Senior Director, Global LEAN

Senior Director, Global LEAN

The position

Are you an experienced operational excellence leader with deep Lean expertise and strong understanding of manufacturing in a regulated environment? Do you have the credibility to engage senior leaders and frontline operations alike — and the ability to turn global standards, systems, and methodologies into practical business impact?

We are looking for a Senior Director, Global LEAN to lead Novo Nordisk’s global LEAN agenda across our manufacturing network. This is a senior leadership role at the centre of our efforts to strengthen continuous improvement, operational excellence, and value creation across a fast-growing global organisation.

As Senior Director, Global LEAN, you will lead a central team responsible for developing and deploying LEAN strategies, systems, standards, and capability-building across the business. Your success will depend not only on technical Lean expertise, but also on your ability to make LEAN relevant, practical, and valuable for leaders and teams across operations.

A key part of the role will be to ensure that LEAN is seen not as a headquarters-driven initiative, but as a business-critical enabler that helps manufacturing teams improve flow, reduce waste, strengthen performance, and lower FMC (Full manufacturing cost).

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Your key responsibilities

You will set the direction for Global LEAN and ensure that LEAN principles, systems, and tools are translated into measurable impact across Novo Nordisk’s global manufacturing value chain.

Your main responsibilities will include:

• Developing and executing the global LEAN strategy in alignment with EVP, SVP, and VP-level priorities.
• Leading the continued development of our production system, ensuring it is practical, scalable, and embedded across the organisation.
• Driving large-scale process optimisation initiatives across manufacturing and supply chain.
• Supporting the transition toward more pull-based ways of working, improving flow and reducing inefficiencies.
• Acting as owner of the LEAN Academy, including development and continuous improvement of LEAN training modules.
• Building LEAN capabilities among leaders and employees, linking methodology to real business application.
• Partnering with senior stakeholders across GMS and beyond to ensure alignment, adoption, and sustained impact.
• Representing Novo Nordisk externally in relevant Lean and operational excellence forums.
• Leading a global team of LEAN professionals and strengthening the global community of practice.

The challenge

Novo Nordisk’s manufacturing network is becoming larger, more complex, and more global. In this context, LEAN plays a critical role in helping the organisation scale effectively while maintaining quality, efficiency, and operational discipline.

The role requires a leader who can operate credibly across the full value chain — from shop floor realities to senior leadership discussions. You will need to understand how Lean works in practice in a pharmaceutical manufacturing environment, where quality, compliance, and regulatory constraints shape how improvements are implemented.

You will also need a strong value-creation mindset. The Global LEAN team is a central support function, and its impact depends on offering solutions and capabilities that manufacturing leaders actively want to use because they create tangible value.

Qualifications

We expect you to bring:

• Significant experience from manufacturing, supply chain, process optimisation, operational excellence, or related areas.
• You must bring experience from pharmaceutical manufacturing environment, with a strong understanding of the regulatory and operational constraints that shape Lean implementation in pharma.
• 10 years of leadership experience.
• Strong expertise in Lean, Six Sigma, or comparable continuous improvement methodologies.
• Experience applying Lean in real operational settings, ideally within pharmaceutical manufacturing or another regulated industry.
• A proven track record of leading large-scale, cross-functional transformation or improvement initiatives.
• Experience influencing senior stakeholders across complex global organisations.
• Experience leading specialists, leaders, or expert teams in a global or matrixed environment.

As a person

You are a credible, pragmatic, and influential leader who combines deep Lean expertise with strong business understanding. You are equally comfortable discussing strategic priorities with senior executives and engaging with operational leaders on practical improvement opportunities.

You build trust through expertise, curiosity, and practical problem-solving. You balance global standardisation with local relevance, communicate clearly across cultures and functions, and are comfortable influencing without always having formal authority. You think across the full value chain and understand how local improvements connect to broader business performance.

About the department

Global LEAN is responsible for developing, strengthening, and embedding LEAN principles, systems, tools, and capabilities across Novo Nordisk’s global manufacturing network. The department works closely with senior leaders, manufacturing sites, strategy teams, business support networks, LEAN partners, and external Lean experts to build operational excellence and continuous improvement at scale.

At Novo Nordisk, we are driven by our purpose to defeat serious chronic diseases. As Senior Director, Global LEAN, you will help shape how one of the world’s leading healthcare companies scales global manufacturing while strengthening efficiency, quality, and continuous improvement.

Deadline

Please apply before May 28. For further information, please contact Sr Executive Search Advisor Kristoffer Baadsgaard, +45 3077 5605.

You do not need to attach a cover letter to your application, but please include a few sentences about why you are applying in your resume or CV. To ensure an efficient and fair recruitment process, please refrain from adding a photo in your CV.

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 preventing 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.