Director Regional Alliance Management

Job Description

• Enable strategic alliances across Asia Pacific : drive partnership value, governance and performance.

• Shape APAC partnerships that deliver measurable business impact. Guide complex partnerships to strategic, financial and operational success.

• Own end‑to‑end alliance outcomes, lead with clarity and accountability & drive long‑term value. Translate strategy into measurable value and trusted execution.

Our Human Health Division maintains a “patient first, profits later” ideology. The organization is comprised of sales, marketing, market access, digital analytics and commercial professionals who are passionate about their role in bringing our medicines to our customers worldwide.
 

Role overview

We are looking for a senior regional leader accountable for defining, shaping, and maximising the value of company’s alliance portfolio across Asia Pacific. The role sets the strategic direction for alliance management, ensuring current and future partnerships are designed, governed, and has end‑to‑end accountability for performance, compliance, and strategic value.
 

As the leader for alliance management, you will have a business owner mindset and operate with a high degree of independence and judgment, translating enterprise and regional priorities into clear alliance strategies, governance models, and execution standards. Beyond managing performance of existing alliances, the role evaluates the regional alliance landscape, identifies future partnership needs, and ensure the company is positioned to extract sustained value from alliances over time.
 

The role also serves as the regional center of excellence and end-to-end accountability for alliance management, establishing best practices, strengthening governance discipline, and coaching and enabling in‑market alliance managers to operate at an executive standard across markets. This role partners and leads cross functional teams across Regional and Market Commercial teams, Business Development, Finance, Legal, Market Access, Medical & Supply Chain.

Job Location: Singapore. Relocation assistance provided.
 

What will you do:

Alliance Strategy, Leadership and Performance  

• Define and evolve the regional alliance management strategy, including assessment of current alliance performance, future partnership needs, and optimal alliance models aligned to Asia Pacific go‑to‑market priorities.

• Provide strategic direction for alliance management and future partnership models aligned to regional go‑to‑market priorities.

• Lead regional alliance center of excellence and ensure governance follows Asia Pacific best practice guidance.

• Proactive engagement with Alliance partners to ensure value from current alliances while also ensuring a fit for future go to market models.

• Establish and manage Joint Steering Committees, Working Teams, and governance forums, including agenda setting, materials preparation, decisions, and follow‑up actions.

• Monitor alliance performance against KPIs, financial targets, and strategic objectives, providing clear insights, risks, and recommendations to senior stakeholders.

• Identify performance gaps, interdependencies, and emerging risks, and lead corrective action plans in collaboration with partners and internal teams.
   

Value Maximization and Performance Ownership

• Own end‑to‑end accountability for alliance value delivery, ensuring alliances consistently meet strategic, financial, and operational objectives, with clear visibility of performance, risks, and trade‑offs to senior leadership.

• Partner with Finance to oversee alliance financials, including revenue recognition, cost‑sharing, milestone payments, and reconciliations.

• Monitor forecast assumptions, variances, and financial risks related to alliance performance, ensuring timely visibility to regional and market leadership.

• Support budgeting, long‑range planning, and forecast reviews for alliance‑related revenues and costs.

• Ensure appropriate financial controls, audit readiness, and compliance with internal policies and contractual terms.
   

Contract Management and Compliance

• Act as the primary business leader for the interface with Legal, Finance and Business Development for contract interpretation, change requests, and amendments.

• Acts as the leader for ensuring alliance execution remain compliant with contract terms, internal policies, and external regulatory requirements.

• Support contract renewals, extensions, and amendments, including development of business rationale and stakeholder alignment.

• Maintain a clear understanding of rights, obligations, governance authorities, and decision thresholds across assigned alliances.
   

Cross Functional & Partner Leadership

• Operates comfortable at senior executive levels to serve as the central integrator across Commercial, Business Development, Medical, Market Access, Supply Chain, Finance, and other functions involved in alliance execution.

• Build and sustain strong, trust‑based relationships with alliance partners to enable open communication and effective issue resolution.

• Serve as the regional center of excellence for alliance management by setting standards, tools, and ways of working, and by coaching and developing in‑market alliance managers to strengthen capability, consistency, and leadership depth across markets.

• Single point of contact for APLT, Global and Markets

• Uplifts capability of market alliance management community aligned with best practice.

• Represent the region in global or international alliance forums as required.

Risk Management, Issue Resolution and Continuous Improvement

• Proactively identify, assess, and actively manage operational, financial, and strategic risks across the alliance portfolio.

• Lead structured issue resolution processes, including root‑cause analysis, options assessment, and corrective action planning.

• Escalate material risks and issues through appropriate governance channels with clear recommendations and decision options.
   

Stakeholder Leadership and

• Apply and continuously strengthen regional alliance management frameworks, tools, and ways of working.

• Capture lessons learned and best practices and share insights across markets and teams.

• Contribute to the evolution of regional alliance governance standards and capability development initiatives.
   

Ways of working

• Lead with clarity, focus, and simplicity, especially in complex and high-risk settings.

• Work as a collaborative “conductor,” aligning cross-functional teams around shared priorities.

• Influence without authority through credibility, expertise, and trusted relationships.

• Communicate with senior leaders with clarity and impact.

• Stay focused on Alliance Management outcomes, not activity for activity’s sake.

What should you have:

Required

• 10+ years’ experience in alliance management, commercial operations, business development, or related roles within biopharmaceutical industry, wholesalers & distributors, life sciences, or a regulated industry.

• 5+ years managing complex partnerships or alliances involving multiple stakeholders and cross‑market governance.

• Demonstrated experience working with contracts, governance models, and cross‑company decision‑making structures.

• Commercial leadership with P&L experience and executive communication capabilities

Preferred:

• Experience working across Asia Pacific markets.

• Understanding of pharmaceutical industry and the regulatory/risk environment for this industry.

• Understanding of patient access / financial assistance programs, data-driven initiatives, and related risk implications.
   

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 been bringing forward medicines and vaccines for many of the world’s most challenging diseases. Today, we continue to advance innovative health solutions that improve and save lives around the world.

What We Look For:
Imagine starting each day knowing your work helps save and improve lives. Here, you can bring your empathy, creativity, digital mastery, and scientific curiosity to collaborate with diverse colleagues united by a common purpose. Our Oncology team is constantly evolving—if you are intellectually curious, resilient, and driven to make a meaningful impact, we invite you to join us and help shape the future of cancer care in Asia Pacific.

Required Skills:

Acquisitions Divestitures, Alliance Management, Biopharmaceutical Industry, Drug Discovery Development, Environmental Scanning, Intercultural Management, Interpersonal Relationships, Market Research, Organizational Analysis, Performance Metrics, Resource Allocation, Risk Management, Strategic Alliances, Strategic Licensing, Strategic Thinking

Preferred Skills:

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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:

VISA Sponsorship:

Travel Requirements:

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Remote

Shift:

Valid Driving License:

Hazardous Material(s):

Job Posting End Date:

05/29/2026

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