Associate Director, Thought Leader Marketing Liaison

Thought Leader Marketing Liaison (TLML) (Associate Director) is a key member of the Immunology brand marketing organization reporting directly to the Director, Thought Leader Liaison Team Leader. This position is responsible for ensuring that advocacy development, platform and product positioning, speaker program preparation and management, and congress engagement are strategically aligned with brand objectives and executed in a compliant manner. This will help our Company create a strong and sustained presence across local, regional, and national IBD communities. Additionally, this role is critical to ensure that key scientific leader insights directly inform brand and go-to-market strategies.

• Assist in identification and mapping of national and regional scientific leaders (SLs), clinical leaders, and emerging experts across the US IBD landscape.
• Develop and assess advocacy of key opinion leaders around the scientific messages, product positioning, and medical education content.

• Execute engagements with SLs, including congress participation, site visits, and HQ-approved activities (e.g., advisory boards, customer strategy sessions).
• Gather actionable insights from SLs to inform marketing strategies and brand planning.
• Provide real-time insights from KOL’s on approved key business questions / topics.
• Execute engagement plans with key thought leaders throughout the US and support development of approved educational content based on KOL and faculty input.

• Collaborate with marketing team to determine participation and level of support in key IBD conferences.
• Secure key engagement meetings and congress execution between HQ employees and KOLs

• Help identify and manage a US IBD Speaker Bureau, including faculty identification, onboarding, and training as appropriate to approved content.
• Ensure speaker advocacy aligns to our scientific platform key messages and supports speaker readiness for educational speaker engagements including congress product theatres.

• Collaborate with field facing roles according to our Company Policy to ensure alignment on SL needs and account dynamics.

• Ensure strict adherence to compliance regulations, internal policies, and industry standards in all engagement activities.

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree (MBA, MS, PharmD, or equivalent) preferred.
• Minimum 5-8 years in pharmaceutical sales, marketing, or field medical engagement or KOL management roles.
• Minimum 5 years as a Thought Leader Liaison or Regional Marketing strongly preferred
• At least 3 years of IBD experience strongly preferred with existing Key KOL networks in IBD
• Demonstrated success in building and maintaining scientific relationships with KOLs, speakers, or professional societies in a highly regulated environment.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills
• Proven ability to synthesize insights into strategic recommendations.
• Ability to influence and collaborate across a matrixed environment without direct authority.
• Travel up to 60% (including weekends and evenings for congresses and advisory meetings).

Current Employees apply HERE

Current Contingent Workers apply HERE

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The salary range for this role is

This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this 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.

You can apply for this role through https://jobs.merck.com/us/en (or via the Workday Jobs Hub if you are a current employee). The application deadline for this position is stated on this posting.