Associate Director, Global Data Management and Standards - Business Operations

Job Description

The Associate Director, Global Data Management and Standards - Business Operations, is responsible for collaborating with GDMS Leadership to drive enterprise-wide planning, governance, and organizational readiness initiatives that enable successful execution of strategic programs and projects. This role provides resource and capacity planning to ensure optimal allocation of talent, skills, and budget across the portfolio, while driving PMO standards, project governance, and performance reporting. The Associate Director partners with business leaders and key stakeholders to lead change management efforts, develop and execute communication strategies that promote transparency and stakeholder engagement, and champion learning and development initiatives that build organizational capabilities and support adoption of new processes, technologies, and ways of working. Through strong leadership, cross-functional collaboration, and a focus on continuous improvement, this position ensures the organization is equipped to deliver business objectives efficiently and sustainably.

Responsibilities:

Forecasting, Capacity, & Portfolio Management:

• Maintain headcount, workload, and demand models for the functional area; run allocation algorithms to help ensure the Book of Business is delivered with quality and timeliness.
• Support operating-model optimization within the functional area, translate outcomes into action plans and track through implementation.
• Manage real-time workload balancing, capacity, and compliance-driven case allocation across geographies within the functional area to ensure balanced operations, on-time delivery, and business continuity through holidays, resource availability, and demand peaks
• Build and maintain operational dashboards; collect, analyze, and validate portfolio data (efficiency, utilization, quality); ensure standardized reporting in partnership with cross-functional peers across GDMS (Global Data Management & Standards) and enterprise standards.
• Assist in developing forecasting tools, dashboards, and visualizations; contribute to continuous improvement of capacity modeling and workforce analytics.
• Support long-term quality management plans; participate in strategic and tactical special projects as needed.

Operational Governance, Execution, & Metrics:

• Support PMO activities, including project planning, metrics tracking, status reporting, and management of cross-functional dependencies.
• Prepare inputs for Operational Reviews; ensure consistent metric definitions, sources, and timeframes per enterprise cadence and templates.
• Coordinate resource and financial forecasting, contracting, and invoicing; track variances and data integrity and publish reconciled views as required.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to maintain a unified set of metrics, training, and SOP/BP (Standard Operating Practice/ Best Practice) frameworks based on functional area needs.
• Monitor operational metrics post–system release to ensure realized efficiencies are captured in forecasting models and resource planning assumptions.

Training, Communication, & Change Management:

• Support creation, maintenance, and delivery of role-specific curriculum; co-develop GDMS-wide training for the functional area; measure uptake.
• Coordinate function-specific communications and change management aligned to GDMS/GCTO (Global Clinical Trial Operations) frameworks.
• Embed Human-first Organization practices by designing adoption aids (FAQs, quick guides) and incorporating user feedback into process improvements.

Qualifications, Skills & Experience:

Technical Skills

• Ability to interpret operational, capacity, and financial data; comfortable with variance analysis and trends.
• Proficient with Power BI/Tableau and Excel (advanced modeling) for dashboards and what-if views.
• Working knowledge of capacity planning, resourcing, and portfolio management concepts.
• Familiarity with functional operational systems, performance dashboards, and workforce analytics data.
• Understanding of data integrity, metric standardization, and basic QC (Quality Control)/reconciliation practices.
• Basic grasp of forecasting, budgeting, and accruals; reads plan/forecast/actuals and ties them to operational drivers.
• Understanding of Agile collaboration and intake tracking tools for requests, changes, and release notes.

Non-technical knowledge, skills, and abilities:

• Fluent in English; exceptional communication and influencing skills, able to engage and align stakeholders across functions, geographies, and levels.
• Strong stakeholder management and collaboration capabilities, fostering trust and effective partnerships.
• Skilled in organizing cross-team work; coordinates milestones and deliverables; escalates risks early.
• Demonstrated ability to lead through influence, motivating and guiding cross-functional and virtual teams without direct authority.
• Highly adaptable and resilient, able to prioritize and perform effectively under pressure in fast-changing environments.
• Works independently with accountability, exercising sound judgment and initiative while maintaining alignment with organizational priorities.
• Effective facilitator of decision-making, coordinating the work of others and driving timely resolution of complex issues.
• Crafts concise, decision-ready summaries for leadership, clearly framing risks, options, and recommendations.
• Strong organization and prioritization, managing multiple deliverables, running risk/change control, aligning stakeholders (including service providers), and providing status and governance updates.
• Sound judgment and accountability with emphasis on ambiguity, escalation management, and consensus-building on process/technology improvements.

Enterprise Leadership Skills:

• Networking & Partnerships | Builds and sustains collaborative partnerships across GDMS, Finance, IT, and functional leaders to align forecasting assumptions, standardize metrics, and coordinate portfolio and resource priorities.
• Business Savviness | Applies strong operational and financial acumen to interpret portfolio performance, workforce capacity, and variance trends, guiding data-driven resource planning and efficiency decisions within the assigned scope.
• Influence | Influences cross-functional stakeholders by translating complex capacity, financial, and performance data into clear trade-offs, recommendations, and aligned action plans within governance forums.

Business Operations Qualifications & Experience:

• Bachelor's Degree Minimum of 8 years experience working in relevant field for associated job description

OR

• Advanced Degree (Masters or Doctorate): Minimum of 4 years experience working in relevant field for associated job description

Required Skills:

Adaptability, Business Acumen, Change Management, Clinical Data Management, Data Analysis, Good Clinical Practice (GCP), Strategic Thinking

Preferred Skills:

Current Employees apply HERE

Current Contingent Workers apply HERE

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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:

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:

08/16/2026

*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.