Executive Director, Head of CRM Design

Job Description Summary This position will be located in East Hanover, NJ. Job Description Novartis is on a mission to transform medicine and improve lives worldwide. As a global leader in healthcare, we leverage advanced technology and data to deliver patient‑centric solutions, enhance customer engagement, and drive innovation. The Insights and Decision Science (IDS) team is dedicated to enabling improved decision making at Novartis by leveraging superior data to identify actionable insights that drive enhanced performance.

We collaborate closely with the US business, bringing insights and challenging ideas to empower smarter, data‑driven decision‑making. The US CRM organization sits within IDS and plays a crucial role in driving the transformation to a Customer 360 operating model.

Reporting into the VP, Head of CRM Product Management and Strategy, the Executive Director, Head of CRM Experience Design is responsible for elevating the user experience across all CRM platforms and touchpoints. This role sets the vision for UX strategy, builds and leads a high‑performing UX team, and ensures that CRM solutions are intuitive, accessible, and optimized for diverse user personas.

The ED, Head of UX Design partners with leaders across the US commercial functions and IT leadership to define design standards, drive innovation, and embed best practices in user research, out‑of‑the‑box prototyping, and usability testing. The role requires deep collaboration across the organization to ensure cross‑functional alignment and successful transformation.

• Define and execute a CRM UX strategy and vision that aligns with Novartis business goals; serve as the primary point of contact for executive leadership on UX strategy.
• Build and lead a top‑talent UX team specializing in CRM user experience.
• Develop and implement best‑practice CRM UX standards to ensure cross‑persona, out‑of‑the‑box optimized delivery.
• Conduct user research and incorporate feedback into design decisions; champion the Voice of Customer (VoC) program and guidelines.
• Create wireframes, prototypes, and design mockups for new features using out‑of‑the‑box capabilities.
• Collaborate with developers, business analysts, and QA testers to ensure design feasibility and comprehensive UI/UX testing.
• Establish and maintain strong working relationships with key internal stakeholders, including US Commercial business unit leaders, IT, IDS, and external partners.
• Evangelize the UX strategy and impact across the organization (e.g., stakeholder meetings, leadership forums, and Sales meetings).
• Maintain a deep understanding of CRM workflows, user personas, and platform capabilities (Salesforce, Veeva, etc.), as well as best practices across industries.
• Drive continuous improvement and innovation in UX design, accessibility, and inclusive design.

• A bachelor's degree in a related field is required; a Master of Science and/or MBA is preferred.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in UX design, product strategy, or technology leadership roles, preferably within the pharmaceutical, healthcare, or CRM sectors.
• Proven success leading large‑scale CRM transformation initiatives, including the design and rollout of enterprise platforms (e.g., Salesforce, Veeva) across diverse user groups and business functions.
• Deep expertise in user‑centered design, including user research, persona development, journey mapping, prototyping, usability testing, accessibility, and inclusive design practices.
• Experience building and managing high‑performing UX teams, with a focus on CRM user experience and cross‑functional collaboration.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and implement best‑practice UX standards for complex, multi‑persona environments, optimizing for out‑of‑the‑box platform capabilities and scalability.
• Strong background in Voice of Customer (VoC) programs, including the design, execution, and continuous improvement of feedback loops, satisfaction surveys, and user engagement metrics.
• Hands‑on experience creating wireframes, prototypes, and design mockups for new CRM features, leveraging modern design tools (e.g., Figma, Adobe XD, Sketch).
• Proven ability to…