidates must have personally led the development of U.S. brand strategy, including defining strategic choices, tradeoffs, and go‑to‑market assumptions.
• Demonstrated experience leading launch strategy for complex or high-profile biopharma products, including planning from pivotal program endorsement through post-launch optimization.
• Deep understanding of the roles and strategic contributions of each function across the launch planning horizon, and a record of effectively working cross-functionally to deliver impact.
• Experience in rare diseases, specialty, or novel technology/platform launches.
• Experience in one or more of these therapeutic areas: Cardiovascular-Renal-Metabolic, Immunology, Neuroscience, Oncology.
• Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders, challenge the status quo, and drive strategic clarity in ambiguous environments.
• Strong analytical, financial, and storytelling skills, with the ability to translate complexity into strategic direction.
• Experience with AI solutions to advance strategic quality and speed of impact

Nice To Haves

• Experience in management consulting (life sciences) or equivalent strategic advisory roles.
• Experience in large pharma organizations.
• This role is intended for candidates who have personally led U.S. biopharmaceutical brand or franchise strategy, including ownership of launch strategy and key strategic choices across the launch planning horizon. Candidates whose experience is primarily focused on project management, operational launch execution, readiness tracking, or process governance, without direct brand or franchise strategy ownership, are not a fit for this role.

Responsibilities

• Enterprise Launch Strategy Leadership: Serve as the primary strategic thought and sparring partner to several U.S. cross‑functional launch teams, shaping end‑to-end launch strategy across the full planning horizon (launch minus 3 years through launch plus 1 year). Challenge and elevate brand teams’ thinking on waves of growth, strategic choices, environmental shaping, competitive readiness, value proposition, access assumptions, and executional certainty. Ensure launch strategies reflect the available evidence, patient impact, and long-term value creation.
• Strategic Integration & Decision Support Ensure launch plans integrate functional deliverables into a singular, cohesive plan for customers that considers key strategic questions, tradeoffs, and risks at each phase of launch planning. Drive data-informed strategic decision-making and inform annual and multi-year financial planning for pre-launch assets, identifying risks and opportunities early. Embed unbiased, objective assessments of readiness and ability to win.
• Launch Excellence Capability Building Lead high‑impact, multifunctional initiatives to evolve Novartis’ launch excellence method, ensuring it strengthens strategic decision‑making and enterprise trade‑off clarity, not just process adherence. Capture and scale best practices in strategic launch planning, building a connected U.S. launch community that accelerates learning and decision-making. Establish innovative, AI-enabled approaches that help teams enhance strategic insight, scenario readiness, and planning quality.

Benefits

• 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.

What This Job Offers

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