Head of Skills

Salary Range: €93,660.00 - €173,940.00 Band Level 6
Job Description Summary Dublin, Ireland; London, UK or Munich, Germany (see separate postings)
Relocation Support: This role is based in Dublin, Ireland. Novartis is unable to offer relocation support: please only apply if accessible.

As Head of Skills, you will shape the future of how skills power careers, learning, and workforce transformation at Novartis. This is a rare opportunity to lead an enterprise-wide skills agenda-bringing together strategy, data, and emerging technologies to build a more agile, inclusive, and future ready workforce. Working at the intersection of talent, learning, and innovation, you will influence senior leaders and turn cutting edge market insights into scalable, human centered solutions that truly impact how people grow and thrive.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and lead the enterprise skills strategy, aligning governance, priorities, and operating model across Novartis.
• Continuously scan external markets for skills trends, innovations, and regulatory developments shaping talent practices.
• Influence senior stakeholders to embed skills based approaches across talent, learning, and workforce decisions.
• Establish and evolve enterprise standards for skills taxonomy, proficiency, assessment, and language.
• Partner with Reward and Organization Development to shape job architecture and career frameworks.
• Embed skills across the full talent lifecycle, including acquisition, learning, performance, and mobility.
• Translate skills insights into actionable recommendations for workforce planning and capability development.
• Shape enterprise use cases for Workday Skills Cloud and related skills driven digital experiences.
• Collaborate with technology teams to ensure responsible, ethical, and scalable skills solutions.
• Lead responsible artificial intelligence practices, ensuring fairness, transparency, and inclusive skills design.

Essential Requirements

• Extensive experience in talent management, organizational development, learning, or workforce transformation at global scale.
• Deep expertise in skills based talent practices, including taxonomies, job architecture, and career frameworks.
• Strong understanding of human resources technology, including skills intelligence platforms and data driven solutions.
• Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders and drive enterprise wide change across complex organizations.
• Experience translating market trends and workforce data into strategic talent and capability decisions.
• Demonstrated commitment to ethical, inclusive, and responsible use of artificial intelligence in talent practices.

Benefits & Rewards

At Novartis, we're committed to reimagining medicine together - and rewarding the people who make it happen. The base salary offered is determined based on gender neutral objectives, such as relevant skills, competencies and experience in accordance with the Novartis pay setting policy and will be reviewed periodically. In addition, you may be eligible for a performance based bonus and long term equity awards may be part of your package.

We offer a variety of competitive benefits in kind to help you thrive personally and professionally, such as insurance plans, retirement plans, wellbeing resources and global recognition programs. Flexible and hybrid working options are available where possible, and a minimum of 14 weeks paid parental leave is provided.

Further details will be provided during the application process. Read our brochure to learn more about our global total rewards offering: Novartis Life Handbook .

Note: Benefits and compensation may vary by country and are subject to local legal requirements, including provisions of collective bargaining agreements where applicable. A full overview of your compensation package, including any relevant collective bargaining agreement details applicable to your role based on your employment location and Novartis employer entity, will be communicated separately to you during the application process.

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

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

Important Notice About Fraud

Novartis is aware of employment scams which make false use of our company name or leaders' names to defraud job seekers. Novartis does not make job offers without interview and never asks candidates for money. If you have encountered a job posting or been approached with a job offer that you suspect may be fraudulent, we strongly recommend you do not respond, send money or personal information. Novartis is not responsible for any claims, losses, damages, or expenses resulting from scams.