Job Description

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Senior Manager, Media & Communications
Category: Corporate Affairs
Location:
Johannesburg, Gauteng, ZA
Are you passionate about shaping public opinion and driving strategic communication initiatives? Do you have a knack for driving patient engagement and managing media relations? We are looking for a Senior Manager, Media & Communications to lead our communications efforts in South Africa. If you are ready to make a significant impact, read on and apply today for a life-changing career.
Your new role
As a Senior Manager, Media & Communications, you will lead communications for the affiliate, drive patient activation, adherence, and engagement. You will manage communications and media engagement, strengthen, and protect Novo Nordisk's reputation through professional media engagement.
Your main responsibilities will include:

• Support high-quality franchise launches.
• Handle change, crisis, and issues management and consultancy. Provide portfolio leadership communications and issues management.
• Develop and deliver an integrated communications strategy at the affiliate level. Organise communications and deploy new technologies and creative concepts for effective patient activation. Deliver strategic disease awareness programmes.
• Train and advise local stakeholders on communication strategy, key messages, and delivery. Build and maintain a solid network with journalists, editors, and influencers from key organisations.
• Drive employee engagement and internal communications on our business strategy and programmes.

Your new department
A combined Market Access, Public Affairs, and Corporate Communications department focuses on gaining and maintaining market entry for our products, while also managing the company's public image and relationships with government and other key stakeholders. This integrated approach helps ensure that innovative products can reach patients, and that the organization operates successfully within public and regulatory environment.
Your skills & qualifications
As a Senior Manager, Media & Communications you need to have an university degree in science, PR, communication, or related field. Moreover, you need to have at least 5 years of pharmaceutical industry communications experience (both in-house and agency).
To be successful in this role, you should have:

• Strong understanding of pharmaceutical industry in South Africa.
• Experience of working in a matrix organisation and managing complex cross-organisational projects.
• Experience in public education/awareness programs.
• Experience in developing and setting editorial policy and branding guidelines and utilising social media.
• Excellent verbal, written and interpersonal communication skills together with Excellent spoken and written English skills.
• Ability to give formal presentations to internal and external audiences of various sizes.
• Excellent journalistic and editorial skills, as well as extensive network of media contacts.
• Strong influencing, networking, and stakeholder management skills with ability to interact with senior management and high-profile experts with confidence.
• Pro-active self-starter that is highly organised, with the ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• A high level of independent decision-making to manage media enquiries and issues.

Working at Novo Nordisk
We are a proud life-science company, and life is our reason to exist. We're inspired by life in all its forms and shapes, ups and downs, opportunities, and challenges. For employees at Novo Nordisk, life means many things-from the building blocks of life that form the basis of ground-breaking scientific research, to our rich personal lives that motivate and energise us to perform our best at work. Ultimately, life is why we're all here - to ensure that people can lead a life independent of chronic disease.
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.
More information
You are welcome to contact Abderrahim Abboub if you have questions about the role.
Deadline
Apply until 12th of November 2025. (Applications are reviewed on an ongoing basis).
We commit to an inclusive recruitment process and equality of opportunity for all our job applicants.
We're not your typical healthcare company. In a modern world of quick fixes, we focus on solutions to defeat serious chronic diseases and promote long-term health. Our unordinary mindset is at the heart of everything we do. We seek out new ideas and put people first as we push the boundaries of science, make healthcare more accessible, and treat, prevent, and even cure diseases that affect millions of lives. Because it takes an unordinary approach to drive real, lasting change in health.

Skills Required