R&D External Innovation Sourcing Project Director

About the Department

Our Research & Development organization brings together the best minds in life science innovation. The teams located in facilities in Lexington, Watertown, Cambridge and Plainsboro reflect the full R&D continuum, from early research through late-stage clinical development. Here, we are building for the future, creating a distinct R&D community based on collaboration, partnerships, and cutting-edge research across multiple modalities and therapeutic areas. We recognize that improving human health starts here and that patients rely on us. Our R&D hub merges biotech speed and agility with large pharmaceutical company quality, resources, and stability, uniting the best of both worlds to develop new medicines for patients.

The Position

The R&D External Innovation Sourcing Project Director is accountable for identifying, scouting, shaping and maturing external innovation opportunities. This would include driving external opportunities all the way from stimulation of innovation ecosystems, early asset/platform partnerships, through commercial partnerships, driving opportunities to decision milestones/gates and ensuring absorption/integration into the Novo Nordisk R&D Lines of Business (LoBs). By being responsible for portfolio decisions within therapy areas of NN interest, the role has direct impact on Novo Nordisk's pre-clinical and early clinical pipeline, as well as enabling platforms. The role will collaborate across the R&D EI organization, Therapy Area NPI teams and the partner organizations to drive transformative R&D projects through different partnership stages that include understanding what is next for the pipeline, translating R&D/NPI/LoB priorities into external sourcing and scouting focus areas, shaping selected opportunities into actionable project proposals, and preparing governance-ready recommendations.

As part of the external interface, this role is central for the success of creating a growing and diversified Research & Development (R&D) pipeline and has the specific purpose of:

• Stimulating regional/local innovation ecosystems through foundations, think tanks and startups, as well as through early strategic partnerships
• Identifying and evaluating external opportunities, and driving them to decision governance
• Execute on our sourcing inflow channels strategy and deliver new project proposals
• Shaping and executing partnerships, including ensuring absorption/integration of transacted projects into the core R&D organization and governance

To achieve this, the role will be:

• Driving development of Research & Development (R&D) plans for novel product concepts and activating project teams within Novo Nordisk R&D to execute on R&D plans to IND-ready assets or implemented technologies.
• Responsible for sourcing a portfolio of 3-5 new research projects from ideation until IND-ready assets or implemented technologies. The role will source a project portfolio with ambitious productivity targets to deliver INDs or implemented technologies.  At signature the projects will be handed over to the SP&I team or LoB. At steady state the overall unit is expected to contribute 20-30% of Novo Nordisk's preclinical and early clinical pipeline and bring in matured technologies into R&D LoBs
• Accountable for a portion of existing external portfolio that targets long-term goals and operational efficiencies, that brings impact within a specific department or project area.
• Successfully managing cross-functional projects prior to signature by bridging internal expertise and ensure sufficient prioritization and allocation from outside own organizational area in constructs that will be completely new ways of working for Novo Nordisk and Partners.
• Responsible for a clear and successful handover of signed projects to the SP&I team or LoB
• Actively connecting and feeding knowledge into the Global Novo Nordisk R&D organization, with a specific focus on diverse innovation approaches and lean project plan executions (early project de-risking), new ways of working, as well as asset transitioning.

The role creates value by leading entrepreneurial initiatives through externally contracted partners, leveraging their capabilities and resources to progress scientific ideas in support of Novo Nordisk business needs. The position has the mandate to decide on externally owned project concept ideas and technology platforms accounting for strategy fit and anticipated internal and external scientific challenges and recommend improvements and ensure global scalable solutions.

Relationships

Reports to: Senior Director, Pipeline Filling and Sourcing, R&D External Innovation.  The role functions as an interface between Pipeline Filling and Sourcing team and all organizational levels within the External Innovation organization as well as the wider R&D in Novo Nordisk, supporting the scientific agenda developed as part of the collaborations to be established. 

Internal stakeholders include Pipeline Filling & Sourcing colleagues, Scientific Partnerships & Integration, relevant NPI/LoB stakeholders, R&D Executive Office, GBD/Search & Evaluation, External Innovation China where relevant, Compliance, science management and specialists across global research functions, Legal, Patents/IP Finance, IT, R&D People & Organization, R&D EI Decision Group where applicable

External stakeholders include representatives of biotech, venture capital firms, foundations, policy makers, and universities including biotech executives, venture partners, principal investigators, department heads and deans.

