Director, Regional Strategy and Operations - Asia Pacific

Job Description

• Serve as the Asia Pacific (AP) Region's strategy development engine — converting aspiration into clear choices, disciplined trade-offs, and measurable pull-through. 

• Architect Go-to-Market (GTM) and New Product Planning (NPP) frameworks that raise decision quality, accelerate launch readiness, and strengthen cross-market consistency. 

• Build regional capability and enterprise leverage — connecting AP fully into Global Human Health, Research Lab, Manufacturing, and Global Support Functions. 

• Provide targeted enablement to the AP Regional President on priority engagements, governance forums, and decision-quality.
   

Our Purpose 

We use the power of leading-edge science to save and improve lives around the world. Every day, we are guided by this purpose as we deliver innovative medicines and vaccines that protect people and communities. 
 

Role Overview 

This is a strategic thought leadership role for the AP Region. The Director, Regional Strategy & Operations is the Region's strategic thought partner and execution architect — connecting aspiration to action across markets, franchises, and functions. Reporting to the Head of AP Commercial Operations, the role translates ambition into clear choices, practical plans, and measurable outcomes. 
 

The role contributes across four dimensions: (1) the inline business, (2) new pipeline products, (3) capability enhancement, and (4) strategic thought partnership. It ensures AP operates efficiently, builds enduring capability, and fully leverages the broader global enterprise — Global Human Health (HH), Research Lab, Manufacturing Division, and Global Support Functions. The role specifically owns above-franchise oversight of launch planning and GTM governance, anchored in the Asia Pacific Leadership Team (APLT) and aligned with Intercontinental and global stakeholders. 
 

Location: Singapore. Asia Pacific (Regional role) 

Reporting Line: Head of Commercial Operations (AP) 

Level: Director 
 

Scope: Asia Pacific Region — multi-market, multi-franchise (Oncology, Vaccines, Specialty/Pharma/ID); influences a cross-functional network of senior leaders across the Region, Intercontinental, and the global enterprise. 
 

What will you do in this role:

Strategy Thought Leadership & Mobilization 

• Shape and translate AP strategic priorities into clear decision points, trade-offs, and execution roadmaps. 

• Serve as strategic thought partner to the AP Regional President and the APLT. 

• Frame ambiguous, complex problems into decision-ready options and mobilize leaders around measurable outcomes. 

• Drive project scoping, stakeholder engagement, and PMO oversight for disciplined execution. 
   

Go-to-Market (GTM) & New Product Planning (NPP) Architecture 

• Own the AP GTM strategy framework — ensuring consistency, clarity, and scalability across markets. 

• Own AP commercial launch planning and governance, in close partnership with Franchise Launch Planning Leads and New Product Leads — making pipeline readiness proactive, visible, and decision-oriented, with standardized templates and trackers that drive leadership decisions. 

• Partner with cross functional teams and divisions to ensure AP launches are fully enabled by enterprise capabilities and aligned with global strategy. 
   

Capability Enhancement & Enterprise Leverage 

• Orchestrate AP's engagement model with Global HH, research, manufacturing, and Global Support Functions — pulling through the right capabilities and expertise at the right time. 

• Embed global best practice into AP ways of working — raising the standard of strategy, launch excellence, and operating discipline. 

• Identify and close capability gaps — strengthening tools, operating rhythms, and decision-making muscle so AP delivers at pace. 
   

Targeted Enablement of the AP Regional President — up to 30% of time 

• Prepare and frame decisions for the Regional President's priority engagements and President-led forums (e.g., APLT Commercial Meeting, Regional Huddle, AP Core) — shaping agendas, sharpening choices, and driving follow-through. 

• Own end-to-end content development for the Regional President's strategic presentations and leadership engagements — from narrative architecture and storytelling to data-driven content — delivering executive-ready output with clarity, impact, and autonomy. 

• Mobilize cross-functional contributor stakeholders across the Region and global enterprise to source inputs, drive alignment at pace, and ensure seamless execution. 
   

What should you have to be successful in this role 

Required 

• 10+ years of progressive experience in strategy formulation and execution, PMO/program leadership, commercial operations, or business transformation in a matrixed, multi-market environment. 

• Executive-ready communication and influence; ability to synthesize complex inputs into clear narratives, decisions, and actions. 

• Strong financial literacy and the ability to link actions to business outcomes. 

• High judgment, discretion, and comfort handling confidential and sensitive topics at the most senior levels. 

• Demonstrated ability to frame ambiguous, complex problems into clear decision options and mobilize cross-functional teams to measurable outcomes. 

• Track record of working effectively across the global enterprise to bring enterprise capabilities to bear on regional priorities. 
   

Preferred 

• Management consulting experience (strategy, operations, or transformation) applied pragmatically in a business setting. 

• Experience in pharma/healthcare and/or multi-market regional environments. 

• Exposure to GTM, launch governance, NPP, and forecasting processes. 

• Experience partnering with digital and analytics teams to improve decision quality. 
   

What Success Looks Like 

• AP strategy is translated into a small set of clear choices and priorities, with disciplined pull-through to measurable outcomes. 

• GTM and NPP decisions are higher-quality, faster, and more consistent across markets. 

• AP is fully plugged into the global enterprise, with Global HH, Research Lab, Manufacturing, and Global Support Functions actively leveraged to accelerate regional performance. 

• President-led forums and key engagements are consistently well-prepared, efficient, and decision-oriented. 

• Markets experience greater clarity, less noise, and stronger mobilization on the few initiatives that matter most. 
   

Who We Are 

We are known as Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, New Jersey, USA in the United States and Canada and MSD everywhere else. For more than a century, we have brought forward medicines and vaccines for many of the world's most challenging diseases. 
 

What We Look For 

We are looking for a leader who combines strategic thinking, operational discipline, and clear, compelling communication. If you bring intellectual rigor, comfort with ambiguity, and the ability to convert ideas into measurable outcomes across a complex matrix, we invite you to help shape how Asia Pacific turns strategy into sustained performance and patient impact. 

Required Skills:

Acquisitions Divestitures, Acquisitions Divestitures, Adaptability, Analytical Tools, Business Operations, Business Transformation, Data-Driven Decision Making, Developing Proposals, Environmental Scanning, Executive Communications, Financial Education, Forecasting, Global Health, Global Strategy, Go to Market (GTM), Go-to-Market Strategies, Influencing Skills, Market Access, Market Research, Oncology Marketing, Pharmaceutical Industry, Product Planning, Results-Oriented, Stakeholder Engagement, Strategic Planning {+ 2 more}

Preferred Skills:

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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. 

Employee Status:

Regular

Relocation:

VISA Sponsorship:

Travel Requirements:

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Not Applicable

Shift:

Valid Driving License:

Hazardous Material(s):

Job Posting End Date:

08/31/2026

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