Principal Medical Writer

• Is recognized as a subject matter expert in the design, planning, authoring, editing, and review of accurate, clear, high-quality documents that reflect applicable medical writing best practices (e.g., lean writing, health literacy) and evolving regulatory requirements
• Is recognized as a strong scientific contributor and collaborator on cross-functional teams and demonstrates an understanding of team and project leadership responsibilities
• Applies critical thinking, problem solving, and negotiation skills to implement innovative solutions to complex challenges across the medical writing scope of work (e.g., documents, content, processes, timelines, tools) while navigating project team dynamics
• Provides program oversight by keeping project leads and/or management informed and escalates, as needed, issues that could impact timelines, quality, or compliance
• Demonstrates expertise in medical writing-specific tools and technology platforms
• Leads initiatives to improve medical writing processes and standards; may serve as a resource for this work internally and externally, as appropriate
• Applies in-depth knowledge of clinical development, relevant regulations, disease areas, and company products. Demonstrates a developing understanding of the pharmaceutical industry beyond clinical research
• Provides scientific and operational mentorship, coaching and/or project oversight to support other medical writers
• May manage direct reports including workload, professional development, and performance management

• Required: Bachelor’s degree or higher preferably in a health, scientific, or relevant discipline (e.g., life sciences, pharmacy, medicine, public health)
• 5+ years of relevant medical writing or industry experience

• Experience managing complex writing projects in a deadline-driven environment and leading teams of medical writers and/or cross-functional team members
• Ability to critically evaluate and interpret clinical data clearly, objectively, and in accordance with regulatory requirements and industry guidelines
• Demonstrated critical thinking and problem-solving capabilities, with an ability to innovate, influence, and drive change
• Demonstrated effective leadership across organizational levels, including conflict resolution, negotiation, navigating teams through ambiguity, and decision making
• Excellent oral and written communication and presentation skills
• Technical expertise in commonly used office applications (e.g., Microsoft Office Suite) shared document systems (e.g., SharePoint) and willingness to learn and adapt to emerging technology

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The primary location for this posting is:

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.