Global Lead, Innovation Expansion & Adoption - all genders

Posted:
7/7/2026, 9:15:58 AM

Location(s):
Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany ⋅ Hesse, Germany

Experience Level(s):
Senior

Field(s):
Medical, Clinical & Veterinary

Workplace Type:
Hybrid

About the Job

At Sanofi, we chase the miracles of science to improve people's lives. We are accelerating Sanofi's modernization journey, supporting our Take the Lead strategy to become more focused, integrated, agile, and efficient. Innovation without adoption is just a test and learn use case. The most persistent challenge in pharmaceutical innovation is not generating great ideas — it is ensuring that proven solutions move from proof-of-concept to global standard. Sanofi's Medical Innovation team is solving that challenge.

Within the Medical Strategy ,Transformation and Excellence team, the Medical Innovation function serves as the enterprise incubator for high-impact innovation across Medical Affairs. Operating on an Incubator-to-Operator model, the team scouts, use cases, and proves new capabilities before scaling them into standard practice globally. This requires not only bold ideas, but disciplined execution — and a dedicated leader who ensures that what works in a test and learn use case becomes the new standard of care for Medical Affairs worldwide.

The Global Lead, Innovation Expansion & Adoption is the operational bridge between Sanofi's Medical Innovation Lab and the broader Medical Affairs organization. This role owns the full scaling lifecycle — from change management and KPI governance through GBU transformation partnering and Hub innovation coordination — ensuring that innovations tested by the team become permanent, scalable capabilities embedded across Medical GBUs and Hubs worldwide. This is a role for a transformation-minded professional who thrives at the intersection of strategy, execution, and people change, and who measures success by standards established.

Main Responsibilities

Innovation Scaling & Adoption Strategy

  • Define and own the Innovation Expansion & Adoption roadmap, establishing the frameworks, governance models, and change management strategies that transform successful use cases into global enterprise standards
  • Lead the development and management of Sanofi's Medical Innovation scaling playbook — a standardized methodology for transitioning innovations to GBU operational ownership at scale
  • Design the Incubator-to-Operator handoff model — establishing clear criteria, governance checkpoints, and transition protocols for when a use case is ready to move from the Innovation team to operational owners (Field Excellence, Scientific Communications, and other pillars)
  • Establish and manage the KPI and governance framework for all Medical Innovation initiatives, tracking adoption rates, impact metrics, time-to-standard, and scientific value delivered across Markets and GBUs
  • Own the Medical Innovation Council's reporting cadence for adoption and scaling milestones, ensuring transparent DAI (Decide, Advise, Inform) governance across all scaling initiatives
  • Contribute to the 5-year Medical Innovation roadmap by providing adoption feasibility and scalability assessments for proposed innovation initiatives

GBU Transformation Partnering

  • Serve as the primary transformation business partner to Medical GBUs, spending significant time embedded in GBU leadership meetings to facilitate adoption of scaled innovations and address GBU-specific barriers
  • Design GBU-specific adoption roadmaps for major Medical Innovation platforms, ensuring solutions are configured, deployed, and optimized for GBU context and workflow
  • Lead cross-GBU coordination forums that accelerate adoption learning, share best practices, and resolve scaling challenges across therapeutic areas and geographies
  • Build and manage GBU transformation capability, including training programs, adoption toolkits, and peer-learning networks that sustain momentum beyond initial rollout
  • Identify adoption barriers and resistance patterns across geographies and GBUs, and develop proactive mitigation strategies to accelerate uptake of new ways of working

Hub Partnership & Global Coordination

  • Lead the Hub partnership model for Medical Innovation, coordinating with Regional Hubs to ensure global scaling strategies are adapted for local market contexts, regulatory requirements, and operational capabilities
  • Develop Hub-specific adoption frameworks that leverage Hub capabilities to accelerate scaling while maintaining consistency with global innovation standards
  • Partner with GTMC on omnichannel scaling strategies, ensuring that medical innovation platforms deployed at Hub level integrate seamlessly with field and digital engagement infrastructure
  • Coordinate cross-functional handoffs between the Medical Innovation team and operational pillars, ensuring receiving teams are equipped, trained, and resourced to sustain scaled programs

Change Management & Cultural Transformation

  • Design and lead enterprise-wide change management programs that embed innovation culture, digital fluency, and experimentation mindsets across Medical Affairs globally
  • Build and deploy adoption enablement tools — training curricula ( with Medical Learning institute) , adoption dashboards, communication strategies, and incentive frameworks — that sustain engagement through the full scaling lifecycle
  • Identify and mitigate adoption barriers across geographies, functions, and organizational levels, using data-driven insights to optimize scaling strategies in real time
  • Act as a visible change champion within Medical Affairs, inspiring teams to embrace new ways of working and demonstrating the value of scaled innovations through storytelling and impact measurement
  • Champion internal cultural transformation by embedding curiosity, experimentation, and digital fluency as core behaviors across Medical Affairs globally

