Associate Director, Global Oncology Insights and Engagement

The Associate Director for Oncology Insights and Engagement will reside within the Digital Human Health (DHH) Global Oncology Marketing Engagement team. The team provides strategic thought‑partnership by understanding pipeline priorities, developing and delivering strategic insights and analytics, and activating digital products / services to inform executive decision making and increase commercial rigor through all phases of the pipeline asset development and launch readiness.

The role will serve as the primary point of contact for the Global Oncology Marketing team, responsible for developing and communicating data‑driven, actionable insights that enhance patient and market understanding to inform new asset strategy. The role will also be responsible for quarterbacking the end‑to‑end delivery of DHH and IT capabilities, and leading the activation of insights, analytics, and digital products (incl. generative and agentic AI) to support asset priorities. 

Critically, the Associate Director will work closely with cross‑functional DHH and IT teams (e.g., market research, forecasting, AI capabilities, data strategy) to proactively orchestrate the planning and delivery of insights assessments. The role requires connecting the dots across these capabilities to ensure that insights generation is integrated, scalable, and aligned to business priorities.

The role will also work closely with cross-functional teams across Enterprise (e.g., clinical and discovery, medical affairs, competitive intelligence) as well as with an alliance partner to inform executive decision making and increase commercial rigor through all phases of pipeline asset development.

The individual in this role will be an independent contributor or lead a small global team.

• →Partnership with Global marketing
  • →Act as a key point of contact for Global Marketing teams, establishing credible relationships and being their strategic thought‑partner on relevant topics.
  • →Translate business needs and priorities to build structured analytical plans and hypotheses that answer business questions by providing actionable insights
  • →Effectively communicate advanced analytics to stakeholders to inform business decisions.
• →Strategic insights & analytics
  • →Develop and own commercial insight generation strategy and roadmap, applying the latest technological advancements such as AI to strengthen efficiency & productivity
  • →Analyze data across disparate databases/sources (e.g. claims/EMR data) to develop insights that inform commercial business questions (e.g., understanding patient journey, referral patterns, patient / HCP segmentation and market sizing)
  • →Ensure analytical rigor, consistency, and transparency of assumptions and methodologies.
  • →Integrate insights across primary market research and secondary data sources (e.g. epi data, syndicated reports, ATUs, demand research, biomarkers data, testing data)
  • →Develop clear, compelling data stories that translate analytics into business recommendations.
• →Cross‑functional collaboration and orchestration
  • →Quarterback DHH and IT capabilities end‑to‑end, ensuring integrated delivery across insights, analytics, and technology functions. Connect the dots across DHH and IT capabilities to deliver cohesive, decision‑ready outputs rather than siloed analyses.
  • →Collaborate effectively with cross functional teams with competencies in market research, forecasting, data science, data strategy, competitive insights, marketing operations, medical & clinical backgrounds, while ensuring the right capabilities are engaged at the right time.
  • →Align cross‑functional teams on scope, methodology, timelines, and outputs to ensure high‑quality, integrated insights delivery.
• →Innovation and Capability Acceleration
  • →Stay current with industry trends and advancements in analytical methodologies to bring new ideas forward (including application of AI) that will enhance analytic capabilities of the organization.
  • →Contribute to innovative experiments, specifically to idea generation, idea incubation and/or experimentation, identifying tangible and measurable criteria to make meaningful improvements to the business processes and strategies.
  • →Identify opportunities to embed next‑generation analytics and digital capabilities into pipeline and launch strategy development.
• →Leadership and Team Development
  • →Lead and mentor a team of Specialists and Senior Specialists (on-shore and off-shore), providing guidance on best practices in data analytics, modeling and data visualization, through the scope of a project.
  • →Foster a team culture where team members are focused on ‘things that matter’, empowered to act with urgency, actively innovate and are supported through continuous learning and feedback process.
  • →Also lead cross-functional insights teams, comprised of cross-functional stakeholder groups across DHH and other parts of the organization.

• BS (or equivalent) in Data Analysis, Marketing, Economics, Social Science, Computer Science, Statistics, Decision Science, Engineering, Public Health, or equivalent scientific/ commercial discipline.

• 5+ years of experience in marketing, data insights and analytics (e.g., advanced or predictive analytics, secondary data analytics, forecasting, market research), strategic planning, or related roles within pharmaceutical, biotech, consulting, or healthcare industry.
• Knowledge in mining patient medical claims/EMR data with a strategic mindset and proven record of being able to produce actionable business insights that drive positive commercial results.
• Strategic thinking skills with strong ability to consolidate and synthesize primary/secondary data insights.
• Self-motivated, proactive mindset, and learning agility
• Ability to work independently and navigate ambiguity
• Story-telling and executive presence with senior leaders.
• Effective interpersonal skills, communication skills, and stakeholder management, including experience collaborating in a matrixed organization and ability to align stakeholders on data-driven decisions.
• Strong business acumen and consultative skills, with proven ability to comprehend business processes and commercial strategies in detail and translate these into detailed business standards/questions that power analytics.
• Effective organizational and project management skills to work effectively across the organization and manage a team of business analysts and data scientists efficiently and effectively.
• Innovative thinking with affinity toward experimentation and appropriate risk-taking, including curiosity about how agentic AI and automation can enhance commercial analytics and insight generation.
• Awareness of the opportunities, limitations, and responsible use of AI (including agentic AI) in a regulated environment (e.g., data privacy, validation of AI-generated outputs).
• Prior hands-on experience working with healthcare data, especially EMR/EHR, Claims Data (e.g., IQVIA APLD) and various data offerings.

• Experience in Life Science or consulting industry.
• Prior experience in Oncology
• Global experience, specifically as it pertains to data and analytics
• Advanced degree (e.g., MBA, PharmD, PhD) appreciated, but not required.

At our company, our focus is on innovation and launch execution excellence; we translate breakthrough science into innovative medicines that help people with cancer across the globe.

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

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

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.