Executive Director, International Legal & Compliance

Job Description

• Lead at the highest levels of legal business matters, shaping strategy, managing risk, and enabling growth across international markets.
• Be the trusted advisor behind some of the company's most important  legal decisions, guiding leaders through complexity with confidence and integrity.
• Join a leadership team where your judgment, influence, and strategic thinking will help guide critical decisions across international markets.

 

Role Overview:
The Executive Director, International Legal and Compliance (IL&C), is a senior enterprise legal and compliance leadership role responsible for providing strategic legal and compliance counsel to senior business and functional leaders across international markets. The role partners closely with, and serves as a trusted deputy/delegate to, the VP, IL&C, representing IL&C with senior business and functional leadership on significant international and pan-regional initiatives, as directed. The position will report to the VP, IL&C and be based in Singapore.

What will you do:

• Support the VP, IL&C in coordinating legal and compliance advice for global and international initiatives across regions and markets, providing strategic oversight, enterprise-level analysis and practical risk-based recommendations in close collaboration with other IL&C leaders.
• Acting on behalf of the VP IL&C to advise on strategic commercial initiatives, new product launches and higher-risk activities, including Patient Programs and disease awareness campaigns, with strong focus on risk assessment and management under anti-bribery and corruption law, antitrust law and other commercial and regulatory requirements relevant to the industry.
• Provide legal and compliance guidance to Global and International business teams and functional stakeholders, including Global Marketing, Research Lab, Global Communications, Global Market Access and DHH, on ex-US initiatives and activities, including legal and compliance review.
• Partner with global functional stakeholders, including Ethics & Compliance Office, and Global Investigations, in the development, update, implementation and oversight of global compliance programs for international markets, including policies and standards, audit and investigation review, remediation and related governance. 
• Advise on HQ Compliance support initiatives, including guidance on marketing practices relating to International Congresses, local meetings, SL engagement and Global Medical & Scientific Affairs activities outside the U.S.
• Support ex-US commercial and regulatory initiatives, including digital health, patient programs, disease awareness campaigns, contracting and other higher-risk business activities.
• Provide legal and compliance support for select ex-US Business Development transactions, as directed. Support the International Legal and Compliance organization in leadership, governance and operational effectiveness priorities.
  

What should you have:

• A Juris Doctor or law degree or equivalent, admitted to the bar in Singapore or an equivalent jurisdiction.
• A minimum of fifteen (15) years of legal & compliance experience in a major law firm supporting life science clients and/or working within a major multinational life sciences legal/compliance department.
• Experience in advising ex-US clients in life sciences or U.S. commercial/regulatory experience in life sciences.
• Significant experience working across international markets, with strong understanding of regulatory environments, business operations and commercial practices across mature, developing and higher-risk markets.
• Strong understanding and appreciation of laws and regulations applicable to the pharmaceutical industry and company operations, including competition laws, FCPA and other anti-corruption laws, industry codes, pharmaceutical laws and regulations, advertising laws and regulations, data protection and privacy laws and labor laws, including works council and union-related regulations.
• Familiarity with the pharmaceutical industry and regulatory infrastructure across international markets.
• Good enterprise leadership skills, including the ability to lead diverse remote teams, manage senior client relationships and influence cross-functional stakeholders across international markets.
• Experienced generalist legal and compliance skillset, with the ability to advise on a broad range of complex legal, compliance and governance issues in fast-moving business environments.
• Strong analytical, issue-spotting and problem-solving skills, with the ability to anticipate legal and compliance risks, exercise sound judgment in ambiguous or volatile environments and guide disciplined decision-making where laws, regulations or precedents are unclear.
• Sound judgement that is demonstrated by rapid and disciplined decision making, founded on strong ethical values.  Excellent communication, listening, persuasion and interpretation skills, with the ability to engage employees and stakeholders at all levels across diverse cultural backgrounds, language barriers and market realities.
• Ability to collaborate and influence cross-functional and cross-cultural teams and balance the role of strategic thought leader and senior stakeholder partner with that of practical advisor and solutions partner on specific legal and compliance issues.
  Ability to lead project teams and manage project implementation.
• Capable to provide senior risk stewardship, crisis-sensitive judgment and clear escalation guidance on matters with enterprise, regional or reputational significance.

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, our company continues to be at the forefront of research to deliver innovative health solutions and advance the prevention and treatment of diseases that threaten people and animals around the world. 

What we look for:

Imagine getting up in the morning for a job as important as helping to save and improve lives around the world. Here, you have that opportunity. You can put your empathy, creativity, digital mastery, or scientific genius to work in collaboration with a diverse group of colleagues who pursue and bring hope to countless people who are battling some of the most challenging diseases of our time. Our team is constantly evolving, so if you are among the intellectually curious, join us—and start making your impact today

 

Required Skills:

Active Listening, Active Listening, Client Management, Clinical Judgment, Compliance Activities, Compliance Reporting, Conflict Resolution, Cross-Functional Project Management, Decision Making, Detail-Oriented, Document Management, Enterprise Leadership, Ethical Standards, Global Coordination, Interpersonal Relationships, Legal Compliance, Legal Research, Legal Support, Legal Technology, Legal Writing, Litigation Management, Managing Ambiguity, Negotiation, Organizational Leadership, Project Leadership {+ 8 more}

Preferred Skills:

Current Employees apply HERE

Current Contingent Workers apply HERE

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:

Hybrid

Shift:

Valid Driving License:

Hazardous Material(s):

Job Posting End Date:

10/19/2026

*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.