Associate Director, Digital & Customer Engagement Strategy

Job Description

Animal Health — NORAM Digital Team

Digital Business Liaison, Companion Animals

Function

AD, Digital & Customer Engagement Strategy — Companion Animals

Reports To

Director, Digital Operations

Partners With

Companion Animals Brand/Species marketing teams; Digital Operations team (Content, Analytics, Web, SFMC), Global Costumer engagement team, IT, among others.

Location

Rahway, NJ — Hybrid (3 days/week onsite)

Role Purpose

The Digital Business Liaison is the strategic connective layer between the Companion Animals business (marketing teams) and the Digital Operations execution engine. Acting as a true business partner. This person aligns business strategy across the full digital ecosystem (web, email/Sales Force Marketing Cloude (SFMC), digital content) into cohesive omnichannel strategies for both pet owners and veterinary professionals.

This is a strategic, execution-accountable role: the Liaison translates business priorities into clear internal digital briefs, plans and prioritizes the digital campaign backlog, and reports performance in ways that inform future business decisions — contributing directly to the long-term growth of the Animal Health business.

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategic Business Partnership Serve as the primary point of contact and trusted advisor between Companion Animals Brand/Species stakeholders and the Digital Operations team, embedding digital and omnichannel thinking into brand and media planning from the outset.

2. Omnichannel Alignment Align the business unit's strategy across the full digital ecosystem — web, SFMC/email, digital content— into unified omnichannel strategies that engage pet owners and veterinary professionals throughout the customer journey.

3. Brief Development & Intake Translate business needs into clear, complete, and actionable internal digital briefs — scoping objectives, timelines, and success metrics at intake — so the digital team is well coordinated to execute the digital strategy (Content, Analytics, Web, SFMC) can deliver without rework or back-and-forth.

4. Backlog Prioritization & Governance Own and prioritize the multi-brand digital backlog, balancing urgency, capacity, and strategic value. Facilitate regular intake and prioritization sessions with stakeholders, and maintain the templates, criteria, and SLAs that keep the model scalable as demand grows.

5. Performance Reporting Consolidate campaign and channel performance into business-relevant narratives and recommendations that inform future business decisions.

6. Risk Management & Feedback Loop Proactively flag capacity constraints, conflicting priorities, or scope changes before they become delivery risks. Maintain a two-way flow of context — carrying execution constraints back to the business and business nuance forward to execution.

7. Ongoing / As-Needed

• Ensure content accuracy and execution alignment with strategic campaigns
• Build success plans and benchmarks for campaign performance
• Champion cross-species best-practice sharing
• Lead quarterly planning cycles with Marketing & Digital stakeholders

Requirements & Skills

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate ambiguous business requests into structured, executable digital briefs and act as a fluent "translator" between business stakeholders and specialist digital teams
• Experience managing a backlog or intake process (e.g., prioritization frameworks, ticketing/briefing systems) across multiple concurrent stakeholders or brands
• Working knowledge of digital channels and campaign types (web, email/SFMC, content, paid/organic) sufficient to scope and brief omnichannel and media work accurately — execution expertise not required
• Ability to build trust and credibility with business stakeholders while managing expectations against execution capacity
• Comfort working with performance data and dashboards to build reporting narratives for business audiences — building the dashboards themselves is not required
• A proactive collaborator who can drive execution excellence across a matrixed team without formal authority over execution resources

Education & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business, Communications, or a related field
• 5+ years of experience in digital marketing, marketing operations, or a business-facing digital liaison/account role
• Experience working within a shared services or Center of Excellence operating model is a plus, particularly in highly matrixed teams
• Familiarity with Veeva, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, or similar CRM/marketing platforms sufficient to brief and interpret execution work
• Project management experience is a plus

Core Competencies

• Accountability — takes full ownership of outcomes, following through on commitments even amid ambiguity or shifting priorities
• Collaborative Mindset — builds trust and alignment across cross-functional, matrixed teams, prioritizing shared success over individual wins
• Problem-Solving — navigates complexity with sound judgment, translating challenges into clear, actionable paths forward
• Sense of Urgency — moves with pace and purpose, balancing speed with quality to keep initiatives on track
• Adaptability — adjusts quickly and effectively to shifting priorities, structures, or ways of working, staying productive and steady through change

• Change Catalyst — drives momentum for new ways of working across a matrixed, multi-stakeholder environment

Required Skills:

Adaptability, Business Strategies, Cross-Functional Teamwork, Customer Engagement, Data Analysis, Digital Marketing, Marketing, Marketing Management, Marketing Operations, Oral Communications, Stakeholder Engagement, Strategic Thinking, Vendor Management

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:

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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

$142,400.00 - $224,100.00

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:

Domestic

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:

10/14/2026

*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.