About corporate functions
The headline corporate functions covers all units that serve as business partners and support to Novo Nordisk worldwide. Employees working within our corporate functions have a wide-range of roles and responsibilities – but all sharing the same commitment to excellence and to drive the continued success of Novo Nordisk.
The corporate functions at Novo Nordisk include areas such as Finance, Legal, IT, Communications, HR and Quality, which all aim to drive and support the success of our growing global organisation.
On this site you can get an introduction to all areas within our corporate functions including their main responsibilities and focus areas.
Our corporate functions are based at our headquarters just outside Copenhagen in Denmark. However, we work closely with our colleagues in our regional offices and productions sites around the world.
We are always on the lookout for new, committed colleagues in search for excellence – are you the next to join us?
Health is our business
Our corporate functions provide a wide range of services and skills that enable the company to continue to be successful and make a difference to millions of lives around the world.
Every area within our corporate functions aims to be the best at what it does across the industry. We are committed to excellence because we know that our contribution helps the company meet its goal to change people’s lives.
We are a healthcare company and we take the responsibility that comes with this seriously. Whether you work in Global Legal on corporate governance issues, in Global Stakeholder Engagement on access to diabetes care or in Global Quality on product safety, your work makes a difference to our company and thereby to our patients – those people that depend on our products for life-threatening or chronic conditions.
A diverse team
From accountants to legal advisors, medical doctors to IT consultants, and HR professionals to communicators, our corporate functions consist of employees with diverse backgrounds.
Our corporate functions are divided into two overall areas:
- Finance, Legal & IT which also include the areas responsible for sourcing, business development and patents.
- Corporate Relations which include Corporate People & Organisation, Global Stakeholder Engagement, Corporate Communications, Business Assurance and Global Quality.
Who we are looking for
Our corporate functions are based in our headquarters in Denmark and they include employees with many different nationalities, educational backgrounds and competencies.
In corporate functions we must all be able to work closely with our colleagues in 81 countries around the world as well as colleagues from other areas of headquarters. Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, team spirit and an appreciation for different cultures are highly important skills to succeed.
Our employees must also demonstrate a quality mindset and a drive for results by being proactive, and open to change and innovation. We strive for excellence in everything we do.
Click on one of the following links for further information on each of the areas in Corporate Functions:
Global Finance
Global Legal
IT & Corporate Development
Business Assurance
Global Quality
Corporate People & Organisation
Corporate Communications
Global Stakeholder Engagement
Your opportunities
Joining a successful and ambitious global company in growth offers many exciting opportunities for personal and professional development. Working with experts, training, international assignments and job rotations are some of the possibilities for learning that makes working here rewarding. In return, we expect you to take on the opportunities to constantly grow your talent.
Building networks
We have a dedicated workforce of talented experts in their field. By joining us you will become part of a highly professional community within your area. You will have the opportunity to learn from these talented individuals and build a network of people with great knowledge and experience.
Developing your talent
According to us development and growth is an ongoing journey. Every employee has an individual development plan which includes personal development goals. Dependent on your role and ambitions, employees are able to take part in interesting local and global projects, training programmes, job rotations or job swaps and international assignments.
Influence on your role
Working at Novo Nordisk provides many varied opportunities for personal growth and professional development. We encourage an inclusive culture that fosters learning, which means that you will have the opportunity to influence your own role and development plan. Your own ideas and suggestions for change are welcomed and expected. We see this as a natural part of our focus on innovation that is a key driver for our success.
Making a life saving difference for millions of people
The success of Novo Nordisk today means that we offer a life saving contribution to more than 20.000.000 people around the world every day. This makes us proud, humble and ambitious. By joining Novo Nordisk, you will become part of a strong commitment to driving the change needed to continue to make a difference in people lives.
If you would like the opportunity to develop both your personal and professional skills in an inclusive culture where you can shape your own career then a job in corporate functions could be perfect for you.
Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance is responsible for determining the overall finance strategy for the organisation and for driving the progress of the entire Corporate Finance portfolio, so ensuring an optimal and balanced risk profile.
We focus on driving competitive value creation. This means transforming numbers into more than reporting, controlling and accounting and creating a solid platform upon which to stand and reach even higher than we have historically.
Managing assets and funds, ensuring financial compliance, making and challenging decisions, and handling risks proactively are just a few of our activities.
We support the organisation by servicing our customers, optimising global processes and communicating effectively with our stakeholders. This includes aligning key business processes across Corporate Finance.
We have more than 350 employees working in Corporate Finance: Around 300 at our headquarters in Denmark and more than 55 at our corporate hub in Bangalore in India. In addition to Coporate Finance we are more than 400 finance employees in Global Finance located at our affiliates around the world.
In Corporate Finance we aim to create a challenging and engaging workplace with global career opportunities by building talent and developing skills, enhancing a business mindset and supporting a winning culture.
Global Legal
In Global Legal we do our utmost to support our business with legal advice to all parts of the organisation. Our vision is to be the best legal operation in the pharmaceutical industry.
Global Legal is responsible for ensuring high legal standards and good corporate governance practices. We work within the law to protect and benefit the business, interests and employees of the company. We aim to add value to the business by taking action on risks and opportunities and ensuring efficient and innovative legal solutions.
Our Global Legal organisation has grown in the past few years primarily due to an expansion in the regions, today adding up to 20 legal units at 17 different worldwide locations. The global workforce of approximately 80 employees includes lawyers, legal advisors and assistants.
