Scientific Director - Diabetes & Obesity External Innovation

About the Department                                                                                                                                             

Global Drug Discovery (GDD) is engaged in accelerating the path of novel cardiometabolic therapies for clinical development within Novo Nordisk. A main focus is discovery and evaluation of novel targets that can modulate cardiometabolic disease and advance the projects to deliver to the NN pipeline. The therapeutic area (TA) teams collaborate closely with the teams in GDD and Novo Nordisk sites around the globe.  The TA will drive a high level of scientific innovation in the scientific and therapy area of diabetes, obesity, and MASH to assure the key and most important scientific topics and areas are being pursued to support Novo Nordisk's Global Drug Discovery (GDD) aspirations.  

The Position

This External Innovation Scientific Director implements Novo Nordisk’s externalization agenda by driving pipeline impact from alliances, research collaborations and business development activities in Diabetes and Obesity. The position contributes to our drug pipeline by using comprehensive knowledge of early drug discovery and development. In addition, the Scientific Director will use their expertise to determine the most impactful areas in which external collaborations can be applied to enhance the early project portfolio and accelerate our path to project maturation.

This position will manage up to five ongoing projects on a regular basis and the candidate is experienced in identifying external opportunities and collaborators.   
 

Relationships

Reports to the Vice President of Metabolic Research. Internal relationships include working with research employees, project managers, as well as colleagues across therapeutic areas. External relationships include collaborations, business partnerships, and academic collaborators.

No direct or dotted-line reports. Individual contributor.

Essential Functions

• Taking project leadership on drug programs run in external alliances and arising from external discovery efforts
• Using external resources to accelerate drug discovery projects
• Identifying and conducting due diligence on external opportunities and collaborations, and ensuring scientific drive and value generation of ongoing and new external collaborations
• Working with data science and genomics expertise to realize the impact of big data and machine learning
• Driving new collaborations across Diabetes and Obesity
• Driving key external collaborations independently with global and cross-organizational impact 
• Leadership
  • Securing cross-organizational collaboration
  • Drive change in own area as well as make recommendations to assist in influencing other changes 
• Collaboration across GDD
  • Collaborate across therapy areas at all levels
  • Joint responsibility for target progression and pipeline support across GDD
• Scientific Responsibilities 
  • Drive state of art drug discovery with external partners
  • Integration and application of new technology and data science capabilities
  • Challenge the scientific rationale, hypothesis and result interpretation of projects in pipeline
  • Pro-active in engaging with external collaborators and internal stakeholders across the organization.
• Communication:
  • Communicate, in a structured and well-articulated way, the rationale behind scientific strategy to the key members of research committees, peers as well as key collaborators

Physical Requirements

Up to 10% overnight travel required.

Qualifications

• PhD in relevant field is required
• 14+ years' experience in early drug discovery, demonstrated through a combination of professional (pharmaceutical or biotech industry) and academic roles
• Experience in target discovery and validation.
• Demonstrated experience collaborating closely with in vivo and in vitro teams.
• Strong project management skills, coupled with a deep understanding of diseases and expertise in drug discovery to propel projects forward.
• Proven track record of driving innovation through the application of cutting-edge tools, including AI & ML applications in drug discovery.
• Background in working within a project-oriented, international matrix organization.
• Proficiency in managing high business complexity amidst conflicting interests.
• Fluency in spoken and written English is essential for the role.

Professional Characteristics for success in this role:

• Demonstrates a high level of personal integrity and commitment to confidentiality.
• Adaptable and capable of thriving in a fast-paced, team-oriented setting.
• Exhibits strong leadership qualities while being an integral team player, with a deep interest and proficiency in interpersonal relations and communication.
• Possesses strong process facilitation and negotiation skills.
• Exhibits excellent collaboration skills, fostering a supportive, engaged, and creative approach to teamwork. 
• Capable of providing guidance across the organization and effectively managing priorities independently.
• Serves as a role model for the Novo Nordisk culture, fostering engagement and dedication.

We commit to an inclusive recruitment process and equality of opportunity for all our job applicants.

At Novo Nordisk we recognize that it is no longer good enough to aspire to be the best company in the world. We need to aspire to be the best company for the world and we know that this is only possible with talented employees with diverse perspectives, backgrounds and cultures. We are therefore committed to creating an inclusive culture that celebrates the diversity of our employees, the patients we serve and communities we operate in. Together, we’re life changing.

Novo Nordisk is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by local, state or federal laws, rules or regulations.

If you are interested in applying to Novo Nordisk and need special assistance or an accommodation to apply, please call us at 1-855-411-5290. This contact is for accommodation requests only and cannot be used to inquire about the status of applications.