Executive Director, Incentive Compensation

Band

Level 7

 

Job Description Summary

#LI-Remote

This position can be based remotely anywhere in the U.S. (there may be some restrictions based on legal entity). The expectation of working hours and travel (domestic and/or international) will be defined by the hiring manager. This position will require 10% travel.

Novartis is unable to offer relocation support for this role: please only apply if this location is accessible to you.

Company will not sponsor visas for this position.

The Executive Director, Incentive Compensation is an enterprise leader who shapes and delivers the next generation of incentive compensation strategy across U.S. customer facing organizations. This role is central to evolving incentive compensation from a legacy, process driven function into a modern, strategically aligned capability that motivates the right behaviors, reinforces commercial priorities, and builds trust with the field. The Executive Director owns the enterprise vision, governance, and operating model, ensuring clarity, consistency, and impact across the organization. By balancing innovation with rigor and transformation with operational excellence, this leader helps ensure incentive compensation is both meaningful and effective.

 

Job Description

Key Responsibilities: 

• Serve as the enterprise architect for incentive compensation, shaping a future‑ready strategy that aligns performance measurement and rewards with evolving commercial and customer engagement priorities.
• Partner closely with Sales Leadership, Therapeutic Area leaders, Finance, P&O, Legal, Compliance, and Technology to ensure incentive compensation is fair, compliant, scalable, and tightly aligned to enterprise goals.
• Position incentive compensation as a powerful strategic lever that drives the right behaviors and outcomes – not simply an administrative or transactional process.
• Lead the design and continuous evolution of incentive frameworks, ensuring alignment with field roles, portfolio needs, and go‑to‑market models.
• Own enterprise governance, including decision rights, documentation standards, change management, and escalation pathways, bringing clarity and confidence to stakeholders.
• Provide executive oversight of end‑to‑end incentive compensation delivery, ensuring accurate, timely, and trusted reporting and payouts across the field.
• Champion operational excellence by partnering with Sales Operations, Analytics, Finance, Data Enablement, and Technology to maintain a high‑quality, audit‑ready environment.
• Drive modernization of incentive compensation tools, platforms, and processes, increasing transparency, reducing manual effort, and improving speed and insight.
• Lead, develop, and inspire a high‑performing incentive compensation organization, fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous learning.

Essential Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree required from 4-year college or university.
• 10+ years’ experience of analytics experience in pharmaceutical, biotech, healthcare, or similarly structured industries with large, geographically dispersed sales teams; including 6+ years’ experience in an Incentive Compensation role with excellent achievements. We also welcome candidates from other complex environments such as medical devices, diagnostics, life sciences services, insurance, consumer health, or B2B sectors, especially where strong leadership and customer engagement are central to success.
• Demonstrated experience leading enterprise‑scale incentive compensation strategy, design, and execution in highly matrixed organizations.
• Strong track record of partnering with senior commercial, finance, and functional leaders to shape strategy and deliver meaningful business outcomes.
• Proven success leading teams through transformation, modernization, and operating model evolution.
• Ability to attract, develop, and retain diverse talent while building high‑performing, engaged teams.
• Strategic and analytical thinker with strong cross‑functional leadership skills and experience managing complex initiatives and budgets.
• Executive presence and systems thinking, with comfort navigating ambiguity while creating clarity, alignment, and momentum.

Desirable Requirements:

• Forward‑looking leader with deep expertise in incentive compensation governance, compliance, operational risk, and tech