Sr. Operations Manager

Biopharma Careers; Hyderabad; Hybrid; INR 1,500,000 - 3,200,000; Full time

Job summary

Novartis in Hyderabad is seeking an IT Operations Manager to lead end-to-end software operations, ensuring stability, security, and continuous improvement of deployed applications. You will manage incidents, releases, and vendor changes while coordinating with cross-functional teams to deliver value quickly.

The role requires strong ITSM, cloud, and governance experience, with an emphasis on collaboration and operational excellence in a complex biotech environment.

Qualifications

• Graduate/ Postgraduate in Technology or Life Sciences with relevant experience in business or operations in a complex environment.
• 7+ years relevant subject matter expertise in software development or operations.
• Familiarity with drug discovery research or life sciences.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end operational responsibility for deployed software applications, 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 detection, troubleshooting, root cause analysis, and prevention of recurring issues.
• Coordinate releases, patches, upgrades, vendor-driven changes, and rollouts with minimal business disruption and readiness.
• Lead vulnerability management to 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.
• Provide end-user support, onboarding, training, and guidance for user acceptance testing activities.
• 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 stakeholders, engineering teams, vendors, and support teams on application operations.
• Guide external application support teams, ensuring prioritization and timely delivery.
• Ensure license compliance, cost effectiveness, sustainability, and efficient use of external resources through governance.
• Drive operational excellence through automation, trend analysis, and continuous service improvement.
• Reflect operational insights and risks in product roadmaps and lifecycle planning.

Skills

IT Operations Management

IT Service Management (ITSM)

Incident Management

Problem Management

Change Management

Release Governance

Vendor Management

Stakeholder Management

Performance Monitoring

Security and Compliance

DevOps Tools

Cloud: AWS/Azure

English Proficiency

Education

Bachelor's degree in Technology or Life Sciences

Master's degree (preferred)

Tools

ITSM tools

AWS

Azure

Job description

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

Location: Hyderabad, India#LI-Hybrid

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

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