Senior Director, US Risk Management & Product Safety (REMS)
About this opportunity
Location: East Hanover, NJ#LI-Hybrid Relocation Support: Novartis is unable to offer relocation support - please only apply if this location is accessible to youJoin Novartis in a pivotal leadership role where patient safety and innovation intersect. As Senior Director, US Risk Management & Product Safety, you will lead the US safety strategy for a portfolio of complex, high-profile medicines, overseeing REMS design, product safety governance, FDA engagement, and risk management execution. This is a rare opportunity to influence how breakthrough therapies reach patients safely, while partnering with senior leaders to shape the future of risk management across the US healthcare landscape.
Major accountabilities: 1. REMS Strategy & Leadership - Lead the US REMS Safety Strategy, ensuring alignment with FDA requirements, global risk management plans, and evolving patient safety priorities. - Drive development, approval, and launch of innovative, commercially feasible REMS programs including restricted distribution, prescriber/pharmacy certification, and patient enrollment systems. - Provide US input into Risk Management Plans (RMPs) and REMS assessments; ensuring the implementation of recommendations and continuous optimization of risk minimization measures. 2. REMS Operational Oversight - Manage REMS vendor performance (including call centers, specialty pharmacies, prescriber certification platforms) to ensure compliance, high quality training, and robust data integrity. - Oversee execution of REMS commitments and risk mitigation activities. 3. US Product Safety Strategy - Oversee US safety related labeling (USPI, Medication Guides, REMS safety language) and oversee timely, accurate submission of US aggregate reports (e.g., PADERs, PBRERs). - Serve as the primary contact for US product safety inquiries, escalations, and Health Authority requests. 4. Regulatory Compliance & Quality Oversight - Maintain readiness for inspections and audits; manage findings, corrective actions, and CAPAs to closure. - Keep current with evolving regulatory requirements and provide insights to support REMS and safety risk management strategy. - Participate in FDA interactions, REMS negotiations, advisory boards, and industry forums. Essential Requirements: - Bachelor’s degree in Health Care / Life Sciences required; advanced degree preferred (PharmD, PhD, or MD). - 10+ years of PV leadership experience, including risk management planning and operational execution.- Minimum of 8 years pharmaceutical industry experience is required.- Strong knowledge of FDA REMS requirements, US pharmacovigilance regulations, and audit/inspection management. - Proven leadership, communication, influencing, and decision-making capability. - Strong executive presence and ability to manage multiple high-priority initiatives. - Expertise leading large-scale strategic initiatives related to drug development and regulatory requirements. - Deep understanding of risk management principles and best practices for REMS implementation. Desirable Skills:- Familiarity with safety databases, REMS platforms, and data analytics tools. Novartis Compensation and Benefit Summary The salary for this position is expected to range between $204,400 and $379,600 per year. The final salary offered is determined based on factors like relevant skills and experience and may be reviewed periodically. Novartis may change the published salary range based on company and market factors. Compensation includes a performance-based cash incentive and eligibility for annual equity awards. US-based eligible employees receive a comprehensive benefits package including health, life, disability benefits, 401(k) with company match, and generous time off. Join Novartis and play a defining role in advancing patient safety and regulatory excellence in the United States. Apply now to be part of a purpose-driven organization reimagining medicine for patients worldwide.
Job details
How this role compares
Computed from every other active Pharmacovigilance role in our database, not just this employer's listings.
We currently track 39 comparable Senior Director Pharmacovigilance roles across 16 biopharma companies.
Salary context
15 of 39 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)
Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.
Where these roles are based
Top locations among the 39 comparable roles
+ 4 more countries
Seniority mix
39 of 39 peers have a known seniority level
Therapeutic area mix
10 of 39 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden
Similar opportunities
The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.
Notify me about similar jobs
Get an email when we spot other openings like this one – same job function, comparable seniority, roles you'd actually want to see.
Or follow a whole field: get every new Pharmacovigilance job in the United States, and choose locations and companies.
How we calculate "similar"
No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.
Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.
0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.