At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead a skilled team to enhance operational excellence across UK sites.
- Company: Join a leading pharma company focused on innovation and compliance.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, inclusive culture, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Dynamic role with a focus on leadership and strategic partnerships.
- Why this job: Make a real impact in R&D operations while driving change and collaboration.
- Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree and experience in facility or lab operations required.
The predicted salary is between 50000 - 65000 £ per year.
Location: Oxford, South East, GB
Your new role
As Associate Director, you will drive the next wave of operational professionalisation across our UK sites. You will help build robust governance, scalable support models and compliance-minded operations, while providing strong on-site leadership in a complex, evolving R&D environment.
Key responsibilities
- Leadership of a small team of highly skilled professionals and outsourced services, providing coherence, direction and support on day-to-day operations as well as strategic initiatives.
- Senior stakeholder partnering: Act as a trusted sparring partner to site leadership, navigating complexity and pushback with integrity, clarity and executive presence.
- Operational governance and professionalisation: Establish and strengthen structures, processes and governance so the UK organisation operates in a compliant, efficient and science-enabling way.
- Outsourcing and supplier management: Lead strategic supplier partnerships, to ensure resilient and integrated outcome-based delivery of comprehensive site operation.
- Cross-site operational accountability: Ensure consistent, high-quality operational support across sites in Oxford and London.
Your new department
You will join UK R&D Operations, supporting a multi-site organisation across two sites in Oxford and one in London. The function brings together Health & Safety, site coordination, facility management activities and lab services, working closely with colleagues in the US and Denmark to ensure UK sites maintain operational readiness and compliance posture; governance, audit prep., corrective and preventative actions, and risk management (e.g. LTO: License to Operate). Moreover, the function leads operational change initiatives while maintaining business continuity and protecting R&D productivity. Accountable for Operations performance, responsible for influencing cross-functional outcomes.
Your skills and qualifications
- A Bachelor’s degree in Facility Management, Engineering, Business Administration or a related field.
- Significant experience in site operations, facility or lab operations-adjacent roles within a professional industry setting, ideally pharma or life sciences.
- Proven leadership experience managing employees in complex, change-driven environments.
- Strong experience with outsourcing, vendor and contract management, including data-driven decision-making and KPI follow-up.
- Executive-level stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build trust and build “one team” collaboration.
- Comfortable operating within ambiguity, prioritising under pressure and driving progress despite organisational and capability constraints.
Application Support
We are an equal opportunities employer, and we commit to an inclusive recruitment process and equality of opportunity for all our job applicants. If you're a person with a disability, if you're neurodivergent, and need any adjustments to be made during the application and selection process, please send an email to ebhn@novonordisk.com. Please include your name, the role you are interested in and the type of adjustment you need.
Contact
For further information about the position, please contact Director, Bigitte Regine Viktor-Knudsen at brkn@novonordisk.com.
Associate Director, Facility Operations in Oxford employer: Novo Nordisk A/S
At our Oxford location, we pride ourselves on fostering a collaborative and innovative work culture that empowers our employees to excel in their roles. As an Associate Director in Facility Operations, you will benefit from extensive professional development opportunities, a commitment to operational excellence, and the chance to lead a talented team in a dynamic R&D environment. Our inclusive approach ensures that every voice is heard, making it an ideal place for those seeking meaningful and rewarding employment.
