Associate Director, Data Quality Lead

U014 (FCRS = US014) Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation; East Hanover (NJ); Hybrid; USD 153,000 - 283,000; Full time

Job summary

Novartis is seeking an Associate Director, Data Quality to shape enterprise data quality practices across Data Governance, Data Engineering, Data Product teams and business stakeholders. You will drive improvements in data trust, metrics, and observability to enable analytics, AI, and regulatory excellence at scale.

The role may be onsite in East Hanover with possible remote work and travel commitments. Collaborate with cross-functional teams, translate business needs into technical

Qualifications

• 8+ years in data quality with 3+ years leading teams in regulated industries (pharma/life sciences preferred).
• Strong understanding of data quality dimensions, profiling, validation, cleansing, root cause analysis, and remediation.
• Familiarity with data governance, data stewardship, metadata, lineage, and data product certification.

Responsibilities

• Define and advance enterprise data quality standards, frameworks, policies, and measurement practices.
• Establish scalable quality rules, thresholds, scorecards, dashboards, and reusable control frameworks.
• Partner with stakeholders to translate business needs into measurable data quality requirements.
• Embed data quality controls throughout the data product lifecycle and certification process.
• Lead enterprise monitoring, reporting, and performance tracking for critical data assets.
• Drive data quality issue triage, root cause analysis, escalation, and resolution activities.
• Collaborate with engineering teams to automate quality checks and data observability capabilities.
• Support AI-ready data initiatives by ensuring trusted, governed datasets.

Skills

Data quality

Data governance

Data profiling

Data validation

Data cleansing

Data observability

Tools

SQL

Job description

Band Level 5 Job Description Summary

#LI-Onsite Location: East Hanover, New Jersey Novartis is unable to offer relocation support: please only apply if accessible. Company will not sponsor visas for this position.

The preferred location for this role is East Hanover, New Jersey site but remote work may be possible (there may be some restrictions based on legal entity). Please note that this role would not provide relocation as a result. If associate is remote, all home office expenses and any travel/lodging to specific East Hanover, New Jersey site for periodic live meetings will be at the employee’s expense. The expectation of working hours and travel (domestic and/or international) will be defined by the hiring manager.

Help shape the foundation of trusted, AI-ready data that powers critical business decisions across Novartis. As Associate Director, Data Quality, you will play a pivotal role in building and advancing enterprise data quality practices that ensure our most important data assets are accurate, reliable, and fit for purpose. Working across Data Governance, Data Engineering, Data Product teams, and business stakeholders, you will drive measurable improvements in data trust, lead enterprise-wide quality initiatives, and help unlock the full value of data for analytics, innovation, regulatory excellence, and artificial intelligence. If you are passionate about data quality, operational excellence, and delivering meaningful impact at scale, this is an opportunity to help transform how data fuels the future of healthcare.

Job Description Key Responsibilities

• Define and advance enterprise data quality standards, frameworks, policies, and measurement practices.
• Establish scalable quality rules, thresholds, scorecards, dashboards, and reusable control frameworks.
• Partner with stakeholders to translate business needs into measurable data quality requirements.
• Embed data quality controls throughout the data product lifecycle and certification process.
• Lead enterprise monitoring, reporting, and performance tracking for critical data assets.
• Drive data quality issue triage, root cause analysis, escalation, and resolution activities.
• Collaborate with engineering teams to automate quality checks and data observability capabilities.
• Support AI-ready data initiatives by ensuring trusted, governed, and high-quality datasets.
• Maintain documentation, remediation plans, operational trackers, and control evidence.
• Foster a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and confidence in enterprise data.

Essential Requirements

• 8+ years in data quality, including 3+ years leading teams in a regulated industry (pharma/life sciences strongly preferred).
• Strong understanding of data quality dimensions, data profiling, data validation, data cleansing, root cause analysis, and remediation.
• Knowledge of data governance frameworks, data stewardship, critical data elements, metadata, lineage, and data product certification.
• Familiarity with data quality tools, data observability platforms, SQL, data catalogs, workflow tools, and reporting dashboards.
• Understanding of data engineering concepts, including data pipelines, ingestion, transformation, controls, monitoring, and production support.
• Ability to define measurable data quality rules and translate business requirements into technical requirements.
• Knowledge of AI-ready data concepts, including trusted datasets, lineage, quality thresholds, and governed usage.

The salary for this position is expected to range between $152,600 - $283,400 per year. The final salary offered is determined based on factors like, but not limited to, relevant skills and experience, and upon joining Novartis will be reviewed periodically. Novartis may change the published salary range based on company and market factors.

Salary Range $152,600.00 - $283,400.00

Your compensation will include a performance-based cash incentive and, depending on the level of the role, eligibility to be considered for annual equity awards.

US-based eligible employees will receive a comprehensive benefits package that includes health, life and disability benefits, a 401(k) with company contribution and match, and a variety of other benefits.

In addition, employees are eligible for a generous time off package including vacation, personal days, holidays and other leaves.

EEO Statement

The Novartis Group of Companies are Equal Opportunity Employers. We do not discriminate in recruitment, hiring, training, promotion or other employment practices for reasons of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital or veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status. We strive to create an inclusive workplace that cultivates bold innovation through collaboration and empowers our people to unleash their full potential.

Accessibility and reasonable accommodations

The Novartis Group of Companies are 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 application process, or in order to perform the essential functions of a position, please send an e-mail to [e-mail] call [phone] and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information. Please include the job requisition number in your message.

Skills Desired

Cross-Functional Collaboration, Customer Engagement, Customer Insights, Data Analytics, Digital Marketing, Market Research, Media Campaigns, Product Marketing, Stakeholder Engagement, Stakeholder Management, Team Leadership, Waterfall Model

Improving the lives of people living with disease takes more than innovative science. It takes a focus on the needs of people and a community committed to meeting them. It takes a team of people like you. Working together. Learning together. Thriving together. Discover how you can join us in changing people’s lives.

China Cross-Border Data Transfer (CBDT) policy

In the context of China Cross-Border Data Transfer (CBDT) policy, if you need to apply for a position in China, please go to the local Recruiting System TaleNov.