Job Description

Your impact begins here

As Associate Director Sales Excellence, you will own the sales effectiveness strategy that helps sales teams across International Operations perform with more focus and consistency. You will decide how strategies and tactics are designed, rolled out and improved, and you will be accountable for measurable gains in sales performance and return on investment. Your work helps sales teams perform at their best, so Novo can serve more people living with serious chronic diseases.

What you’ll bring

We are looking for a commercially minded leader who thrives in complex, cross-functional environments and can balance strategic thinking with hands-on execution. You’ll bring:

• A minimum of 10 years’ experience in commercial excellence, sales effectiveness, commercial marketing, sales management or related fields, ideally combining at least two of these areas.
• Proven experience improving sales team productivity and performance, with a strong understanding of sales effectiveness processes such as segmentation and targeting, territory management, call planning, and training and coaching.
• The confidence to make decisions independently and be accountable for results, including measurable improvements in sales performance and return on investment.
• Strong analytical skills: you are comfortable evaluating sales KPIs, spotting trends and turning data into clear recommendations.
• Demonstrated ability to manage several projects at once, delivering sales initiatives, campaigns and promotional materials on time and to a high standard.
• Experience driving organisational change, including introducing new sales methodologies, tools and processes.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to explain complex ideas and insights clearly and persuasively to executives, sales teams and clients, including in high-level discussions and external engagements.
• Strategic vision: the ability to craft and carry out long-term strategies that align with commercial marketing goals and support sustainable business growth.

Useful, but not essential

• Experience working with affiliates or regional teams in an international organisation.
• Experience with sales incentive design or guidance.

What you’ll do

You will hold decision-making authority over sales strategies and tactics for International Operations and make sure they fit broader marketing and business objectives.

• Develop and roll out a standardised sales effectiveness framework that raises productivity and efficiency across International Operations. You will bring together proven methodologies and analysis, and make sure the approach is ready for how customers will want to engage in the future.
• Oversee affiliate sales effectiveness initiatives and the customer engagement initiatives within your remit, such as segmentation and targeting, territory management, call plans, and training and coaching programmes.
• Work with regional and affiliate teams to find local gaps. Through deep-dive discussions and affiliate visits, you will define improvements that fit each market, turn them into actionable plans and scale best practices across regions.
• Monitor sales KPIs and trends from the commercial insights and analytics team and use the data to address performance gaps and drive continuous improvement.
• Own incentive guidance for International Operations: agree the right incentives each calendar year with marketing and regional stakeholders, make sure regions and affiliates follow the required standards, and guide brand-specific approaches such as launches.
• Represent Commercial Transformation in high-level discussions and external engagements on sales effectiveness, and act as a voice for Novo’s commercial growth strategies.

Who you’ll work with

You will join the Commercial Transformation team within IO MM&R, part of International Operations, where colleagues work across markets to serve people around the world and help improve health at scale.

Your closest partners will be regional and affiliate teams, who help you understand what each market needs. You will work with marketing, the commercial insights and analytics team, and digital and customer engagement teams, so that sales strategies are informed by consumer trends and promotional campaign insights.

The role can be based in Zurich, Switzerland or in IO-SO Hub in Denmark.

What you can expect here

You will own a role with real decision-making authority and reach across International Operations. You will be trusted to take ownership and make your voice heard and supported to build new skills through hands-on experience and collaboration with colleagues across markets and functions. We value clear priorities, honest feedback and decisive action, because that is how we keep moving at pace.

Start now

Your impact begins today. If you are ready to help sales teams across International Operations work with more clarity, focus and momentum, apply for the Associate Director Sales Excellence role by Nov 8th. Applications are reviewed on an ongoing basis, so we encourage you to appl

We commit to an inclusive recruitment process and equality of opportunity for all our job applicants.