Governance & Compliance

  • Build and maintain the Medical Innovation Governance framework, ensuring all innovation programs have clear ownership, decision rights, risk assessments, and compliance checkpoints before scaling
  • Ensure all innovation scaling activities comply with applicable regulations, GxP standards, and ethical requirements relevant to the deployment of AI and digital health technologies in pharmaceutical medical affairs
  • Develop and maintain governance protocols for scaled technology deployments, including validation frameworks, performance monitoring, and escalation pathways for post-launch issues
  • Stay current on evolving regulatory and industry standards for enterprise AI adoption, change management in regulated environments, and medical affairs digital transformation

About You

Leadership & Skills

  • Transformation leader with a proven track record of scaling complex innovations from test and learn use case to global standard within a pharmaceutical or large healthcare organization
  • Expert in change management methodologies applied to technology adoption and digital transformation in regulated environments
  • Deep understanding of Medical Affairs operational models, GBU dynamics, and the challenges of driving adoption across matrixed, multi-geography organizations
  • Strong governance and KPI design skills, with experience building impact measurement frameworks for innovation and transformation programs
  • Excellent cross-functional influencer, able to drive adoption across GBUs, Hubs, Digital teams, and Medical pillars without direct line authority

Executive Competencies

  • Scaling Mastery: Brings structured, proven approaches to moving innovations to enterprise standard, managing complexity and competing priorities without losing pace or fidelity to the innovation intent
  • Transformation Partnership: Operates as a trusted advisor to GBU and Hub leadership, building confidence in new capabilities through demonstrated results, transparent governance, and sustained engagement
  • Impact Measurement: Designs KPI frameworks that capture adoption, utilization, and scientific value in ways that resonate with Medical, Digital, and Executive audiences — making the case for continued investment
  • Change Leadership: Inspires and sustains adoption momentum across large, diverse organizations by combining compelling storytelling with practical enablement tools and data-driven optimization
  • Enterprise Perspective: Balances GBU-specific adoption needs with enterprise-wide innovation governance, ensuring consistency without sacrificing local relevance or operational practicality

Experience & Qualifications

  • 10+ years of experience in Medical Affairs, Innovation Management, Transformation, or Digital Health with a specific focus on adoption, change management, or capability scaling within a pharmaceutical or healthcare organization
  • Advanced scientific degree (MD, PhD, PharmD, or Master's in life sciences or related field) preferred; additional qualifications in Change Management (e.g., Prosci, CCMP), Organizational Design, or Digital Transformation are a strong plus
  • Proven track record of leading large-scale change management or technology adoption programs in global, matrixed pharmaceutical organizations
  • Experience with KPI framework design, innovation governance, and executive reporting for transformation initiatives
  • Familiarity with pharmaceutical Medical Affairs platforms and operational models
  • Strong communication skills; ability to drive adoption and inspire change across senior Medical, GBU, and Hub leadership

Travel Requirements

  • This global role requires approximately 25–30% travel to engage with GBU leadership, Hub partners, and regional Medical Affairs teams

Why Choose Us

  • Be the force that transforms Sanofi's innovation use cases into enterprise standards — the leader who ensures that great ideas become great outcomes for patients, HCPs, and the business
  • Discover endless opportunities to grow your talent and drive your career, whether through a promotion or lateral move, at home or internationally
  • Enjoy a thoughtful, well-crafted rewards package that recognizes your contribution and amplifies your impact
  • Take good care of yourself and your family, with a wide range of health and wellbeing benefits including high-quality healthcare, prevention and wellness programs and at least 14 weeks' gender-neutral parental leave

#LI-Hybrid

#Medical Affairs

#Innovation

#Leadership

#DigitalTransformation

#Sanofi

#SanofiCareers

#PursueProgress

#DiscoverExtraordinary

#WeAreSanofi

#IgnitingPotential

Pursue progress, discover extraordinary

Better is out there. Better medications, better outcomes, better science. But progress doesn’t happen without people – people from different backgrounds, in different locations, doing different roles, all united by one thing: a desire to make miracles happen. So, let’s be those people.

At Sanofi, we provide equal opportunities to all regardless of race, colour, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, ability or gender identity.

Watch our ALL IN video and check out our Diversity Equity and Inclusion actions at sanofi.com!

The salary range for this position is :€101,040.00 - €134,720

Final compensation will be determined based on demonstrated experience, skills, location, and other relevant factors. Employees may be eligible to participate in Company employee benefit programs.