Essential Functions

• Secures idea inflow, prioritization of new ideas, development of R&D plan implementation with scientific expertise.
• Secure inflow channels and across the innovation ecosystem, ideate and prioritize product concept ideas with partners, develop collaboration frameworks
• Accountable for portfolio decisions and Novo Nordisk pipeline impact of the R&D EI deliverables. This is secured by establishing seamless interfaces with Novo Nordisk’s global R&D and respective NPI teams
• Represent Novo Nordisk in Joint Steering Committees as appropriate and ensure decisions are guided by scientific and translational priorities also when requiring complex analysis of situations and data.
• Translate NPI/LoB needs into sourcing themes, scouting briefs, partner-selection criteria and initial collaboration hypotheses.
• Identify, screen and shape potential external opportunities together with EI&A, NPI/LoB stakeholders, GBD/Search & Evaluation and relevant SMEs.
• Independently drive the innovation agenda and new activities. Constantly raise the bar and strive for higher performance in R&D External Innovation and actively challenge the ordinary processes and priorities.
• Drive generation of disruptive joint product concepts by working closely together with the EI, NPIs, partners, and Novo Nordisk core R&D functions to develop and progress R&D plans to an LoB implementation stage.
• Advance portfolio of 3-5 research projects from ideation until signature. The role will mature a project portfolio with ambitious productivity targets over the next 2-3 years to deliver INDs and/or implemented technologies in 2030 and subsequent years.
• At steady state the unit is expected to contribute 20-30% of Novo Nordisk’s preclinical and early clinical pipeline.
• Define the next-step plan for selected opportunities, including scope, deliverables, milestones, decision points, budget/FTE needs and ownership map and ensure successful handover to SP&I or LOB.
• Accountable for the interface to the global R&D organization and their allocation of resources to partnered projects. This includes internalization of acquired programs into the LoB and internal governance.
• Engage in learning opportunities in relation to external partnerships and feed knowledge into the Global Novo Nordisk R&D organization as link between the Pipeline Filling and Sourcing team and management levels of the global R&D organization.
• Develop new partnerships and generate new ideas for transformative product concepts
• Build and nurture relations with regional venture capital, foundations, biotech partners, academia, and industry peer partners, primarily related, but not restricted to blue sky transformative science with the potential to create novel first-in-class human therapeutics and disruptive technology platforms.
• Create and deploy a range of novel win-win engagement models to leverage or pivot early innovation and external R&D capabilities and resources.
• Develop New Ways of Working for the group and all of Novo Nordisk R&D
• Work in close collaboration with Business Development, Finance and other R&D and Commercial functions to support licensing and development of co-created pre-clinical assets towards commercialization.
• Develop and present (up to multimillion USD) external concept proposals to the EI Leadership Team and Decision group in pioneering efforts for Novo Nordisk.
• Coordinate internal alignment to ensure that opportunities are relevant, feasible, prioritized and ready for governance discussion.
• Prepare one-pagers, pre-proposals, full proposals, project plans and recommendation materials for EI&A leadership and governance as relevant.

Physical Requirements

10-20% overnight domestic and international travel required.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree from an accredited university and 9+ years of experience required. Equivalent experience requirements for advanced degrees would be a PhD and 7+ years of experience, or MD/DO and 3+ years of experience.    
• Pharmaceutical drug development experience, preferably having brought transformational pharmaceutical molecules all the way from discovery to market or transformational technologies to real-life implementation.
• Leadership or people management experience in industry, biotech or academic research setting with the ability to motivate others to advance goals, and the ability to effectively manage multiple projects or roles in a rapidly evolving environment
• Ability to navigate in a scientific space with high uncertainty and to acquire new knowledge fast
• Deep scientific knowledge within NN disease space and drug discovery & development.
• Strong pharmaceutical industry understanding and ability to develop and execute translational scientific strategy.
• Strong scientific and business understanding across R&D, and ideally experience from translational medicine / pre-clinical drug development; track record in setting scientific direction and driving projects along the value chain.
• Strong capabilities to develop and execute strategies in line with overall R&D strategy.
• Experience translating scientific or portfolio needs into sourcing themes, opportunity briefs, project plans, collaboration proposals or governance-ready recommendations.
• Experience working with cross-functional stakeholders across R&D, GBD/Search & Evaluation, Legal, Finance, IP and scientific/technical SMEs.
• Experience preparing senior-level materials, including opportunity summaries, project plans, risk/mitigation views, budget/resource implications and decision asks.
• Experience working in a matrix organization and influencing without direct authority.
• Proven experience in implementing and managing R&D projects with external partners using a range of partnership models ideally with global footprint.
• Significant experience managing projects and partnership budgets. Strong analytical skills for conducting cost-benefit analyses.
• Experience working in cross-functional teams in a matrixed environment with an ability to orchestrate win-win solutions in complex stakeholder landscapes and act as a partner to senior management.
• High personal integrity, executive presence and impeccable values. Strong intercultural understanding and collaboration capabilities both internally and externally. Strong urge for life-long learning and adoption of cutting-edge technologies in day-to-day work, including AI
• Exceptional networking and communication skills; fully fluent in English (written and spoken).

The base compensation range for this position is $187,100  to $327,500. Base compensation is determined based on a number of factors. This position is also eligible for a company bonus based on individual and company performance. Novo Nordisk offers long-term incentive compensation and or company vehicles depending on the position's level or other company factors.

Employees are also eligible to participate in Company employee benefit programs including medical, dental and vision coverage; life insurance; disability insurance; 401(k) savings plan; flexible spending accounts; employee assistance program; tuition reimbursement program; and voluntary benefits such as group legal, critical illness, identity theft protection, pet insurance and auto/home insurance. The Company also offers time off pursuant to its sick time policy, flex-able vacation policy, and parental leave policy.

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

At Novo Nordisk, we're not chasing quick fixes – we're creating lasting change for long-term health. For over 100 years, we've been driven by a single purpose: to defeat serious chronic diseases and help millions of people live healthier lives. This dedication fuels our constant curiosity and inspires us to push the boundaries of what's possible in healthcare. We embrace diverse perspectives, seek out bold ideas, and build partnerships rooted in shared purpose. Together, we're making healthcare more accessible, treating and defeating diseases, and pioneering solutions that create change spanning generations. When you join us, you become part of something bigger – a legacy of impact that reaches far beyond today.

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.