Job Description
The Director, Digital Process & Data nalysis (DPDA) (M-track) leads the Operational Reporting & Insights function at an organizational level. This role helps shape strategy, drive adoption of advanced reporting technologies, and foster talent development.
Responsibilities
Solution delivery and product / data support:
- Define and drive the clinical/operational reporting strategy across products, roles, and geographies; set standards and adoption plans for purpose built apps, self-service analytics, and other products
- Lead the roadmap and governance for solution delivery—owning requirements, data readiness, development, testing, release, and maintenance—to ensure scalable, high value solutions with broad organizational adoption; aligns platform strategy with relevant cross functional partners
- Establish mechanisms to surface portfolio level trends, risks, and opportunities; deliver executive ready narratives and visualizations that guide strategic decisions and resource allocation.
- Translate insights into portfolio level priorities and experiments; frames caveats and assumptions to align on acceptable risk and success criteria.
- Implement an intake and prioritization framework for ad hoc analytics aligned to strategic priorities; ensure timely, accurate responses and convert recurring asks into scalable self-service solutions.
- Direct the organization’s participation in industry benchmarking; synthesize insights into performance targets and investment decisions.
- Define and governs metrics and standards to ensure consistent reporting; uses adoption and value metrics to refine standards and priorities.
- Responsible for oversight of enablement and change management support for solutions
- Align refresh and data source priorities with business needs; defines usage and reliability KPIs to guide governance. Establishes communication norms for changes and incidents; promotes preventive practices that improve reliability
Process, compliance, & capability building:
- Set principles for access policies, workspace structures, and permission models in partnership with technical owners.
- Build capability and consistency: set development and documentation standards, mentor and upskill the team, and ensure best practices in stakeholder engagement across initiatives.
- Create a continuous learning and innovation agenda; evaluate and operationalize new technologies and reporting methods to improve time-to-insight and business impact
People management skills:
- Set clear objectives aligned to organizational goals; assign work and set priorities.
- Conduct regular check-ins and annual reviews; coach for performance; provide recognition.
- Develop career plans; create growth opportunities and promotion cases; ensure appropriate training and mentoring.
- Lead recruiting and hiring; manage sensitive employee relations matters in partnership with HR.
- Balance workloads to support value-added work and work–life sustainability; anticipate obstacles and adjust plans.
- Coordinate contingent resources across geographies; ensure role clarity and effective handoffs.
- Manage an operating budget and optimize spend against priorities.
- Align teams around a clear direction; facilitate team/functional meetings.
- Embrace ELS principles and serve as a role model to their team
- Drive enterprise leadership skills in the team
- Champions organizational change; drives adoption of new operating models and digital capabilities across global functions
- Support staff in the resolution of unique operational challenges through direct engagement, facilitation, mentoring, and expert problem-solving techniques.
- Demonstrated success managing large, diverse, and geographically distributed teams
Technical skills:
- Business intelligence (BI) reporting and visualization tools: Experienced in setting domain wide standards for dashboard usability, consistency, accessibility, and adoption across reporting tools (e.g., Qlik Sense, Power BI, ThoughtSpot).
- Data literacy and storytelling: Deep understanding of data literacy best practices, including defining storytelling guidelines, executive readout formats, and review cadences.
- Data preparation and quality: Deep proficiency in setting governance criteria for light wrangling and validation, quality review mechanisms, and escalation principles
- Spreadsheet and tabular proficiency: Deep understanding of best practices related to standardizing spreadsheet templates, controls, and QA practices to reduce variability and error rates.
- Fluency with Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) and product development practices
- Expert knowledge of Good Clinical Practice (GCP) and clinical trial operations
- Proficiency guiding enterprise use of analytics/reporting platforms (e.g., Qlik Sense, Power BI, ThoughtSpot, Tableau)
- Strong understanding of data architecture, governance, quality frameworks, and compliance implications
- Understanding of best practices related to standing up technical enablement and change management programs.
- Understanding of analytics/programming concepts and ability to collaborate with technical teams to validate data and assess feasibility
- Ability to connect business outcomes to technical deliverables
Non-technical skills:
- Ability to communicate with executives, translating complex data into high signal narratives that shape strategic choices, align diverse stakeholders, and influence outcomes at leadership levels; able to translate technical concepts into plain language
- Demonstrates end‑to‑end ownership and initiative for multi‑team programs; sets vision and direction in ambiguous spaces; empowers leaders and teams with clear guardrails, decision frameworks, and timely checkpoints
- Ability to anticipate systemic risks and organizational interdependencies, frame scenarios with tradeoffs and long-term implications, and guide proactive mitigation through sound escalation judgment and expectation setting.
- Proficient in managing cross‑functional alignment at scale by facilitating high‑stakes forums and decision reviews, securing commitments and ensures accountability across teams and partners
- Ability to prioritize a portfolio against business strategy and outcomes; allocates resources and sequences work based on impact, urgency, and capacity; course‑corrects decisively to maintain momentum
- Expertise in building a culture of feedback, continuous improvement, and operational excellence; mentors managers and senior specialists; institutionalizes mechanisms that raise quality bars and speed
- Demonstrated capability to sustain organizational trust by driving consistent execution, communicating with clarity and transparency, and delivering succinct updates across complex situations, while setting and modeling high standards of quality
- Ability to engage vendor, leadership, and industry forums; represents team professionally and credibly under pressure; maintains resilience and composure/
Enterprise Leadership Skills:
- Strategic Planning | Plans strategically by gathering information and identifying key issues, dependencies, and relationships critical to achieving long-range goals; commits to a course of action after developing and evaluating alternatives based on facts, available resources, constraints, and organizational values.
- Networking & Partnerships | Cultivates networks and partnerships by initiating and maintaining strategic relationships with stakeholders and potential partners inside and outside the organization who provide the information, ideas, expertise, and influence needed to deepen understanding of business issues and achieve business goals.
- Change Catalyst | Leads change by driving the organizational and cultural shifts needed to achieve strategic priorities; catalyzes new approaches to improve results by evolving culture, systems, and services; helps others overcome resistance and adopt change.
Qualifications & experience:
- Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Statistics, Pharmacy, Nursing, Biological Sciences, or a health care–related discipline AND minimum of 10 years experience working in relevant field for associated job description (see below) AND minimum of 3 years people management experience AND demonstrate deep subject matter expertise in relevant discipline
OR
- Advanced Degree (Masters or Doctorate) in Computer Science, Statistics, Pharmacy, Nursing, Biological Sciences, or a health care–related discipline AND minimum of 8 years' experience working in relevant field for associated job description (see below) AND minimum of 3 years people management experience AND demonstrate deep subject matter expertise in relevant discipline
clinicaltrialjobs
EligibleforERP
#GDMS
Required Skills:
Automation, Business Process Creation, Clinical Data Management, Data Integration, Data Validation, eCRF, Metadata Management, Solutions Development, Strategic Thinking, User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
Preferred Skills:
Adaptability, Competency Management, Mentoring Staff, People Leadership, Stakeholder Analysis
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Current Contingent Workers apply HERE
US and Puerto Rico Residents Only:
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The salary range for this role is
$173,200.00 - $272,600.00
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
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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:
1st - Day
Valid Driving License:
No
Hazardous Material(s):
No
Job Posting End Date:
10/7/2026
*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.