Director, Commercial Operations (DCO), U.S. HIV – East Region

Job Description

The Director, Commercial Operations (DCO), U.S. HIV, provides strategic and operational leadership for regional customer teams supporting the U.S. HIV business. The DCO builds and leads a high-performing field organization, develops regional business plans, allocates resources, and is accountable for business performance and a consistent, customer-centered experience across priority healthcare professionals and accounts. The role requires a strong understanding of the HIV treatment and care ecosystem, including local market dynamics, access and reimbursement considerations, and the needs of customers serving people living with HIV. In partnership with HIV Marketing, Market Access, Medical Affairs, community-facing teams, Learning & Development, and alliance stakeholders, the DCO translates national strategy into compliant regional execution, strengthens launch readiness, and advances the organization’s long-term commitment to HIV.

People Management:

• Recruits, hires, develops, and retains top talent to build a high-performing, inclusive, and customer-centered HIV regional team.

• Sets clear individual and team expectations aligned with U.S. HIV priorities and assesses performance using business results, execution quality, leadership behaviors, and compliance standards.

• Leads annual people processes, including performance management, development planning, succession planning, compensation, and recognition, while providing timely coaching and feedback throughout the year.

• Builds field capability in HIV disease state and market dynamics, strategic account management, customer engagement, access awareness, data-driven business planning, and compliant execution.

• Creates a culture of resilience, continuous learning, collaboration, inclusion, and accountability that prepares the team for an evolving HIV portfolio and future launch opportunities.

• Partners with Customer Team Leaders to prioritize talent and deploy field resources across geographies, priority customers, and accounts based on business opportunity, customer need, and local HIV market dynamics.

Customer Management

• Owns the regional customer strategy and experience across priority HIV-treating healthcare professionals, health systems, integrated delivery networks, specialty practices, and other approved account segments.

• Develops and sustains strategic relationships with key clinical and business decision-makers in the HIV ecosystem, consistent with role responsibilities and company policy.

• Ensures customer teams use approved insights and available data to understand local HIV trends, account priorities, customer beliefs and behaviors, and barriers affecting appropriate access and utilization.

• Coaches Customer Team Leaders and field representatives to create and execute customer- and account-level plans that prioritize the right customers, messages, resources, and follow-up actions.

• Partners with Market Access counterparts to understand formulary, reimbursement, state-level access, and utilization-management developments and to translate approved access updates into timely field planning and compliant customer engagement.

• Collaborates with Medical Affairs, Marketing, community-facing teams, Learning & Development, and other approved cross-functional partners to share insights, coordinate planning, and deliver a consistent experience across the HIV care ecosystem while maintaining clear role boundaries.

• Represents regional customer and market perspectives with senior leadership and cross-functional teams to inform national HIV strategy, field resources, capability priorities, and launch planning.

Business Operations

• Owns regional business results and contributes to defined financial goals for the U.S. HIV portfolio.

• Translates national HIV treatment strategies into integrated regional plans with clear priorities, performance measures, and operating rhythms.

• Leads launch readiness and execution across assigned geographies, ensuring teams are trained, customer plans are current, operational risks are identified, and field insights inform timely course correction.

• Makes data-informed resource allocation decisions across people, time, programs, and approved promotional resources to maximize regional opportunity and execution quality.

• Uses performance indicators, customer insights, account data, and local market intelligence to evaluate execution, identify gaps, and adjust regional plans.

• Provides regional leadership in approved co-promotion or alliance activities, ensuring clear governance, disciplined communication, and adherence to each organization’s policies and agreed ways of working.

• Informs national HIV strategies and tactics through participation on cross-functional teams and by elevating regional opportunities, customer needs, access developments, and emerging implementation risks.

• Ensures all activities comply with applicable laws, regulations, approved product labeling, company policies, field guidance, and ethical business practices, and reinforces appropriate boundaries among Commercial, Medical, Market Access, community-facing, and alliance roles.

Qualifications:

Education:

• Required: BA/BS degree

• Preferred: MBA/MS degree

Requirements:

• Minimum of 10 years of experience in pharmaceutical or biotechnology Sales, Marketing, Market Access, account management, or a related commercial function.

• Minimum of two years people-management experience, with demonstrated success leading geographically dispersed teams and developing leaders.

• Minimum of 3 years of experience developing and managing relationships with healthcare professionals, health systems, specialty accounts, or other complex customers.

• Demonstrated experience translating strategy into field execution, using performance data and customer insights to prioritize opportunities and allocate resources.

• Experience working cross-functionally with Marketing, Market Access, Medical Affairs, Learning & Development, and other field-facing partners in a regulated environment.

• Ability to travel up to 50%, including overnight travel within the East Region

• Must reside within the East Region of the United States.

Preferred:

• Director-level or second-line field leadership experience.

• Commercial experience in HIV treatment, infectious diseases, or another complex specialty market.

• Understanding of the HIV treatment and care ecosystem, including specialty providers, health systems, community health settings, public health stakeholders, and access and reimbursement dynamics.

• Experience leading product launches, field force expansion, or organizational transformation in a complex marketplace.

• Experience working in a co-promotion or alliance model with defined governance, policy, and information-sharing requirements.

Required Skills:

Customer Relationship Building, Inbound Phone Sales, Managed Care Marketing, New Product Launch Strategies, People Leadership, Pharmaceutical Sales, Relationship Building, Sales Forecasting, Sales Goal Achievement, Sales Pipeline Management, Sales Reporting, Sales Strategy Development, Strategic Thinking, Talent Development, Technical Product Sales

Preferred Skills:

Current Employees apply HERE

Current Contingent Workers apply HERE

US and Puerto Rico Residents Only:

Our company is committed to inclusion, ensuring that candidates can engage in a hiring process that exhibits their true capabilities. Please click here if you need an accommodation during the application or hiring process.

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:

EEOC Know Your Rights

EEOC GINA Supplement​

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.

Learn more about your rights, including under California, Colorado and other US State Acts

The salary range for this role is

$231,900.00 - $365,000.00

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:

Remote

Shift:

Not Indicated

Valid Driving License:

Yes

Hazardous Material(s):

N/A

Job Posting End Date:

08/28/2026

*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.