Associate Director External Communications & Engagement

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Novo Nordisk is looking for an Associate Director External Communications & Engagement for IO in Zurich onsite. This high visibility role shapes IO’s external presence across media, digital channels and events, leads disease awareness campaigns, and builds relationships with regulators, influencers and partners to ensure accurate, compelling storytelling. You will collaborate with Medical Affairs, Commercial, Regulatory and Legal to stay compliant while driving proactive narratives that resonate across markets. The ideal candidate has a proven external communications track record, multi-channel experience, regional or country experience, and strong storytelling with measurement. How to apply: tailor your resume to show impact with quantified results, provide cross-functional collaboration examples, and include a brief note about why you fit Novo Nordisk’s mission. Deadline Aug 1, 2026.

Associate Director, External Communications & Engagement
IO Communications, International Operations

This is a high-impact, high-visibility role for a communications professional who thrives in the external environment – someone with creative energy, strong instincts and the confidence to build relationships and tell stories that cut through. You will be central to how International Operations (IO) shows up in the world: in traditional and social media, with consumers and influencers, across our broader stakeholder landscape, and in the conversations that shape how our brands, our science and our purpose are understood.

Your new role
Bring IO's story to the right people, in the right way, at the right moment – and make it land. Reporting into the Head of Communications, IO, you will shape and deliver an external presence that is proactive, creative and unmistakably ours. From media moments and major congresses to disease awareness campaigns that challenge stigma in obesity care, you will lead work that influences how millions of people understand health.

Day-to-day, your responsibilities will include:

• Leading external communications strategy and execution across earned and owned channels – media relations, stakeholder engagement, digital and social, content and storytelling – in partnership with the Head of Communications, IO
• Driving IO's external presence at key congresses, industry events and disease awareness moments, owning the end-to-end communications plan
• Developing a consistent compelling, consumer-resonant content and narratives that differentiate our brands and drives behaviour change among target audiences
• Supporting the development and execution of disease awareness campaigns, particularly in obesity, that challenge stigma, address misinformation and build emotional engagement
• Building and managing relationships with key external stakeholders, and partnering with country and regional affiliates to adapt and amplify global narratives in local markets
• Working closely with Medical Affairs, Commercial, Regulatory and Legal to ensure all external communications are accurate, compliant and strategically aligned
• Monitoring the external media and stakeholder landscape, spotting opportunities, emerging issues and areas where IO should lead the conversation
• Connecting the external and internal voice as one, partnering closely with the internal communications lead for IO
• Support in the development of communications capability building across IO to build a best-in-class communications function

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 IO, the Communications team shapes how our story is told to the world and to our colleagues. We are a small, ambitious group that values creativity, rigour and pace in equal measure – and we are looking for someone who will raise the bar for the work we put out and the relationships we build.

Your skills & qualifications
This role suits someone who is energised by the external world, who reads widely, builds relationships naturally and finds the story in a complex brief. You will be as comfortable advising a senior stakeholder as you are writing a media pitch or reviewing a social media plan, bringing creativity without losing rigour and pace without losing quality. We are looking for:

• A strong track record in external communications, media relations, social media and stakeholder engagement, with excellent writing and storytelling skills that translate complex topics into clear, compelling, audience-tailored content
• Experience working across multiple channels – earned media, owned content, events and digital – and a demonstrated track record of using measurement to show the impact of communications
• Previous experience in a regional communications role and a clear understanding of the complexities involved; experience in a country role is also beneficial
• The ability to manage complex stakeholder relationships with confidence and credibility, and to operate in a fast-paced environment with multiple priorities and emerging issues
• Experience in pharma, healthcare or another regulated environment is preferred but not essential
• Behaviours that will make you exceptional: externally curious about media, culture and how public opinion is shaped; creative and bold; high energy and momentum; relationship-first; commercially grounded; resilient and adaptable under pressure; and strategic in how you connect tactics to the broader business agenda
  
  

Working at Novo Nordisk
At Novo Nordisk, every role connects directly to our mission of defeating serious chronic diseases – and we are reaching more patients today than ever before. We are not just leading our market; we are redefining it, expanding access to treatment for millions who have been left on the sidelines. Here, you will work alongside some of the most driven and talented colleagues in the industry, in a culture where ambition, accountability and collaboration go hand in hand. We care about you as a whole person – investing in your growth, your wellbeing and your sense of belonging at every stage of your career and life. When you join us, you join a company at a defining moment, one where your work has real and immediate impact.

Deadline

Please apply before Aug 1st, 2026

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.