Director, Vendor Management & Planning

#L1‑Hybrid The ideal location for this role is East Hanover, New Jersey site. Relocation may be possible and requires necessary approvals. The Director of NPS Vendor Management & Planning will be responsible for the overall relationship and entire book of business for an assigned group of vendor accounts that are providing services – hub, co‑pay, adherence, free goods, digital, etc. to the Patient Support organization.

He / she will serve as a key thought leader in the management of these partners, driving forward‑thinking in the design and execution of our patient services programs. This candidate will require strong collaboration and negotiation skills, not only to gain alignment with NPS vendors, but also internally with the larger NPS and Novartis organization. This individual will work closely with NPS Disease & Product, Product, Strategy, Data & Analytics, as well as Novartis Innovative Medicines Procurement, Contracting, Finance, Legal, Privacy and Compliance partners.

• Manage the relationship and entire book of business with group of strategic vendor accounts, serving as the single point of contact for large‑scale partnerships, vendor business reviews and strategic discussions
• Lead across a high volume of vendors, with specific focus on unique rare disease programs (Alternate Sites of Care, Travel Support, Clinical/In‑Home Lab Support, etc.)
• Shape programs for products that are primarily accessed through Buy & Bill channel and covered through Medical benefit
• Maintain vendor profiles, key contacts, issue logs, scorecards, account spend, as well as a clear understanding of strategic roadmaps and capabilities of currently contracted vendors, to identify and recommend future NPS business use case and continuous improvement opportunities
• Build and manage prioritized NPS roadmap with vendor, outlining enterprise and program‑level milestones, deliverables and interdependencies
• Support building business cases for NPS vendor selection, effectiveness or transition, including cost / impact analysis
• Support NPS innovation scans and program strategic evolution by internally gathering and aligning on business requirements and consulting with NPS Strategy team to facilitate new vendor / capability onboarding
• Partner with NPS stakeholders, Procurement and Contracting to provide business requirements and context for RFPs, vendor onboarding, pricing negotiations, SLA / KPI alignment and contract execution
• Identify, assess and mitigate potential NPS business risks that may arise through vendor onboarding, ongoing engagement or performance
• Responsible for identifying and reporting adverse events via the established Novartis systems as per applicable processes
• Collaborate with NPS Disease Area & Product, Data & Analytics, Product and Portfolio Strategy & Lifecycle Management for cross‑functional business and performance reviews, and facilitate all cadenced vendor performance / roadmap reviews

• Bachelor of Science degree required
• Advanced degree (MS or MBA) preferred

• 7+ years of healthcare system or vendor management experience, including direct pharmaceutical experience in patient services
• 4+ years of account management experience
• Significant experience in vendor onboarding, management and transitions including all aspects of developing strategy and design to execution
• Strong matrix‑leadership, planning, organization, communication and problem‑solving skills
• Proven ability to collaborate cross‑functionally within and across internal functions
• Demonstrated experience analyzing complex situations and processes, effectively integrating and synthesizing the data to form a complete cohesive picture
• Demonstrated ability to synthesize information to develop recommendations, with ability to persuade / influence organizational pursuit of recommended path
• Customer focused with ability to develop long‑term relationships with stakeholders and gain their trust and respect

The expectation of working hours and travel (domestic and/or international) will be defined by the hiring manager. This position will require 20% travel.

The pay range for this position…