Head of Software Engineering

6,000 people dedicated to discovery – 6 research campuses across the globe.

Our research is passionate about discovering innovative new drugs that will change the practice of medicine. Novartis Institutes for BioMedical (NIBR) is the global pharmaceutical research organization of Novartis. We have an open and entrepreneurial culture, encouraging collaboration to make effective therapies

As Head of the Software Engineering department (~60 internal employees), you will lead a set of teams who are responsible for ensuring the highest quality in software design, engineering, and architecture.

You are a role model of Novartis Values & Behaviors: you care about patients, focus on what matters most, dare to challenge the status quo & experiment, take smart risks and always put your team before self. You are an inspiration to the associates who work with you always engaging others in our shared purpose and connect associates’ work with the shared purpose. You ensure you have the right people on your team who live up to our ethics, Values & Behaviors, leadership and culture expectations. You hold people to account and take action when performance and behaviors are not reaching our aspiration as well as continuously foster a learning culture within your teams. You are a learner, not a knower, and you are genuinely curious and open-minded. You empower and support others, create clear accountability, and you remove obstacles for your team. You spend time mentoring and coaching team members and are always clear, present and focused. You ask for feedback, you make it safe to give you feedback and continuously look for ways to improve yourself.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Working with the software engineering leadership team to define + ensure common process, standards and tools around software engineering are established and followed by their teams
• Helping the product and software engineering planning and development process run smoothly.
• Ensuring an engaged, innovative, and inspiring working environment in the department by motivating, challenging, and coaching employees towards growth.
• Participating in personnel management practices regarding recruitment and selection, adequate staffing, performance appraisals, education and training, and management development.

What you will bring to this role:

• BS/MS in Computer Science, Informatics or similar, or equivalent practical experience
• 10 years minimum of hands-on software development experience with a minimum of 5 years in a managerial role, and minimum of 5 years with cloud and SaaS (Software as a Service) based solutions.
• Experience managing a large, distributed, multi-level, and multi-cultural software engineering organization and the ability to coordinate teams working on multiple, complex, simultaneous, and interrelated software products
• Experience developing, implementing and supporting large-scale, highly scalable, highly available, data-driven software and cloud products in enterprise environments
• Proficiency with a broad mix of software engineering frameworks, tools, and technologies including web application development and web services, traditional and NoSQL databases, distributed and cloud computing, data visualization, DevOps tools and processes; Successful practical experience with Agile and Lean methodologies and creating a strong DevOps culture
• Strong organizational, problem-solving, and influencing skills and proven track record of outstanding teamwork as well as excellent interpersonal, communication, and presentation skills
• Ability to travel 25%

Preferred skills:

• Passion for innovating with data and digital at scale, applying modern technologies to large and complex problems, and creating measurable business value as well as passionate attention to detail, deep empathy for the end-user, and passion for the user experience
• Experience with pharmaceutical R&D and good understanding of scientific applications (but not necessarily science itself)
• Proven track record of successfully implementing quantitative, data-driven products in enterprise environments
• Working knowledge of German or French a plus

Position will be filled commensurate with experience

About NIBR:

At NIBR, our mission is to discover innovative medicines that treat disease and human health. To do that, our scientists need cutting-edge, state-of-the-art computing systems. With NIBR Informatics (NX), NIBR is making a strategic investment into informatics capabilities and is positioning itself to deliver the systems and services that are critical to the future of drug discovery.

Within NX, the Engineering Department delivers excellence in software, data, and infrastructure engineering. It is responsible for building powerful, functional, beautiful, and secure scientific and IT software solutions that accelerate scientific research and deliver a fully integrated and frictionless user experience. The Engineering department is also responsible for providing engineering resources that create and maintain these software solutions in line with the priorities and roadmaps defined by the product teams and our business stakeholders.

NIBR

CAO – NIBR

USA

Cambridge, MA

NIBRI

Information Technology

Full Time

Regular