Associate Director Congress Operations

Job Description Summary

#LI-Hybrid Hybrid Dublin or London offices
The Associate Director, Congress Operations is accountable for the end-to-end operational execution of individual congress plans per objectives & key performance indicators (KPIs). This role is highly empowered to make timely, high-impact decisions pre-event, during and on-site, particularly in time-sensitive or escalated situations. The goal is to drive congress excellence and maintain high-quality stakeholder relations across the congress ecosystem.
Aligned to a therapeutic area (TA) for clear partnering and connection to governance forums, including Program Medical Affairs Teams (PMAT), accountabilities for this role extend to orchestrating the cross-functional congress team (including external agencies), setting clear direction and priorities for congress execution, collaborating with legal/ERC to ensure compliance and measuring outcomes and impact against set objectives.
Critical to success will be establishing a seamless collaboration with the Director, Medical Society Partnerships & Congresses (MSPC). While MSPCs are accountable for the development & successful implementation of TA congress / tier congress planning end-to-end (including objective setting), the Associate Director, Congress Operations will be vital in maintaining alignment to strategic objectives, using exceptional project management and ad hoc decision-making to ensure high-quality, high-impact outcomes in dynamic situations.

 

Job Description

This position will role-model a contemporary organizational culture of empowerment and accountability in highly visible settings, both internally and when representing Novartis with external stakeholders. Through high quality delivery that exceeds expectations, the Associate Director will help foster compelling scientific partnerships and engagement programs with external medical and educational organizations.  

Key responsibilities:

• Lead end-to-end operational execution of top tier priority congresses, ensuring alignment to objectives & impact measures (KPIs), in partnership with TAs and cross-functional stakeholders 
• Establish highly professional partnerships with the Director, Medical Society Partnerships & Congresses (MSPC): review collaboratively congress plans and objectives    
• Orchestrate cross-functional congress teams to , develop detailed congress execution plans, which heighten the certainty of high-quality event delivery and realization of defined objectives: identify risks, define mitigations and manage expectations with robust KPIs. Partner directly with key stakeholders to execute (e.g., PMAT, MDs, CLS, TA Heads) 
• Implement approved ways-of-working to ensure one-integrated congress plan and high-quality delivery; assess performance indicators, including HCP engagement and insight generation  
• Drive excellence in the end-to-end operations and delivery of key congresses and leverage innovation to improve efficiency, stakeholder experience and insights fed back 
• Harmonize processes and drive process improvements, where required, to ensure delivery of best-in class congresses 
• Build and maintain excellent relationships with key cross-functional stakeholders 
• Ensure compliance and the highest ethical standards are achieved. Accountable for updating and implementing Novartis internal Policies/SOPs/guidelines. Build quality systems, training and tracking to ensure all regulatory and internal requirements are fully met and adhered to  
• Responsible for third party vendor management where require
• Drive best practice through partnerships with third party organizations, vendors, and cross-functional stakeholders, to continuously innovate and optimize HCP engagement and customer experience in the congress channel 

 

Skills Desired

Clinical Research, Clinical Trials, Detail-Oriented, Medical Writing, People Management, Regulatory Compliance, Safety, Waterfall Model