Associate Director, D&A Strategy

Job Description

The Associate Director for Oncology Insights and Engagement - Precision Medicine will reside within the Digital Human Health (DHH) Global Oncology Marketing Engagement team. The team provides strategic thought‑partnership by understanding precision medicine priorities, developing and delivering strategic insights and analytics, and activating digital products / services to inform executive decision making and increase commercial rigor across key stages of asset development, launch planning, and market shaping.

The role will serve as the primary point of contact for US and Global Oncology Marketing team, responsible for developing and communicating data‑driven, actionable insights that enhance that enhance patient and market understanding to inform precision medicine strategy. The role will also be responsible for quarterbacking the end‑to‑end delivery of DHH and IT capabilities, and leading the activation of insights, analytics, and digital products (incl. generative and agentic AI) to support precision medicine priorities. 

Critically, the Associate Director will work closely with cross‑functional DHH and IT teams (e.g., market research, forecasting, AI capabilities, data strategy) to proactively orchestrate the planning and delivery of complex analytics assessments, as well as for activation and end‑to‑end delivery of DHH and IT capabilities. The role requires connecting the dots across these capabilities to ensure that insights generation is integrated, scalable, and aligned to business priorities.

The role will also work closely with cross-functional teams across Enterprise (e.g., clinical and discovery, medical affairs, competitive intelligence) to inform executive decision making and increase commercial rigor through all phases of pipeline asset development.

The individual in this role will be an independent contributor or lead a small global team.

Key Responsibilities:

Partnership with US and Global marketing

• Act as a key point of contact for US and Global Precision Medicine Marketing teams, establishing credible relationships and being their strategic thought‑partner on relevant topics.

• Translate business needs and priorities to build structured analytical plans and hypotheses that answer business questions by providing actionable insights

• Effectively communicate advanced analytics to stakeholders to inform business decisions.

Strategic insights & analytics for Precision Medicine

• Develop and own commercial insight generation strategy and roadmap for precision medicine, applying the latest technological advancements such as AI to strengthen efficiency & productivity

• Analyze data across disparate databases/sources (e.g., biomarkers data, testing data, epidemiology data, claims/EMR data and other sources across US and exUS) to develop insights that inform commercial business questions (e.g., understanding patient journey, referral patterns, patient / HCP segmentation and market sizing)

• Ensure analytical rigor, consistency, and transparency of assumptions and methodologies.

• Integrate insights across primary market research and secondary data sources (e.g., biomarkers data, testing data, epi data, claims / EMR data, syndicated reports, ATUs, demand research)

• Develop clear, compelling data stories that translate analytics into business recommendations.

Cross‑functional collaboration and orchestration

• Quarterback DHH and IT capabilities end‑to‑end, ensuring integrated delivery across insights, analytics, and technology functions. Connect the dots across DHH and IT capabilities to deliver cohesive, decision‑ready outputs rather than siloed analyses.

• Collaborate effectively with cross functional teams with competencies in market research, forecasting, data science, data strategy, competitive insights, marketing operations, medical & clinical backgrounds, while ensuring the right capabilities are engaged at the right time.

• Align cross‑functional teams on scope, methodology, timelines, and outputs to ensure high‑quality, integrated insights delivery.

Innovation and Capability Acceleration

• Stay current with industry trends and advancements in analytical methodologies to bring new ideas forward (including application of AI) that will enhance analytic capabilities of the organization.

• Contribute to innovative experiments, specifically to idea generation, idea incubation and/or experimentation, identifying tangible and measurable criteria to make meaningful improvements to the business processes and strategies.

• Identify opportunities to embed next‑generation analytics and digital capabilities into pipeline and launch strategy development.

Leadership and Team Development

• Lead and mentor a team of Specialists and Senior Specialists (on-shore and off-shore), providing guidance on best practices in data analytics, modeling and data visualization, through the scope of a project.

• Foster a team culture where team members are focused on ‘things that matter’, empowered to act with urgency, actively innovate and are supported through continuous learning and feedback process.

• Also lead cross-functional insights teams, comprised of cross-functional stakeholder groups across DHH and other parts of the organization.

Education Requirements:

• BS (or equivalent) in Data Science, Mathematics, Economics, Computer Science, Statistics, Decision Science, Marketing, Engineering, Public Health, or equivalent scientific/ commercial discipline.

Required Experience and Skills:

• 5+ years of experience in marketing, data insights and analytics (e.g., advanced or predictive analytics, secondary data analytics, forecasting, market research), strategic planning, or related roles within pharmaceutical, biotech, consulting, or healthcare industry.

• Knowledge in mining patient medical claims/EMR data with a strategic mindset and proven record of being able to produce actionable business insights that drive positive commercial results.

• Strategic thinking skills with strong ability to consolidate and synthesize primary/secondary data insights.

• Self-motivated, proactive mindset, and learning agility.

• Ability to work independently and navigate ambiguity.

• Story-telling and executive presence with senior leaders.

• Effective interpersonal skills, communication skills, and stakeholder management, including experience collaborating in a matrixed organization and ability to align stakeholders on data-driven decisions.

• Strong business acumen and consultative skills, with proven ability to comprehend business processes and commercial strategies in detail and translate these into detailed business standards/questions that power analytics.

• Effective organizational and project management skills to work effectively across the organization and manage a team of business analysts and data scientists efficiently and effectively.

• Innovative thinking with affinity toward experimentation and appropriate risk-taking, including curiosity about how agentic AI and automation can enhance commercial analytics and insight generation.

• Awareness of the opportunities, limitations, and responsible use of AI (including agentic AI) in a regulated environment (e.g., data privacy, validation of AI-generated outputs).

• Prior hands-on experience working with healthcare data, especially EMR/EHR, Claims Data (e.g., IQVIA APLD) and various data offerings.

Preferred Experience and Skills:

• Experience in Life Science or consulting industry.

• Prior experience in Oncology / Precision Medicine

• Global experience, specifically as it pertains to data and analytics

• Advanced degree (e.g., MBA, PharmD, PhD) appreciated but not required.

Required Skills:

Business Acumen, Business Acumen, Business Agility, Business Analysis, Business Decisions, Business Metrics, Business Needs, Competency Management, Corporate Decision Making, Cross-Functional Project Management, Data Analysis, Data Science, Demand Management, Executive Leadership, Executive Presence, Ideation, Industry Trend Analysis, Innovation, Insight Generation, Learning Agility, Managing Ambiguity, Requirements Management, Sourcing and Procurement, Stakeholder Relationship Management, Strategic Planning {+ 2 more}

Preferred Skills:

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US and Puerto Rico Residents Only:

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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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We are proud to be a company that embraces the value of bringing together, talented, and committed people with diverse experiences, perspectives, skills and backgrounds. The fastest way to breakthrough innovation is when people with diverse ideas, broad experiences, backgrounds, and skills come together in an inclusive environment. We encourage our colleagues to respectfully challenge one another’s thinking and approach problems collectively.

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The salary range for this role is

$156,900.00 - $247,000.00

This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this 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.

You can apply for this role through https://jobs.merck.com/us/en (or via the Workday Jobs Hub if you are a current employee). The application deadline for this position is stated on this posting.

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

Search Firm Representatives Please Read Carefully 
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. 

Employee Status:

Regular

Relocation:

No relocation

VISA Sponsorship:

No

Travel Requirements:

10%

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Hybrid

Shift:

Not Indicated

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

n/a

Job Posting End Date:

09/11/2026

*A job posting is effective until 11:59:59PM on the day BEFORE the listed job posting end date. Please ensure you apply to a job posting no later than the day BEFORE the job posting end date.