Vice President - Data Discovery

About the Department                                                                                                                                               

Our Research & Development organization brings together the best minds in life science innovation. The teams located in facilities in Lexington, Watertown, Cambridge (MA) and Seattle (WA) reflect the full R&D continuum, from early research through late-stage clinical development. Here, we are building for the future, creating a distinct R&D community based on collaboration, partnerships, and cutting-edge research across multiple modalities and therapeutic areas. We recognize that improving human health starts here and that patients rely on us. Our R&D hub merges biotech speed and agility with large pharmaceutical company quality, resources, and stability, uniting the best of both worlds to develop new medicines for patients.

 

The Position

The Vice President (VP) is responsible for creating and leading a team of science and technology experts, spanning three digital research objectives:

• Data Product Creation:  Develop data products used in Research and Early Development (R&ED) to gain insights impacting the drug portfolio. This includes identifying relevant internal and external scientific data, automating data processing pipelines, ensuring access to high performance computing, and implementing data management with a focus on AI model training.
• Aligned Approach for Data and Knowledge Discovery (DKD) area:  Support Boston area research sites with research informatics needs, such as scientific data registration tools and data management strategies.
• Emerging Technologies: A minor responsibility will be to monitor and engage selectively in assessing and testing emerging disruptive technologies relevant to early research digitization (new platforms, data, technologies).

 

This strategically important and complex role interfaces with multiple parts of the R&ED organization. It will focus on ensuring consistent data registration approaches at the Boston area research sites, providing high quality data to answer critical research questions, and supporting the data foundation for project needs and AI approaches locally and globally. The data, often high dimensional and phenotypic, will support global research efforts, particularly advanced data science methods such as generative AI.

 

Responsibilities include ensuring consistent data registration approaches at the Boston area research sites, rapidly providing new data to the scientific community, and facilitating flexible data integration for novel use cases. In addition, the role involves implementing data governance and disseminating policies and guidelines related to data use. The VP area will host employees from other groups in DKD and Digital Science and Innovation (DSI) for extended business trips and job rotations, ensuring strong integration and connectivity between these units and other R&ED areas at the Boston area research sites.

 

Relationships

Reports to the Corporate Vice President (CVP), Data and Knowledge Discovery (DKD). Interacts with leaders and scientific specialists across R&ED, project leaders for scientific projects in R&ED, DSI leadership team, DKD leadership peers and key specialists. Also proven ability to network to external opportunities of interest.

 

Essential Functions

• Develop Strategy and Plans: Create a strategy and plans for building a strong team of data engineers, product owners, and data management specialists to support R&ED data capture management and creation of data products.  This involves managing a global matrixed organisation and Boston area research sites. The strategy will also include augmenting internal staff with contractors.
• Leadership: Lead a department in line with the Novo Nordisk Way. Set goals and individual development plans for team members, coach leadership teams and high potentials, ensure workforce engagement, and maintain work life balance. Understand the technical skills required for team members.
• Strategy Implementation: Develop and implem