Sr Director, NHS Commercial Portfolio, United Kingdom

   

Shape the future of healthcare in the UK, leading a commercial function that’s making serious chronic diseases a thing of the past for millions of NHS patients. This is your opportunity to drive full adoption across our portfolio, building awareness and accelerating uptake of our treatments, while delivering market share growth in one of the world’s most competitive and complex healthcare environments.

Your new role

As Senior Director, NHS Commercial Portfolio, you will lead our UK NHS Commercial Cardiometabolic sales function with direct responsibility of a large team, driving portfolio strategy across established therapeutic areas. This is a strategic leadership role where you'll balance immediate execution with long-term planning, mobilising resources quickly in a complex NHS context while building capability for the future. You will be a member of the UK Leadership Team, reporting to the General Manager.

 

Day-to-day your responsibilities will include:

- Leading and mobilising a large NHS Commercial Cardiometabolic sales team

- Creating and executing 3–5-year strategic plans that deliver P&L targets and establish market leadership positions in key therapeutic areas

- Developing talent pipelines through active mentoring and coaching of leaders, building strong capability across the commercial function to support current delivery and future growth

- Collaborating effectively across Medical Affairs, Marketing, Finance, People & Organisation, Customer Engagement, Commercial Effectiveness and Training to align priorities and resources with wider organisational needs and the Leadership Team

- Interpreting business performance data and commercial insights to support prioritisation and performance management, setting clear regional priorities based on NHS dynamics

- Shaping the UK policy environment around health and pharmaceutical business, developing strong networks with NHS England, Department of Health, key opinion leaders, and patient associations

- Representing the UK NHS market at Global and EUCAN leadership meetings, influencing stakeholders and driving change across complex environments

 

 

Your new department

As part of International Operations, you will join our largest operational unit. Covering 194 countries and 95% of the world's population, more than 18,000 of us work passionately to serve 35 million patients each day. With a promise to outperform the competition, we continue to be the growth driver for Novo Nordisk, and to improve health at scale across the globe.

 

Within International Operations, the UK affiliate is at the forefront of shaping how we work with one of the world's most sophisticated healthcare systems. As a member of the UK Leadership Team based in Gatwick, you'll work in an environment that demands agility—where traditional sales approaches give way to commercial portfolio leadership models, and where navigating NHS complexity across primary and secondary care requires both ambition and adaptability. This role offers strong potential for career progression into GM candidate track or regional commercial roles.

 

 

Your skills & qualifications

We're looking for a proven commercial leader who combines strategic vision with the ability to take decisive action in dynamic situations. You'll thrive in a target-driven environment and bring both analytical rigour and people development expertise.

 

You will bring:

- Proven leadership experience managing and mobilising large teams (approximately 100 people) with a strong track record of developing talent, mentoring, and coaching leaders to improve team performance

- Substantial experience in UK pharmaceutical sales with deep understanding of NHS landscape complexity, able to navigate primary and secondary care stakeholders and deliver through a future-focused portfolio approach

- Strong cross-functional collaboration skills with demonstrated ability to work effectively with Medical Affairs, Marketing, Finance, P&O, Customer Engagement, Commercial Effectiveness and Training to align resources and priorities

- Solid commercial and analytical acumen, comfortable interpreting business performance data, understanding numbers, and using commercial insights to drive prioritisation and performance management

- Ambitious, decisive, and target-driven mindset with proven ability to influence stakeholders, drive change in complex environments, and mobilise resources quickly outside traditional sales models

- Life Sciences, Business, or Marketing degree (or equivalent), with ABPI certification and experience in product launch and life-cycle management; mobility is a plus

 

 

Working at Novo Nordisk

Every day we seek the solutions that defeat serious chronic diseases. To do this, we approach our work with determination, constant curiosity and a commitment to finding better ways forward. For over 100 years, this dedication has driven us to build a company focused on lasting change for long-term health. One where diverse thinking, shared purpose and mutual respect come together to create extraordinary results. Here, you'll find a culture where your leadership matters, where collaboration across boundaries creates impact, and where the work you do today shapes the health of future generations. When you join us, you're not just starting a job—you're becoming part of a story that spans generations.

 

 

What we offer

There is, of course, more on offer here than the uniqueness of our culture and the extraordinary results we produce. Being part of a global healthcare company means opportunities to learn and develop are all around us, while our benefits are designed with your career and life stage in mind. This role offers clear pathways for career progression, including potential advancement into GM candidate track or regional commercial leadership positions.

 

 

 Deadline

25 May 2026 (Applications are reviewed on an ongoing basis)

 

You do not need to attach a cover letter to your application, but please include a few sentences about why you are applying in your resume or CV. We commit to an inclusive recruitment process and equality of opportunity for all our job applicants. To ensure a fair recruitment process, please refrain from adding a photo in your CV.

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

 

At Novo Nordisk, we're not chasing quick fixes – we're creating lasting change for long-term health. For over 100 years, we've been driven by a single purpose: to defeat serious chronic diseases and help millions of people live healthier lives. This dedication fuels our constant curiosity and inspires us to push the boundaries of what's possible in healthcare. We embrace diverse perspectives, seek out bold ideas, and build partnerships rooted in shared purpose. Together, we're making healthcare more accessible, treating and preventing diseases, and pioneering solutions that create change spanning generations. When you join us, you become part of something bigger – a legacy of impact that reaches far beyond today.