Associate Director – Reporting Transformation & AI Enablement

Summary

The Associate Director will lead the modernization of commercial performance analytics, transforming traditional reporting into AI-enabled, insight-driven decision support. The role is responsible for architecting and delivering enterprise-grade BI and analytics solutions using modern data platforms such as Databricks and cloud data warehouses, while driving advanced KPI harmonization and scalable semantic models.

This leader will spearhead GenAI-powered conversational analytics, intelligent automation, and agent-based insight generation to shift from reactive dashboards to proactive performance management. The role partners closely with commercial stakeholders to embed analytics into strategic decision-making and ensure executive-ready storytelling.

Additionally, the Associate Director will build and mentor high-performing analytics teams, champion data governance and compliance, and foster innovation across modern analytics, AI, and automation capabilities.

About the Role

Location: Hyderabad | #LI-Hybrid

Key Accountabilities:

1. Commercial Performance Analytics Strategy

• Define and execute the future-state vision for commercial performance analytics, evolving from static dashboards to AI-augmented, conversational, and proactive insights.
• Partner with senior commercial leaders to embed analytics into performance reviews, planning cycles, and execution tracking.
• Act as a thought leader for modern analytics platforms, advanced BI, and GenAI adoption within Commercial Reporting Analytics.

2. Advanced BI & Reporting Products

• Lead the design and delivery of enterprise-grade reporting and analytics products, leveraging:
  • Power BI/Angular (enterprise semantic models, optimized DAX, deployment pipelines)
  • Standardized KPI frameworks and reusable metrics layers
• Drive adoption of self-service analytics while maintaining strong governance, consistency, and performance.
• Transition reporting from dashboard-centric delivery to insight-centric experiences, including narrative and AI-generated explanations.

3. Modern Analytics & Data Platform (Core Focus)

• Architect and oversee analytics solutions built on modern platforms such as:
  • Databricks (Lakehouse architecture, Spark, Delta Lake)
  • Cloud data warehouses (Snowflake, BigQuery, Azure Synapse)
• Lead analytics engineering best practices, including:
  • Advanced SQL and dimensional / semantic data modeling
  • Good to have experience of building data ingestion pipelines using Databricks, Dataiku, Airflow, and cloud-native orchestration tools
• Partner with Data Engineering and IT to ensure:
  • Scalable, performant, and compliant data pipelines
  • Strong data quality, lineage, and governance controls

4. Advanced Performance Analytics & Insight Generation

• Drive advanced analytical approaches focused on commercial performance, including:
  • Sales performance tracking and trend analysis
  • Forecast versus actual performance monitoring
  • Promotional and campaign performance measurement
• Design scalable analytical frameworks that enable root-cause analysis, performance narratives, and actionable recommendations.
• Translate complex analytical outputs into clear, executive-ready insights.

5. Generative AI & Conversational Analytics

• Lead the design and deployment of GenAI-powered conversational analytics solutions, including:
  • Chatbots enabling natural-language interaction with commercial performance data
  • AI assistants delivering on-demand insights, explanations, and performance summaries
• Implement enterprise-ready GenAI architectures using:
  • Azure OpenAI / OpenAI / Vertex AI
  • Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)
  • Secure prompt engineering, evaluation, and monitoring frameworks
• Ensure AI solutions adhere to pharma compliance, data privacy, and responsible AI standards.

6. Agent-Based Analytics & Intelligent Automation (Advanced / Emerging)

• Design and pilot agent-driven analytics capabilities that:
  • Monitor KPIs and detect performance anomalies
  • Proactively generate insight narratives and alerts
  • Automate recurring reporting and analytical workflows
• Collaborate with platform teams to evolve from reactive reporting to proactive, agent-enabled insight delivery.
• Evaluate emerging agent orchestration and workflow automation frameworks.

7. Stakeholder Engagement & Insight Storytelling

• Deliver compelling, executive-level storytelling through:
  • Interactive BI experiences
  • AI-generated narratives
  • Strategic presentations and leadership reviews
• Act as a trusted analytics advisor to senior commercial stakeholders.
• Influence decisions by clearly communicating what happened, why it happened, and what actions to take.

8. Team Leadership & Capability Building

• Lead, mentor, and develop analytics professionals across:
  • BI and analytics engineering
  • AI-enabled reporting and insight delivery
• Build team capability in modern analytics platforms, GenAI usage, and insight storytelling.
• Foster a culture of innovation, automation, and continuous improvement.

Qualifications & Experience

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, Statistics, Economics, or related field
• Master's degree or MBA preferred

Experience

• 12+ years of experience in commercial performance and advanced analytics, reporting, GenAI
• Strong preference for pharmaceutical or life sciences commercial experience
• Proven experience leading enterprise analytics modernization initiatives

Technical Skills (Modern Stack)

Required

• Advanced expertise in Power BI/Angular (enterprise semantic models, DAX optimization, capacity management)
• Strong hands-on experience with SQL and analytics engineering
• Deep experience with Databricks/Dataiku (Lakehouse architecture, Spark, Delta Lake)
• Experience with orchestration tools (dbt, Airflow, cloud-native pipelines)
• Strong understanding of commercial performance data domains (sales, marketing, field activity)
• Solid data governance, security, and compliance mindset

Highly Desired

• Experience building GenAI-powered chatbots or conversational analytics solutions
• Hands-on exposure to LLMs, RAG architectures, prompt engineering, and AI evaluation
• Familiarity with agent-based or autonomous analytics concepts
• Python experience for analytics automation and AI integration

Leadership & Behavioral Competencies

• Strong executive presence and stakeholder management skills
• Ability to balance strategic vision with hands-on execution
• Comfortable driving innovation in complex, regulated environments
• Excellent communication and storytelling abilities

Why Novartis: Helping people with disease and their families takes more than innovative science. It takes a community of smart, passionate people like you. Collaborating, supporting, and inspiring each other. Combining to achieve breakthroughs that change patients' lives. Ready to create a brighter future together.  https://www.novartis.com/about/roadmap/people-and-culture

Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion:

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

Values and Behaviors: Demonstrates and upholds Novartis values and behaviors in all aspects of work and collaboration.

Location: Hyderabad NKC. Hybrid | 3 days a week in office is mandatory.

Why Novartis: Helping people with disease and their families takes more than innovative science. It takes a community of smart, passionate people like you. Collaborating, supporting and inspiring each other. Combining to achieve breakthroughs that change patients' lives. Ready to create a brighter future together? https://www.novartis.com/about/strategy/people-and-culture

Benefits and Rewards: Learn about all the ways we'll help you thrive personally and professionally.
Read our handbook (PDF 30 MB)