Sr. Operations Manager

Novartis India; Hyderabad; On-site; INR 1,000,000 - 1,600,000; Full time

Job summary

Novartis India is seeking an IT Operations Manager in Hyderabad to lead end-to-end production software operations, ensuring stability, security, and continuous improvement across deployments. The role collaborates with vendors, internal tech partners, and business stakeholders to deliver measurable value and governance-compliant digital solutions.

The ideal candidate has strong ITSM, DevOps, and cloud experience, with a background in life sciences or drug discovery advantageous.

Qualifications

• Experience in IT operations or software development in complex environments.
• Familiarity with ITSM and DevOps practices.
• Knowledge of cloud environments (AWS, Azure).
• Experience in drug discovery or life sciences is advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end operational responsibility for deployed applications, including onboarding, upgrades, and decommissioning.
• Ensure stability, performance, availability, and reliability across environments.
• Oversee incident and problem management, root cause analysis, and prevention of recurrence.
• Manage releases, patches, upgrades, and vendor-driven changes with minimal business impact.
• Lead vulnerability management to meet security, compliance, and governance standards.
• Coordinate with infrastructure, platform, environment, backup, and DR teams for resilience.
• Provide end-user support, onboarding, training, and guidance for UAT activities.
• Define and monitor SLAs, KPIs, and system health metrics.

Skills

Application Operations Management

IT Service Management

Incident Management

Problem Management

Change Management

Root Cause Analysis

Performance Monitoring

Security and Compliance

Audit Readiness

Release Governance

Vendor Management

Stakeholder Management

Infrastructure Coordination

Backup and Disaster Recovery

SLA/KPI Management

Education

Bachelors degree in technology or scientific domain

Graduate/ Postgraduate in Technology or Life Sciences

Tools

AWS

Azure

Job description

Summary

Purpose of this Role:

Novartis’ Biomedical Research Data and Digital Operations group is establishing a strong presence in India, and we are seeking proactive and versatile professional in the role of IT Operations Manager

As an “IT Operations Manager” within the BR Data & Digital Operations team, you will be responsible for leading and managing complex, globally deployed, high-impact software solutions. This role is accountable for end-to-end software operations, including providing an operational perspective, overseeing user support, maintaining stable and secure systems, and driving continuous improvements in product value and operational excellence.

You will ensure alignment with enterprise architecture, security, compliance, and governance standards while collaborating closely with external vendors, internal technology partners, and key business stakeholders. The role requires a strong focus on delivering measurable business value quickly and effectively through reliable, scalable, and well-managed digital solutions.

Location: Hyderabad, India

Roles and Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end operational responsibility for one or more software applications after deployment to production, including onboarding, upgrades, ongoing support, and decommissioning.
• Ensure application stability, performance, availability, and reliability across environments while proactively identifying and mitigating operational risks.
• Oversee incident and problem management, including incident detection, troubleshooting, root cause analysis, resolution tracking, and prevention of recurring issues.
• Manage releases, patches, upgrades, vendor-driven changes, and rollouts while ensuring minimal business disruption and operational readiness.
• Lead vulnerability management activities to ensure applications meet security, compliance, usability, performance, and sustainability requirements.
• Ensure adherence to global information security, quality, compliance, governance, and audit-readiness standards across all products and services.
• Coordinate with infrastructure, platform, environment, backup, and disaster recovery teams to ensure operational resilience and business continuity.
• Manage application dependencies across platforms, integrations, vendors, and internal technology teams to maintain seamless service delivery.
• Provide end-user support, communication, onboarding, training, functional guidance, and support for user acceptance testing activities.
• Maintain and continuously improve knowledge bases, operational documentation, support materials, and readiness standards.
• Define, monitor, and report on SLAs, KPIs, system performance metrics, operational health indicators, and service management outcomes.
• Act as the single point of accountability for business stakeholders, engineering teams, technology partners, vendors, and support teams on application operations.
• Guide and coordinate external application support teams, ensuring effective prioritization, timely execution, and high-quality operational delivery.
• Ensure license compliance, cost effectiveness, sustainability, and efficient use of external resources through governance and process optimization.
• Drive operational excellence through automation, trend analysis, feedback loops, recurring issue reduction, and continuous service improvement.
• Ensure operational insights, risks, dependencies, and improvement opportunities are reflected in product roadmaps and lifecycle planning.
• Provide consulting and advisory support on application usage, optimization, scalability, maintainability, and future roadmap decisions.
• Collaborate with other product and platform teams across product lines to leverage operational synergies, shared capabilities, and best practices.

Experience Requirements (Core Skills And Capabilities)

• Experience in IT operations or software development in complex business environments
• Highly collaborative, proven experience as a team player
• Strong communication skills
• Knowledge of Information Technology Service Management (ITSM)
• Familiarity with DevOps tools
• Awareness of authentication protocols
• Knowledge of cloud environment and services (AWS - Amazon Web Services, Azure)
• Experience in a drug discovery or scientific research setting preferred

Education And Qualification Requirements

• Graduate/ Postgraduate in Technology or Life Sciences with relevant experience in business or

operations in a complex environment.

• Bachelor's degree in technology or scientific domain
• 7+ years relevant subject matter expertise, obtained through experience or education in

software development or operations in a complex environment.

• Familiarity with drug discovery research or life sciences

Language Requirements

• English fluent

Required Skills

• Application Operations Management
• IT Service Management, Incident Management, Problem Management, Change Management
• Root Cause Analysis
• Performance Monitoring
• Security and Compliance, Audit Readiness
• Release and Change Governance
• Vendor and Stakeholder Management
• Infrastructure and Environment Coordination
• Backup and Disaster Recovery Coordination
• SLA\KPI Management and Continuous Improvement

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion / EEO paragraph

Novartis is committed to building an outstanding, inclusive work environment and diverse teams representative of the patients and communities we serve.

Accessibility and accommodation

Novartis is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If, because of a medical condition or disability, you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the recruitment process, or in order to perform the essential functions of a position, please send an e-mail to [e-mail] and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information. Please include the job requisition number in your message

Why Novartis:

Helping people with disease and their families takes more than innovative science. It takes a community of smart, passionate people like you. Collaborating, supporting and inspiring each other. Combining to achieve breakthroughs that change patients’ lives. Ready to create a brighter future together? https://www.novartis.com/about/strategy/people-and-culture

Benefits and Rewards:

Learn about all the ways we’ll help you thrive personally and professionally.

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