Executive Director, State Government Affairs East

Our U.S. State Government Affairs & Policy team collaborates with state, local and national levels of government across the U.S. We address legislative and regulatory issues that promote and protect the discovery of innovative medicine, vaccines and animal health products while improving and protecting patient access to care.

The Executive Director State Government Affairs leads a team of 6-7 state Government Affairs Directors for the western half of the U.S. covering approximately a 25-state region. The team represents the company in its interactions with Executive, Legislative and Regulatory bodies of state and local governments.

• →Direct and manage team’s work on state legislative and policy issues to support all U.S. Divisions and operations, including human health and animal health.
• →Manage the activities of the individual Directors in the West region on their interactions with state and local officials.
• →Lead execution of region strategy to mitigate legislative policy risks that would limit access to our products and support proactive policy to maintain a competitive market for innovative biopharmaceuticals.
• →Manage the team’s engagement with a broad group of stakeholders in the legislative and executive branches of government, key state agencies, and business, trade, and health policy associations.
• →As part of leadership team identify, analyze, and develop Company’s response to legislative policy issues impacting strategic business priorities
• →Serve as lead for assigned policy priorities for products, above-brand issues, department operations, and resource development; and manage team assignments.
• →Serve as point to external stakeholder legislative, policy and business groups to ensure alignment on policy positions.

• →Work cross-divisionally with franchise, policy, and subject matter experts to align on policy priorities and strategy.
• →Support and guide the individual professional development and growth of team members.
• →Manage contractual and operational resources for the western region, including political contributions, contract counsel, and policy grant oversight.
• →Ensure state advocacy on behalf of the company in the region is conducted in compliance with company policy and all state and federal laws.

• BS/BA required.

• Site based (Upper Gwynedd; North Wales, PA). Offers remote flexibility with travel to multiple sites.

• 50% Travel (Across U.S. and routine to Washington, DC).

• Minimum 10 years-experience in state government affairs and policy.
• Experience developing legislative policy priorities aligned with business priorities.
• Experience addressing policy issues affecting the bio-pharmaceutical industry.
• Experience managing and leading teams, including employee development.
• Demonstrated experience engaging executive level leaders.
• Strong experience with internal and external stakeholder engagement.
• Knowledge of state legislative policy-making process.
• Experience in analyzing state legislation.
• Strong writing and presentation skills.   

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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.