In Global Legal we develop our employees through job swaps and international project assignments in addition to the talent development programmes offered by the company.
IT & Corporate Development
Within IT, we provide global IT governance and project management of large, international and cross-organisational projects and manage all critical global IT systems.
In IT we are committed to providing Novo Nordisk with effective and efficient IT services to support business competitiveness.
Our aim is to ensure that IT is an integrated part of the business, from project idea to implementation and system maintenance in order to capture the full value from our IT investments.
Approximately 300 IT professionals in Headquarters in Denmark and 250 IT professionals in our global organisation aim to provide efficient IT services to support the whole value chain. We are closely engaged with all Novo Nordisk business areas around the world.
In IT we have great opportunities to develop our employees through job rotations and job swaps. Many projects are international which gives our employees the opportunity to work across geographical borders or to be expatriated for the duration of the project.
Corporate Development consists of a number of strategic functions that work with the development of Novo Nordisks corporate strategy, partnerships, merger and acquisitions, and patents.
Corporate Development is divided into to areas, Corporate Strategy & Business Development and Corporate Patents. These areas employ approximately 75 people in total.
In Corporate Strategy & Business Development we focus on developing the organisation through licensing of promising compounds, technologies or services or through investments in or acquisitions of companies. In addition we are responsible for the overall strategic planning for Novo Nordisk.
The focus of Corporate Patents is to secure the strongest possible patent protection for Novo Nordisk inventions to ensure that we obtain the highest possible value from our intellectual assets.
Business Assurance
Our purpose is to ensure the company is in compliance with financial regulations and the The Novo Nordisk Way – the company framework that defines how we live our values in our daily business. By doing so, we maintain our strong company culture and our approach to responsible business.
In Business Assurance we safeguard the Novo Nordisk Way of Management. Through interviews with thousands of employees worldwide we assess the business area’s ability to display a behaviour that is coherent with the commitments we have made in our Novo Nordisk Way of Management.
We set the framework for yearly organisational audits which focus on linking the business, organisation and succession management.
Our independent and objective assurance activity helps evaluate and improve the effectiveness of our financial control and governance processes, including financial assurance, business ethics assurance and IT assurance.
It is our responsibility to provide assurance to Novo Nordisk’s executive management team and the Board of Directors on the Novo Nordisk Way of Management, the organisational audit process, business ethics, financial processes and controls.
Global Quality
Global Quality is responsible for ensuring that our products are of the highest quality. We guard the safety of the millions of patients, who use our products daily. This is done through compliance with regulatory demands, efficiency in our quality management system and facilitation of a quality mindset among all our employees.
We are responsible for the global management of quality across the company to make sure we live up to both internal and external quality policies and regulations.
We implement, monitor and improve quality systems in order to maintain business excellence.
Within the area of patient safety it is our role to monitor products globally, handle customer feedback and fight counterfeiters.
In addition, we offer a support and advisory service and quality education and training.
Corporate People and Organisation
In Corporate People and Organisation we provide strategic HR intelligence to our business areas world wide. It is our role to develop and drive strategies and to set global standards for People and Organisation processes and outcomes in Novo Nordisk.
We are responsible for the full employee life cycle – from talent attraction, recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement and retention, rewards and remuneration, talent and leadership development, mobility and finally employees’ exit from Novo Nordisk.
Through yearly organisational audits we identify People and Organisation responses to business challenges. The organisational audits are driven in close collaboration with the HR business partners who are working within the different business areas. With the HR partner positions, Corporate People & Organisation mirrors the line management structure, as the HR partners interact with and support management groups at a strategic level in all areas within the People Life Cycle.
To have efficient People and Organisation processes we need efficient systems. We are responsible for among others the company’s global rewards strategy and performance management system. Corporate People & Organisation is also acting as the operational HR function for all business units based in Denmark.
Corporate Communications
We want to be known as the best and most trustworthy company in the industry. To achieve this, it is our responsibility to build and protect the company reputation – both internally and externally – and to ensure that Novo Nordisk communicates effectively.
To facilitate our contribution to Novo Nordisks success, we communicate and facilitate a dialogue with a range of stakeholders. It is our role to build and protect the company’s reputation, to support internal change processes, to implement business strategies, and promote the culture and values of the Novo Nordisk Way of Management.
Internally, we have a global employee news platform, online video news and an employee magazine to give our employees access to information about the company’s strategy, aspirations and achievements. We provide change communication support and communication training to our business areas worldwide.
Externally, we deliver global media outreach, spokesperson training and issues communication.
Global Stakeholder Engagement
We want to make a positive impact in society through our own actions and by inspiring and working with others. Through collaborations with our stakeholders we are leading the fight against diabetes by developing a new model of care.
In Global Stakeholder Engagement we are responsible for ensuring that Novo Nordisk's stakeholder engagements are founded on our sustainable business model and the vision of defeating diabetes. Concretely, we work to ensure that our Triple Bottom Line business principle drives strategy and business decisions across the company. It is also our responsibility to ensure that we account for and report on how Novo Nordisk's TBL activities generate value for the business, our stakeholders and to society.
We drive the company’s Changing Diabetes® initiative. To underpin this, our sustainability programmes include access to diabetes care and patient advocacy and support.
Within the area of corporate branding we are responsible for brand engagement and visibility, and our corporate visual identity.
