Innovation Capability Director

Role Summary

In this crucial role at Novartis, the Innovation Capability Director will drive the delivery of innovative solutions for clinical trials in key focus areas: clinical trial recruitment and innovative trial operations. The successful candidate will contribute to the generation of data and knowledge on the feasibility, impact, and value of the solutions for subsequent scalability assessment through their implementation into clinical trials.

Responsibilities

• Set-up, implement and deploy innovative solutions that leverage the latest advancements in technology to enhance clinical trial recruitment and innovate trial operations. For solutions deployed in a trial, these will be in line with the Operational Execution Plan (OEP) and implemented in close collaboration with the CTT and maintaining oversight post-deployment with the Portfolio Innovation Director.
• Lead cross-functional team and vendors to deliver innovative clinical trial solutions in line with time, cost, and quality expectations.
• Conduct and/or organize vendor kick off meetings, design reviews, User Acceptance Testing and lessons learned as well as review content of vendor deliverables (e.g., User Requirements Specifications) for innovative solution vendors in partnership with Vendor Management.
• Proactively identify and address potential roadblocks, risks and/or issues and applies a continuous learning approach to drive improvements in innovative solutions based on input from early adopters and/or gap analysis.
• Develop and review content in key trial related documentation where there is no precedent (e.g., protocol, ICF, clinical trial application cover letters, investigator meetings, site, and patient training materials) for innovative solution in collaboration with Portfolio Innovation Director, CTT and vendors.
• Responsible to ensure consultation and buy-in, as necessary, of cross-functional experts of the Innovation Network (e.g., Regulatory, Quality, Legal, Data Privacy) in the trial specific delivery of the innovative solution.
• Develop and manage new processes where no process or precedent exists in collaboration with the Innovation Capability Head, while maintaining compliance with current regulations (both internal and external).
• Contribute to the co-creation of success criteria, guidance, processes, and templates for implementation at scale with future solution owners (e.g., Vendor Management).
• Support identification of emerging technologies and external trends for their focus area to ensure GCO continues to leverage best in class innovative solutions.
• Member of Innovation team that has end-to-end visibility on innovation pipeline and ensures continued learning & scalability assessment for more effective technology adoption.

Qualifications

• Bachelor‚Äôs degree in life sciences/healthcare
• 5+ years of clinical trial innovation and/or solution delivery experience in innovation focus area (clinical trial recruitment and innovative trial operations)
• 7+ years of experience in pharmaceutical clinical drug development
• Proven track record in developing and implementing technology solutions, including AI, in life sciences and knowledgeable on application of different AI models to solve business problems
• Led strategy development and effectively translated into the development and implementation of projects/programs within a complex matrix environment
• Deep understanding of data analytics tools and techniques, and be able to interpret and analyze large datasets to extract meaningful insights

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree or equivalent education/degree in life science/healthcare