Associate Director, Marketing Program Management

Location: Mexico City, Insurgentes

Contract Type: This role is based in Mexico City, Insurgentes. Novartis is unable to offer relocation support: please only apply if accessible.

Reimagining Medicine Starts With Our People

The Associate Director, Marketing Program Management is responsible for leading complex strategic programs and cross-functional initiatives from planning through execution. This role ensures strong governance, stakeholder alignment, disciplined project delivery, and effective change management while supporting organizational priorities.

The successful candidate will bring deep project and program management expertise, strong leadership capabilities, and a passion for improving ways of working through innovation, digital solutions, and responsible use of AI-enabled tools.

Strategic Program Leadership

• Lead end-to-end delivery of complex, high-priority marketing and organizational programs.
• Develop and manage project plans, roadmaps, timelines, budgets, resources, and success metrics.
• Ensure projects are aligned with strategic business objectives and deliver measurable value.
• Identify risks, dependencies, and opportunities, implementing mitigation plans as needed.

Stakeholder Management & Communication

• Partner with cross-functional teams and senior leaders across multiple functions and geographies.
• Facilitate governance activities, including Steering Committee and Leadership Team engagement.
• Establish communication strategies that promote transparency, alignment, and successful adoption of program outcomes.
• Influence decision-making through data-driven recommendations and strategic insights.

Operational Excellence

• Apply project management best practices, methodologies, and governance frameworks.
• Drive accountability, structure, and execution discipline across project teams.
• Monitor program performance and proactively resolve issues impacting timelines, budgets, or scope.
• Identify opportunities to optimize processes and improve organizational effectiveness.

Digital Innovation & AI Adoption

• Leverage AI-enabled tools and emerging technologies to enhance project delivery, productivity, and decision-making.
• Promote responsible AI practices, ensuring appropriate governance, compliance, data privacy, and human oversight.
• Coach teams on innovative approaches that improve efficiency and business outcomes.

Change Management & Continuous Improvement

• Support organizational transformation initiatives and evolving business priorities.
• Foster collaboration across global and multicultural teams.
• Contribute to the ongoing development and maturity of project management capabilities across the organization.
• Share lessons learned and best practices to strengthen project execution excellence.

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Life Sciences, Project Management, or a related field.
• Master's degree and/or MBA preferred.
• PMP and/or Agile/Scrum certifications are highly desirable.
• Minimum of 7 years of experience in portfolio, program, or project management.
• Experience managing large-scale, cross-functional initiatives in complex organizations.
• Background within the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, healthcare, or consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry preferred.
• Demonstrated success leading multiple simultaneous projects and driving strategic outcomes.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, including engagement with senior leadership.
• Ability to lead multidisciplinary teams through ambiguity and change.
• Strong planning, prioritization, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
• Financial acumen and experience managing project budgets and resources.
• Ability to analyze complex information and translate insights into actionable strategies.
• Experience working in global, multicultural, and matrixed environments.

Digital & AI Expertise

• Practical experience using AI and automation tools to improve project outcomes and team effectiveness.
• Understanding of responsible AI practices, including governance, transparency, data privacy, and information security.
• Ability to evaluate and validate AI-generated outputs while ensuring compliance with organizational policies and human oversight requirements.
• Curiosity and commitment to embracing emerging technologies that enhance business performance.

Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion

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

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