Global Senior Director, Medical Affairs

Job Description

Role Summary:

The Global Senior Director Medical Affairs (GDMA) position resides in the Value & Implementation (V&I) organization, which includes GMSA as well as Outcomes Research. The GDMA is a subject-matter expert (SME) in their area of responsibility (e.g., defined tumor, asset, vaccine) and responsible for driving execution of the Global Medical and Scientific Affairs (GMSA) portion for their assigned Therapeutic Areas (TA) as part of the Global V&I Plans. As a highly specialized SME, they bring business savviness to the organization, are important decision makers, and will have a focus on the United States (U.S.), while also supporting the rest of world (ROW). The GDMA may also be appointed as a V&I Lead for their disease/asset area, which includes additional organizationally aligned responsibilities. The GDMA works as part of a high-performing, results-driven team, focused on executional excellence.

Responsibilities and Primary Activities:

• Drives execution of the annual V&I plan with medical affairs colleagues from key countries and regions with a focus on the U.S. Acts as an empowered partner, making informed decisions with a strategic and agile mindset.
• Serves as the SME and connector across assigned therapeutic areas, translating global scientific platforms into actionable Medical Value Narratives (MVNs). Actively engages with country-level stakeholdersi including medical advisors, payers, and scientific leaders—to ensure strategic alignment and support local data generation, congress planning, and advisory boards.
• Serves as the medical representative within Product Development sub-teams (including Clinical, V&I, Commercial, Publications, and Label), leveraging the V&I GMSA vision to drive strategic planning, outcome delivery, and tactical execution. Communicates pertinent information to stakeholders [e.g., Executive Director Medical Affairs (EDMA), Regional Strategy Leads (RSL), Regional Director Medical Affairs (RDMA), U.S. Director Medical Affairs (US DMA), Payor and Access Strategy Leads (PASLs)] to inform and influence country and regional planning.
• Acts as the subject-matter expert, collaborating closely with V&I Outcomes Research (VIOR), Policy, Commercial, and Market Access teams to identify and address opportunities and barriers in key countries.
• Serves as a strategic partner for Big Country Markets (U.S., China, Japan) with no RDMA role. Plays a pivotal role in bridging global strategy with local execution, including understanding the needs of the U.S. Market. Proactively collaborates with the US DMA and equivalent roles in China and Japan, ensuring that country-specific insights are integrated into the global V&I plans and that global strategies are contextualized for local relevance.
• Consolidates actionable medical insights from countries and regions.
• Engages with a network of international scientific leaders and other key stakeholders (therapeutic guideline committees, payers, public groups, government officials, medical societies) about our company’s emerging science, building an important network and partnership internally and externally. Monitors external changing environment in partnership with the competitive intelligence (CI) team.
• Organizes global expert-input events (advisory boards and expert-input forums) to answer our company’s questions about how to develop and implement new medicines or vaccines.
• Collaborates with Global Human Health (commercial) executive directors to inform of the GMSA portion of V&I plans to ensure alignment, while independently leading the execution of these plans.
• Organizes global symposia and educational meetings.
• Supports key countries with the development of local data-generation study concepts and protocols when requested.
• Reviews Investigator-Initiated Study proposals from key countries (ex-U.S.) prior to headquarters submission and in collaboration with RDMAs, while also serving as a review panel member on TA-specific out company Investigator Studies Programs (MISPs) to support the Executive Director Scientific Affairs (EDSA) review process.
• Manages programs (patient support, educational or risk management) to support appropriate and safe utilization of our company medicines or vaccines.
• Demonstrates and champions our company’s Ways of Working, emphasizing innovation, medical modernization, defining team priorities, and focusing on the impact to the patient.
• Manages assigned budget with strong financial stewardship, ensuring delivery within a 3% variance. Responsible and accountable for making informed decisions when budgets change throughout the year.

Required Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

Required:

• M.D., Ph.D. or Pharm.D. (M.D. preferred) and recognized medical expertise.
• Demonstrated experience in oncology is required.
• Experience in country/region medical affairs or clinical development.
• Strong prioritization and decision-making skills.
• Ability to effectively collaborate with partners across divisions in a matrix environment.
• Excellent interpersonal, analytical, and communication skills (written and oral) in addition to results-oriented project management skills.

Preferred:

• At least three years regional medical affairs experience (e.g., Regional Director Medical Affairs) with proven track record of contribution to medical-affairs strategies.
• Customer expertise, especially of scientific leadership and other key stakeholders (payers, public groups, government officials, medical professional organizations), in the assigned therapeutic area.
• Breast cancer experience is strongly desired.
• Global medical affairs experience preferred.
• Experience in Alliance management strongly desired.

Required Skills:

Preferred Skills:

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As an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer, we provide equal opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.  As a federal contractor, we comply with all affirmative action requirements for protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.  For more information about personal rights under the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment laws, visit:

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The primary location for this posting is:

Where required by law, the compensation range for this role is provided below.

The salary range for the primary location of this role is:

This range reflects the Company's reasonable expectation of the base salary applicable to this role at the time of posting. An employee’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, government requirements, and business or organizational needs. The successful candidate will be eligible for annual bonus and long-term incentive, if applicable.

We offer a comprehensive package of benefits. Available benefits include medical, dental, vision healthcare and other insurance benefits (for employee and family), retirement benefits, including 401(k), paid holidays, vacation, and compassionate and sick days. More information about benefits is available at https://jobs.merck.com/us/en/compensation-and-benefits.

Additional location(s): Please note the salary range above applies to the Primary Location of the position. Where a role has other listed locations, different compensation guidelines may apply. You may find the salary ranges for additional locations below. If the salary range is not listed for the location you are applying to, our Talent Acquisition team will provide further information to you relevant to your location.

Additional location(s) Compensation Information:

San Francisco Residents Only: We will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment in compliance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance

Los Angeles Residents Only: We will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance

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Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA, also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, Rahway, NJ, USA, does not accept unsolicited assistance from search firms for employment opportunities. All CVs / resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at our company without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of our company.  No fee will be paid in the event a candidate is hired by our company as a result of an agency referral where no pre-existing agreement is in place. Where agency agreements are in place, introductions are position specific. Please, no phone calls or emails. 

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