Vice President, Novartis Patient Support (NPS) Patient Support Center (PSC)

Job Description Summary

This position will be located at our East Hanover NJ site and will not have the ability to be located remotely. This position will require 25% travel as defined by the business (domestic and/ or international).

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 pro-grams. 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 provide education and support on access affordability acquisition and adherence programs. Our team has supported millions of patients in the US assisting over 500000 patients annually.

The Novartis Patient Support Center (PSC) is the central operational function within our organization. We handle all patient caregiver and customer interactions and enrollment related to sup-porting patient access including patient onboarding 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.

Job Description

The Vice President of the Novartis Patient Support Center (PSC) holds ultimate responsibility for overseeing two critical functions: Program Management and Business Operations which includes 450 personnel across five global locations a $MM annual budget and operational oversight for patient support programs for 35 approved medications. This role drives the seamless integration and collaboration of these functions to deliver comprehensive patient support across the end-to-end journey from intake and case management to reimbursement and adherence. This role is also accountable for scaling operations optimizing processes and fostering a culture of high performance to meet SLAs KPIs and productivity metrics while maintaining a positive customer experience.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership and Vision

• Set and champion a clear vision and measurable goals for operational excellence across NPS patient support programs and interactions.
• Drive organizational transformation by helping to modernize the workforce through near-shore and off-shore augmentation ensuring scalability efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
• Lead efforts to shift the organization from highly manual processes to self-service and digital-first operational models empowering patients and providers with faster speed to therapy and preference-driven solutions.
• Foster innovation and agility in operational design and execution ensuring that systems and workflows are equipped to meet evolving healthcare and patient needs.

Operational Management and Delivery

• Design build and maintain physical and digital infrastructure for contact center operations supporting the NPS service model.
• Develop scalable systems processes and workflows for patient intake enrollment adherence co-pay assistance and other services.
• Ensure the delivery of outstanding customer experiences by monitoring and optimizing performance speed reliability and responsiveness of services.
• Apply robust process improvement methodologies (e.g. Lean Six Sigma) to enhance patient experience touchpoints and customer journeys.

Team Leadership and Development

• Lead and manage staffing workforce planning and the development of 450 customer support personnel with expertise in key patient service functions.
• Build a high-performing team by recruiting training and mentoring Executive Directors Directors and Managers.
• Foster a culture of operational excellence collaboration and professional growth across all levels.

Vendor and Stakeholder Collaboration

• Collaborate with NPS therapeutic area teams and centers of excellence to ensure alignment with cross-functional goals.
• Partner with vendor management teams to establish high-performance standards and operational metrics for strategic service providers.
• Engage key internal stakeholders (e.g. finance analytics commercial sales marketing) to ensure effective execution of programs and deliver actionable insights.

Financial and Analytical Oversight

• Manage the departments $100M budget while adhering to financial goals and ensuring responsible resource allocation.
• Leverage analytics to identify strategic opportunities efficiency gaps and solutions that enhance program value and patient impact.
• Deliver regular performance updates to senior leadership ensuring transparency and accountability.

Essential Requirements:

Education: Bachelors Degree required; advanced degree preferred (e.g. MHA MBA)

Travel requirements: Role is office-based in East Hanover NJ with occasional travel between offices (anticipating 25%)

Hybrid Working Requirements: Ability to work on-site (East Hanover NJ) 3 days per week

Required Experience:

• Leadership & Management:10 years of progressive experience in program or operations management showcasing increasing responsibility and accountability with 7 years of management experienceideally within a matrixed or second-line leadership role. Proven ability to coach develop inspire and motivate teams while building a high-performing collaborative culture.
• Operational Expertise:Experience designing implementing and launching patient support systems or programs including central operations in customer service environments such as intake case management reimbursement and adherence services. Skilled in managing multi-million-dollar budgets and/or P&L while delivering measurable results against SLAs KPIs and productivity metrics.
• Patient Support & Reimbursement:Advanced expertise in patient reimbursement processes including prior authorization benefit investigation/verification appeals and an understanding of payer policies and procedures. Knowledge of commercial copay programs patient assistance programs foundation support and specialty pharmacies.
• Strategic Thinking & Execution:Ability to lead and execute strategic initiatives including scaling operations process optimization and cost-containment measures while maintaining customer and provider satisfaction. Experience driving organizational transformation including transitioning manual processes to self-service digital-first models.
• Cross-functional & Collaborative Leadership:Demonstrated success in partnering with cross-functional teams (e.g. Commercial Operations finance analytics IT vendor management) to drive alignment and implement integrated processes.
• Regulatory Compliance:Deep knowledge of HIPAA regulations patient privacy requirements and other patient-related healthcare/legal policies. Awareness of broader regulatory compliance (e.g. FDA or CMS guidelines as it relates to patient support operations).
• Change Management:Expertise in leading organizational change especially scaling operations and adopting new systems or workflows fostering a culture of innovation and agility while meeting evolving business needs.
• People Development & Cultural Leadership:Proven ability to cultivate an environment of accountability operational excellence and high performance ensuring associates growth and engagement.

Desirable Requirements:

• Healthcare/Pharma Expertise:5 years of progressive leadership in customer service management roles within biotechnology or pharmaceuticals especially patient-facing or customer-facing environments.
• Digital Transformation:Experience driving digital innovation such as implementing automation tools and self-service capabilities to improve patient and provider experience.
• Operational Collaboration:Significant experience working in multidisciplinary team environments successfully partnering across Commercial Operations and other departments to address strategic goals.
• Measurable Impact:Demonstrated ability to improve operational processes and outcomes including speed-to-therapy adherence rates and cost optimization.

EEO Statement:

The Novartis Group of Companies are Equal Opportunity Employers. We do not discriminate in recruitment hiring training promotion or other employment practices for reasons of race color religion sex national origin age sexual orientation gender identity or expression marital or veteran status disability or any other legally protected status.

Accessibility and reasonable accommodations

The Novartis Group of Companies are committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If because of a medical condition or disability you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application process or to perform the essential functions of a position please send an e-mail to or call 1 and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information. Please include the job requisition number in your message.

Salary Range

$261100.00 - $484900.00

Skills Desired

Agility Brand Awareness Business Partnering Cross-Functional Collaboration Customer Behavior Customer Engagement Customer Experience Customer Insights Data Analytics Go-To-Market Strategy Influencing Skills Inspirational Leadership Marketing Communications Marketing Strategy Media Campaigns People Management Pharmaceutical Products Product Positioning Sales Stakeholder Engagement Stakeholder Management Strategic Marketing