Head Assessment

Job Description Summary
Location: Dublin, Ireland; London, UK(Remote); Prague, Czech Republic - #LI-Hybrid
Closing date for applications: 4th August 2025
About the role:
At Novartis, talent selection is not just about filling roles—it's about shaping the future of medicine through people.
By combining tested industry best-practices in assessment and selection with the latest research and techniques, you will help the organization to identify individuals who not only meet today's needs but are also poised to grow into tomorrow's challenge.
As the Head of Selection & Assessment you will have the opportunity to design and lead the enterprise; wide strategy, experience and continuous evolution of talent assessment for selection and development; with a primary focus on executive leadership assessments - enabling talent decisions and development at all levels.
This includes integrating human-centered design, AI-first principles, and managing deep vendor partnerships.
Job Description
Key Responsibilities:
Researches and proposes strategy and methods for selection and assessment, ensuring a comprehensive assessment battery which is fully aligned to our overall talent management needs and approach.
Defines and manages end-to-end process and experience for selection and assessment, ensuring a positive user experience and full integration/hand-offs with other processes and process owners(e.g.
hiring, succession planning, leadership development, development discussions).
Drives consistency of our assessment approach for selection and development across all our business functions in collaboration with Talent & Development Leaders.
Uses insights from assessments to derive recommendations for broader Talent and Development strategy, as well as to drive continuous improvements.
Partners with business unit Talent & Development colleagues and P&O BPs to manage ad-hoc assessment needs, including recommendation on methods and vendors.
Business owner for selection and assessment vendors, including vendor lifecycle management, leading RFPs, quarterly business reviews, ensuring service quality and timely delivery.
Business owner for executive search vendors, including vendor lifecycle management, leading RFPs, quarterly business reviews, ensuring service quality and timely delivery.
Works in collaboration with other CoE team members on projects and deliverables including (but not limited to) success profiles, experience pathways for executive leadership roles.
Responsible for capability building for P&O colleagues to ensure findings from assessments can be addressed appropriately through development plans.
Applies Human-Centered Design principles and an AI-first approach to all the above.
Essential Requirements:
I/O psychology degree or equivalent professional experience.
Assessment & selection expertise:
Deep knowledge of structured interviews, psychometric tools ( e.g.
Hogan), and selection methodologies across leadership levels.
Experience of running or working with different selection and assessment methods.
Strategic thinking:
Ability to design and evolve enterprise-wide selection and assessment strategies aligned with broader talent and development goals.
Human-Centred Design and AI fluency:
Applies design thinking and AI-Frist principles to create intuitive, scalable and future -ready experiences.
Vendor & stakeholder management
: Strong capability to lead vendor lifecycle (RFPs, QBRs, performance) and collaborate with internal stakeholders (e.g.
P&O BPs, CoEs, business units).
Data driven insights & influence:
Uses assessment data to shape talent strategies, influence senior stakeholders, and drive continuous improvement.
Process design & integration:
Designs seamless, end to end processes that integrate with hiring, succession and development workflows.
Communication & facilitation:
Strong interpersonal skills to engage, educate, and enable P&O colleagues and business leaders.
Agility & execution:
Balances strategic vision with operational detail; able to zoom in and out as needed to deliver outcomes.
Desirable Requirements:
Executive search or pipelining experience.
Ideally Hogan trained.
Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion:
Novartis is committed to building an outstanding, inclusive work environment and diverse teams representative of the patients and communities we serve.
Skills Desired
Business Partnering, Change Management, Communication Skills, Human Resources (HR), Operational Excellence, Organizational Development (OD), Performance Management, Relationship Building, Resilience, Talent Management, Waterfall Model
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