Director Strategic Planning

Job Description

The Enterprise Strategy Office (ESO) develops, implements, and drives enterprise strategy in support of our company, its customers, and shareholders. The scope of this group includes ​​strategic program management, enterprise strategic planning, risk management, as well as strategic venture investments in healthcare as part of our Global Health Innovation fund. Together, we identify business critical challenges, create, and evaluate options, and ensure effective implementation and cross-functional engagement.

Position Description:

The Director of Commercial Strategy Development will lead and support strategy development for enterprise-critical commercial initiatives, assessing and designing priorities that are complex questions with significant upside for the company, but high ambiguity. This includes ongoing initiatives across our Company as well as the establishment of new strategies and capabilities. This role will work cross-functionally with senior leaders (e.g., Executive Team, ET-1, ET-2) to socialize and refine initiatives, building a coalition of support that is needed to drive the creation of value and adoption of change.

The ideal candidate will possess innovation, insight, commercial acumen, and broad market perspectives to provide commercial strategy expertise for our company. Compelling candidates will have strategic consulting experience, well-rounded capabilities as well as pharmaceutical industry experience. Commercial, marketing, market access and/or analytics experience are particularly valuable for this role.

Reporting to the Executive Director, Commercial Strategy, Enterprise Strategy Office. Located in Rahway, NJ preferred. Candidates from Upper Gwynedd, PA will be considered

Primary Responsibilities:

• Lead and support the development of enterprise critical commercial initiatives. Identifying opportunities, creating evaluations, and recommendations, in collaboration with commercial executive leaders.
• Partner in the implementation of critical commercial priorities that require substantial cross-divisional collaboration, strategic thought-partnership, and negotiation to deliver the best solution and impact for the business.
• Use existing or develop novel strategic frameworks to lay out potential options, evaluate implications and conduct ‘what you need to believe’ or similar analytical analyses to drive to a final recommendation.
• Bring outside-in perspectives, contributing new ideas and priorities to commercial leadership, leveraging experience and depth of understanding of evolving industry trends.
• Collaborate with commercial leaders on prioritized business unit needs and launch planning and excellence providing strategic thought-partnership.
• Partner with commercial and cross-divisional leaders to bring in market and competitive perspectives that inform therapeutic area portfolio strategy (e.g., outside-in commercial assessment for opportunity sizing, target product profile development).
• Manage directly and indirectly internal and external associates dedicated to our programs.
• Create thriving and psychologically safe engagements, leading without authority to provide new and novel strategic perspectives.
  

Minimum Required Skills:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent required, Master’s in Business Administration or PhD preferred
• 4+ years of strategy management consulting experience from a top-tier firm (e.g., BCG, McKinsey, L.E.K., ZS, Kearney)
• Minimum of 5+ years of biopharmaceutical experience across diverse roles of increasing responsibility, including commercial experience in US/Global marketing and asset launches required.
• Use existing or develop novel strategic frameworks to lay out potential options, evaluate implications and conduct ‘what you need to believe’ or similar analytical analyses to drive to a final recommendation.
• High business acumen distilling complex commercial problems, create structured framing, assessments, and actionable recommendations in collaboration with commercial colleagues.
• Analytical expertise and external landscape knowledge to build data-driven insights to inform recommendations including experience with, or awareness of, developing commercial market assessments on therapeutic / disease area strategy to inform development of TPP.
• Strong ability to influence decision-making in a highly matrixed organization, demonstrating empathy, collaboration, and high Emotional Intelligence.
• Demonstrated ability to thrive in ambiguity, exceling in bringing cross-functional colleagues together leading high-priority initiatives .
• Ability to prioritize time and problem solve to focus on most impactful initiatives.
• Strong communicator with excellent verbal and written skills; ability to communicate effectively with senior management and across all levels of the business
• Driven, curious, and collaborative professional with a growth mindset, strong organizational skills, and a willingness to learn.

Required Skills:

Adaptability, Adaptability, Analytical Tools, Budget Management, Business Acumen, Business Analysis, Business Decisions, Business Operations, Business Opportunity Identification, Business Planning, Data-Driven Decision Making, Decision Making, Developing Proposals, Enterprise Leadership, Executive Presence, Industry Trend Analysis, Influencing Skills, Management Consulting, Managing Ambiguity, Market Access, Market Research, Oncology Marketing, Organizational Leadership, Pharmaceutical Industry, Results-Oriented {+ 7 more}

Preferred Skills:

Collaboration, Commercial Awareness

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 primary location for this posting is:

USA - New Jersey - Rahway

Where required by law, the compensation range for this role is provided below.

The salary range for the primary location of this role is:

$173,200.00 - $272,600.00

This range reflects the Company's reasonable expectation of the base salary applicable to this role at the time of 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.

Additional location(s): Please note the salary range above applies to the Primary Location of the position. Where a role has other listed locations, different compensation guidelines may apply. You may find the salary ranges for additional locations below. If the salary range is not listed for the location you are applying to, our Talent Acquisition team will provide further information to you relevant to your location.

Additional location(s) Compensation Information:

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:

Hybrid

Shift:

1st - Day

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

n/a

Job Posting End Date:

10/23/2026

*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.