Japan DHH Leader

Job Description

Executive Director, Digital, Data and Technology Team
Location: Tokyo, Japan Reports to: Associate Vice President, International
Opportunity Summary
This is a commercial-digital leadership role, not a technology position.
The Executive Director is accountable for how digital, data, and AI drive commercial outcomes across the Japan business. Operating at the intersection of strategy and execution, this role acts as a strategic peer to the Japan Country Leadership Team and serves as the single point of accountability in market.
You will shape commercial intent, align priorities, and quarterback end-to-end activation—from decision through delivery and adoption—ensuring measurable business impact. Digital and data are the enablers; results are the measure.
Executive Accountability
Strategic Commercial Partnership
• Serve as a primary strategic partner to senior commercial leadership, translating business development, pipeline, launch, and lifecycle priorities into integrated, outcome-driven plans.
• Influence and constructively challenge leaders as a peer, bringing innovative thinking to question legacy models and elevate strategic decisions.
• Anticipate future market, customer, and therapeutic shifts to ensure forward-looking commercial readiness and competitive differentiation.
Insight, Analytics, AI & Digital Engagement Leadership
• Own the commercial insight, analytics, and AI strategy, embedding advanced intelligence into core decision-making and operational processes.
• Drive digital engagement transformation by learning from internal best practices and external benchmarks to define and deploy a customized engagement model aligned to customer needs.
Proprietary
• Translate complex business questions into actionable analytical and engagement roadmaps with clear “so what” and “now what,” accelerating measurable business impact.
Demand Orchestration & Enterprise Alignment
• Quarterback demand from strategic intent through execution, adoption, and value realization, reducing fragmentation and accelerating time-to-impact.
• Prioritize the full portfolio of work in partnership with commercial, portfolio, and IT leadership, aligning ambition with capacity and investment discipline.
• Enable local differentiation only where it creates scalable, reusable enterprise value while maintaining operational coherence.
Organizational & People Leadership
• Lead 3–4 direct reports and oversee 35+ FTEs and contractors within a newly integrated Digital & Technology function, setting clear accountabilities and performance standards, strengthening talent capability, and continuously refining the operating model to be future-ready.
• Leverage this pivotal moment to design and evolve a future-ready operating model and organizational structure, aligning to shifting business priorities, market complexity, and external industry transformation.
• Build a true one-team culture across business, digital, and IT — embedding agility, transparency, and shared enterprise outcomes while eliminating legacy silos.
What Success Looks Like
• Commercial priorities seamlessly translated into measurable business outcomes with executive-level transparency and trust.
• AI-enabled, insight-driven, and digitally sophisticated engagement embedded into everyday commercial execution.
• A scalable, future-ready organization with an adaptive operating model that evolves alongside business and market change.
Proprietary
Ideal Candidate Profile
This role is for a commercially grounded leader who turns digital, data, and AI into sustained business advantage—not standalone initiatives.
You bring:
• 10+ years of experience across digital, advanced analytics, data, or AI, with pharmaceutical industry exposure
• Strong commercial acumen and credibility with senior business leaders
• Experience operating in complex global matrix environments and delivery-center models
• Proven ability to influence without authority and navigate ambiguity
• Executive-level communication skills, with the ability to simplify complex concepts into clear decisions
• A collaborative, outcome-oriented mindset with a bias for action and enterprise impact
• Fluent English language capability is required
• Japanese language capability preferred

Required Skills:

Accountability, Benefits Management, Business Analysis, Business Process Improvements, Collaborating, Communication, Digital Technology, Governance Management, Program Management, Sales Operations, Stakeholder Relationship Management, Strategic Planning, Workforce Planning

Preferred Skills:

Current Employees apply HERE

Current Contingent Workers apply HERE

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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:

VISA Sponsorship:

Travel Requirements:

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Hybrid

Shift:

Valid Driving License:

Hazardous Material(s):

Job Posting End Date:

05/1/2026

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