Director, Central Operations

Job Description Summary

Novartis is a global company that combines medical science and digital technology to provide life-changing medicines to millions of people. We offer numerous opportunities for growth and development, including global and local cross-functional careers and a wide range of learning programs. Our strong pipeline of medicines ensures continued business growth and enables us to bring innovative treatments to patients quickly.



Novartis Patient Support (NPS) plays a crucial role in helping eligible patients access and continue their prescribed medications. We work directly with patients, caregivers, and prescribing customers to pro-vide education and support on access, affordability, acquisition, and adherence programs. Our team has supported millions of patients in the US, assisting over 500,000 patients annually.



The Novartis Patient Support Center (PSC) is the central operational function within our organization. We handle all patient, caregiver, and customer transactions related to supporting patient access, including intake, case management, benefits verification, prior authorization and appeals support, specialty pharmacy triage, and adherence support. We are committed to delivering exceptional customer service, which is measured through service level agreements (SLAs), key performance indicators (KPIs), and net promoter scores. This role can be based out of East Hanover, NJ or Tempe, AZ.

 

Job Description

The Director is responsible for executing on the Patient Support Center (PSC) strategic vision to help eligible patients “start and stay” on prescribed Novartis medications. This role leads the day-to-day PSC enterprise business operations and processes related to central operations (intake, case management, and reimbursement), along with escalation management, auditing, documentation management, and process mapping. This position works closely with PSC Program Management, as well as cross-functional Novartis Patient Support (NPS) functions, including Disease State Teams (DSTs), Platform Strategy, Launch Excellence, Performance Excellence, and Data Analytics. Critical success factors include the ability to execute on the delivery of enterprise business standards that enable the PSC to realize efficiencies and scale across branded programs, and support a culture of operational excellence and execution against clearly defined SLAs, KPIs, and productivity metrics.  

 

Your responsibilities will include, but are not limited to: 

• Leading a team of experts across multiple locations (East Hanover, NJ, Tempe, AZ, and Mexico City, Mexico) who are responsible for managing the day-to-day, enterprise operations within the PSC, including escalation management, case auditing, documentation management, and workforce management.  

• Executing on the short-mid, and long-term operations agenda and priorities for program transitions, new launches, new technologies, and near- and off-shore capabilities. 

• Motivating and inspiring the team by fostering an environment of “high support and high challenge”, which celebrates continuous learning and high performers. 

• Development and deployment of SLAs and agent-level productivity metrics. 

• Partnering with DSTs, Launch Excellence, and Platform Strategy to execute on program transitions and new launch planning. 

• Support handling of centralized intake of issues, escalations, and customer feedback. 

• Support and oversee the design of the people, process, and technology roadmap for Workforce Management to fully realize best practices, scale, and efficiencies in partnership with Associate Director, Workforce Management. 

• Support and oversee the design of the people, process, and technology roadmap for Documentation Management team to fully realize best practices, scale, and efficiencies in partnership with the Associate Director, Documentation Management. 

• Build and oversee the design of the people process, and technology roadmap for the newly created Enterprise Operations Support team to fully realize scale and efficiencies in partnership with the Associate Director, Enterprise Operations Support. 

 

What you’ll bring to the role:  

Education: Bachelor’s Degree required; advanced degree preferred (e.g., MHA, MBA) 

 

• Internal Engagements: This position will collaborate with many individuals across NPS and PSC Leaders, PSC Operations, Training, Marketing, Legal, People & Organizations, Ethics Risk Compliance, Service Business Partners 

•  

Travel requirements: Role is office-based in either the Phoenix/Tempe metro area or in East Hanover, NJ with occasional travel between offices (anticipating 20%) 

 

Hybrid Working Requirements: Ability to work on-site (East Hanover,