Senior Specialist - Legal Operations

About the Department

The Lexington Site is home to a growing Development organization, part of Novo Nordisk following its acquisition of Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in December 2021. The Lexington Development team is responsible for leading the clinical advancement of Dicerna’s research pipeline of GalXC™ and GalXC-Plus™ RNAi investigational therapies and select candidates from the broader Novo Nordisk portfolio, targeting both rare and prevalent diseases. The Lexington Development team’s rich heritage of collaboration, calculated risk-taking and agility complemented by the scale and resources of the global Development organization, define a unique clinical development team that maintains its agility to efficiently advance clinical candidates through development. Located in one of the most vibrant biotechnology innovation hubs in the world, and part of the growing biotech ecosystem in Lexington, Massachusetts, the Lexington Site will offer you the opportunity to collaborate with extraordinary talent and to continuously develop, while working toward our collective mission to improve patient lives. Together, we are driving change. Are you ready to make a difference? 

The Position

The Senior Specialist, Legal Operations, is primarily responsible for working within US R&D legal and cross-functionally to oversee the tracking of business owner's proposals, contracts, and contract-related documents for the US R&D organization. The Senior Specialist will assist the legal team with the day-to-day tasks of tracking contracts and proposal requests, completing the contract execution process, integrating legacy systems with the appropriate Novo Nordisk (NN) systems, and generating forecasting reports and analysis. This position will report directly to the Managing Senior Counsel, U.S. R&D, and will be a hybrid role based in Lexington.

Relationships

Reports to the Managing Senior Counsel, U.S. R&D. The role interacts with internal subject matter experts, outside counsel, and leadership within U.S. R&D legal primarily in the Lexington, Boulder, Seattle, and Indianapolis offices and legal counterparts in Princeton, NJ and Copenhagen, Denmark. Interacts internally with Research, Finance, Human Resources / People & Organization, Information Technology, Alliance Management, Facilities, and Communications. Interacts with external vendors, legal counsel, and collaboration partners.

Essential Functions

• Contract Database Management and Support
• Works closely across the company Contracts groups to transition projects from the proposal stage to signed contract, including reviewing contracts for correct coding and linking with ERP systems, routing contracts for signature, and tracking contract data
• Maintains reporting on contracts regarding expirations and works with internal teams to determine renewal status
• Works with stakeholders to proactively identify routine contracting needs (e.g., to anticipate expiration deadlines and significant changes in contract needs)
• Ensures files, draft documents, and final documents are properly stored in electronic storage systems (Vendi-Ariba-Coupa)
• Supports strategic initiatives within the US R&D organization, including, but not limited to reporting contract data and metrics upon request
• Provides support to Contracts team in supplemental forms, data tracking, contract signatures, and other customer support upon request
• Participates in team meetings, aids in development or modification of tools and procedures
• Serves as a backup to members of the Contract team and IP group
• Raises ongoing process improvement opportunities demonstrates ability to understand business processes from a customer perspective, identify technical enablers, procedural re-engineering solutions and process improvements that meet business needs across the organization
• Leads integration projects as new assets and lines of business are brought into the U.S. R&D operational structure

Physical Requirements

Boston Research & Development hub.   Approximately 5% overnight travel to our US R&D sites.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree or combination of relevant experience
• Minimum of 5 years related professional experience. Contract Management, Database Management, and enterprise business systems experience required
• Experience managing contract databases (e.g., Ariba and Coupa) across the entirety of project lifecycle preferred
• Experienced with integration between Ariba and S/4HANA and COUPA preferred
• Able to understand and trouble-shoot contract management database issues and understand escalation path to SAP if required
• Possess and demonstrate exceptional judgment, self-management, impeccable ethics and a high degree of personal and professional maturity required
• Strong sense of accountability and ownership required
• History of self-motivation, sound judgment and excellent interpersonal relations including being a team player and building collaborative, effective relationships within the Legal and Compliance Department and with other functions required
• Demonstrated experience in thinking critically and connecting the dots across broad areas to identify and analyze complex, novel, and challenging issues, well-articulating the risk and potential consequences for transparent decision making, and timely providing compliant, practical, creative and implementable solutions required
• Excellent communication skills (both verbal and written)
• Demonstrated ability and prioritization to be a valued business partner required
• Exceptional multi-tasker with strong work ethic to deliver timely, high-quality work product
• Proactive in identifying issues, opportunities and solutions for short and long-term success and growth for the business and legal team

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

At Novo Nordisk we recognize that it is no longer good enough to aspire to be the best company in the world. We need to aspire to be the best company for the world and we know that this is only possible with talented employees with diverse perspectives, backgrounds and cultures. We are therefore committed to creating an inclusive culture that celebrates the diversity of our employees, the patients we serve and communities we operate in. Together, we’re life changing.

Novo Nordisk is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by local, state or federal laws, rules or regulations.

If you are interested in applying to Novo Nordisk and need special assistance or an accommodation to apply, please call us at 1-855-411-5290. This contact is for accommodation requests only and cannot be used to inquire about the status of applications.