Novo Nordisk Inc Hiring for Senior Director – Meetings & Travel Solutions job in Plainsboro Full Time

The Finance and Operations dept. brings insights and intelligence to inform decision making & drives digitalization and business solutions to attain NNI goals. Finance and Operations works closely across the organization to guide enterprise-wide resource allocations, investment choices, drive core operations and develop insights to drive growth and operational excellence across the value chain while innovating for future capabilities. Our focus on innovation ensures we’re constantly building future capabilities. We’re responsible for regulating accounting, upholding workplace safety, managing our supply chain and sampling, supporting technological and data innovation, insights and analytics, delivering patient support solutions, maintaining our facilities and assuring the integrity and completeness of all business transactions. At Novo Nordisk, you will have the opportunity to build a life-changing career in a global business environment. We encourage our employees to make the most of their talent, and we reward hard work and dedication with opportunities for continuous learning and personal development. Are you ready to maximize your potential with us?

The Position

Reporting directly to the VP, NNI Business Solutions, this new leadership position will oversee three distinct areas of focus with increasing demand: Strategic Meetings & Event Management, Travel & Expense Strategy, and Conference & Production Services. The inter-dependencies of each of these areas calls for strategic oversight to ensure operational consistency and optimal experiences for our stakeholders.

Relationships

Reports to the Vice President of Procurement & Business Services develops a deep and collaborative relationship with key stakeholders and senior management within Marketing, Employee Experience, Finance, Legal, IT and other relevant business areas.

Essential Functions

• Strategy:
  • Strategic Leadership of Travel and Expense, Meetings and Event Management, and Conference and Production Services to support Novo Nordisk’s business objectives. Lead and supervise NNI’s Meeting and Travel Solutions team, including directing the overall planning, strategy, and delivery for in-person, virtual, and hybrid meetings, travel offerings and experiences. Establish a strategy that aligns with Novo Nordisk’s global sustainability goals and platforms within the travel meetings and conference center team
  • Develop and execute a cohesive plan that includes strategic vision, change management, and process optimization across these three functions. (MEETINGS, TRAVEL, CONFERENCE CENTER)
  • Drive value through best-in-class service capabilities across functional areas and continue to evolve over time to ensure capabilities are fresh and innovative
  • Foster a supportive team culture, offering guidance, feedback, and motivation to facilitate their growth
  • Partner with NNI Procurement to manage suppliers, modernize buying guidelines and drive change management among stakeholders
  • Stay current and lead enhancements in tools and technology relating to meetings, travel and conference centers
  • Create strategies and implement communication plans to raise stakeholder awareness and drive compliance
  • Ensure department, business unit and enterprise-wide business objectives are pulled through
  • Establish reporting mechanisms to deliver essential metrics, analyze data, and devise actionable plans to drive optimal outcomes
  • Execute decisions through business partnering and use of analytics
• Meetings strategy:
  • Establishes policies, processes and procedures that determine how meetings are planned and implemented. The role will create and maintain Meeting Management policies and procedures. The position will ensure all necessary capabilities are owned and their success is measured and tracked
  • Evolves a centralized Meeting Management program to ensure consistency, cost-effectiveness, efficiency, and scalability to the organization for meetings inclusive of large off-site meetings to small regional meetings to onsite events
  • Forms policies, planning standards, engagement model, and procedures and implements best practices and lessons learned to establish proper governance and an accountability structure throughout the entire Meetings team
  • Makes decisions and develops a strategic approach to Congress & Meeting Management in line with the strategic goals of NNI
  • Primary escalation and resolution point for Meeting Management technology and service delivery and integration
  • Develops network of internal/external resources and tools to ensure a balanced mix of all available resources
  • Ensures alignment of full Meeting Management team through communication and coordination to promote efficient operations
  • Drives representation on cross-functional workings of all teams connected to Meetings Management, driving the tactics behind internal communications and engagements with customers as the senior member management
  • Establishes relationships with external vendors and makes the final decision regarding the selection of vendors
  • Ability to establish internal goals nested within NNI’s strategy and appropriate control measures to ensure the team’s success
  • Extensive knowledge of meetings planning and execution
  • Oversees meetings budget and technology processes
  • Drive meetings technology strategies in partnership with the business and IT

• Travel & expense strategy and operations:
  • Works with Travel Strategy Lead to develop and maintain corporate travel policies, ensuring they align with company objectives and industry best practices. Drive improvements in operations and technology utilization
  • Travel Booking and Coordination:
    • Manages travel operations personnel to oversee the booking and coordination of all employee travel, including flights, accommodations, transportation, and other necessary arrangements
    • Ensure travel arrangements meet employee preferences, company policies, and cost-saving initiatives

• Expense Management:
  • Develops and implements expense management strategy in partnerships with Accounts Payable team
  • Analyze travel expenses to identify cost-saving opportunities and recommend strategies for optimization.travel, including collaboration with security and emergency response teams
• Reporting and Analysis:
  • Generate and analyze travel-related data and reports to track travel expenses, booking trends, and performance metrics
  • Use insights to make data-driven decisions and drive continuous improvement in travel management processes
  • Ensure use and promotion of Concur and GBT partner streamline booking processes, expense tracking, and communication with travelers
  • Educate employees on travel policy guidelines and ensure compliance to optimize travel-related costs

• Conference center, studio & production lead:
  • Manages the Lead for NNI’s in-house production team, (combination of Colleagues and Managed Service) providing strategic direction, mentorship, and guidance to ensure the delivery of high-quality video and audio-visual content
  • Partners with Workplace Operations Lead on delivering high quality events and experiences withing the conference center
  • Provides guidance where needed for creative execution on meeting and studio production, partners closely with internal stakeholders on meeting and conference center events strategies
  • Drives decisions on vendor partner models for the Conference Center and Studio needs. (Managed Service Providers, Freelance, in-House etc.)

Physical Requirements

10-20% overnight travel required.

Development of People

Ensure that reporting personnel have individual development plans (IDP), with annual goals and measurements that are consistent with the priorities of the business, and that interim reviews are held so that their work is focused on those priorities, and they understand their level of accountability for results and the measurement process.

Ensure that the IDP forms include completed learning and aspiration plans and are in place for all reporting personnel to enable the achievement of goals and capability to assume increased levels of responsibility.

Manage the application and communication of all Novo Nordisk policies, procedures, and Novo Nordisk Way.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business, hospitality, or a related field; MBA or advanced degree preferred
• Minimum of 10 years of progressive leadership experience in travel management and/or meeting services, preferably within the healthcare or pharmaceutical industry
• Excellent leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence and collaborate across functions and at all levels of the organization
• Ability to work on a range of meetings and events, and business travel problems and provide high quality and/or innovative solutions
• Demonstrated ability to innovate, problem-solve, and drive continuous improvement in in-house production services
• Able to build business cases and drive results. (KPI’s, Metrics, Outcomes)
• Strong presentation/storytelling skills, comfortable presenting to leadership and under pressure
• Able to leverage tools and resources to stay current on industry trends
• Has a reputation of being a high performer with strong business acumen and emotional intelligence
• Able to motivate and prioritize team member professional development
• Able to influence and drive change through diplomacy
• Always strives for excellence with a can-do attitude
• Curious and eager to learn
• Thrives in ambiguity

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.