Global Medical Excellence Director (GMED) - (COPD)

Job Description

Role Summary

The Global Medical Excellence Director (GMED) reports to the Sr. Director, Global Medical Excellence, and is an experienced leader/subject matter expert (SME) in General and Specialty Medicine. The GMED is responsible for overseeing and driving Value & Implementation (V&I) General & Specialty Medicine Therapeutic Area (TA) medical excellence initiatives. The role entails developing and implementing strategies to enhance Medical Affairs operations, coordination across multiple functions, ensuring the highest scientific standards, and increasing the effectiveness of Medical Affairs planning.

The GMED provides strategic and operational leadership in the achievement of our Medical Affairs global strategies, serving as part of the Global General & Specialty Medicine TA Leadership Team and as a member of several cross-functional strategy teams with a scope that spans external strategic objectives and implementation/creation of company-wide best practices related to internal priorities. This role requires a high degree of enterprise coordination and alignment.

The GMED will work in conjunction with a broad array of cross-functional collaborators to ensure that our company has a strong cross-functional strategy across the portfolio for:

• External strategic objectives: Focus will include scientific leader (SL) engagement strategy, congress engagement strategy, and additional high-priority objectives.

• Internal strategic excellence: In coordination with those in Executive Director Medical Affairs (EDMA), Global Director Medical Affairs (GDMA), and Regional Director Medical Affairs (RDMA) roles and HQ Human Health functions as appropriate, oversee efforts to ensure Medical Affairs excellence (implementing company-wide best practices and coordination tools to guide work of both HQ and field medical colleagues globally in support of General & Specialty Medicine) in medical launch deliverables, cross-functional data gap assessments to inform publication planning, support for GDMA/RDMA in preparing for and actively participating in Group Input Meetings (GIM), and medical education activities, as well as various special projects supporting excellence in cross-functional alignment and partnership.

Responsibilities and Primary Activities

Scientific Leader Engagement Strategy

• Develops and coordinates innovative Value & Implementation Global Medical & Scientific Affairs (V&I GMSA) strategies for engagement with SLs, academic institutions, centers of excellence (CoEs), and medical professional organizations and executes these strategies with HQ team and country V&I GMSA organizations.

• Supports activities that translate to timely and positive interactions with external partners and organizations.

• Oversees cross-functional SL engagement strategy that supports clear lines of contact for SLs.

• Supports portfolio-aligned scientific insight collection from SL interactions to assess knowledge gaps and data gaps that can inform V&I GMSA, HH and Global Clinical Development decision making.

• Coordinates with EDMA and GDMAs to represent our company in medical professional, scientific, policy and advocacy organizations relevant for General & Specialty Medicine.

• Collaborates with Executive Director Scientific Affairs (EDSA) to ensure a well-executed congress strategy, and leads planning and execution of SL engagement strategy for major congresses.

Medical Approval Readiness Strategy

• Works in partnership with EDMA/GDMA and cross-functional partners to guide and coordinate medical activities in support of our global medical approval preparation planning with special focus on SL engagement, scientific exchange priorities, key decision-maker interactions, medical education, and policy/advocacy support (e.g., timelines, deliverables, HH communication, etc.).

Strategic Projects

• Leads or participates in IEP workstreams, as appropriate, to drive cross-functional alignment, advance strategic priorities, and support successful execution of key deliverables.

• Leads or manages other prioritized TA strategic projects, as appropriate, in support of organizational and portfolio needs.

• Leads TA major congress Scientific leader engagement planning

Operational Excellence

• Serves as an active member of the Global General & Specialty Medicine TA Leadership Team.

• Identifies enterprise inefficiencies and develops strategies to address.

• Continuously scans the health-care environment and analyzes emerging trends to determine individual skills and competencies to drive future organizational capabilities.

• Exhibits expert understanding of company and organizational policies and procedures.

• Partners with key cross-functional stakeholders and V&I Global Medical & Value Capabilities (V&I GMVC) Operations team (e.g., Process & Systems, Business Intelligence, etc.) to gather data for metrics and other required reports.

Required Qualifications, Skills & Experience

Minimum:

• Advanced healthcare/science degree (e.g., PA, NP, PharmD, PhD).

• Minimum of 5 years of experience in Medical Affairs or a related function in the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industry.

• Excellent interpersonal, analytical, strategic, tactical planning, project leadership, and communication skills.

• Full proficiency in Microsoft suite (Excel, PPT, Word, Teams, etc.) and ability to quickly adopt new and emerging systems.

• Ability to handle a demanding and changing workload and respond efficiently to timelines and changing market events.

• Ability to work across a diverse portfolio along the product life cycle.

• Ability to effectively communicate information to internal and external stakeholders at all levels (e.g., senior leadership, management, and individual contributors).

• Business acumen with a superior understanding of the pharmaceutical industry and health-care arena.

• Proven ability to work with cross-functional matrix teams and collaborate across multiple stakeholder groups (e.g., therapeutic areas).

• Proven track record of contribution to commercial and medical development strategies within the pharmaceutical industry.

• 20% travel required

Preferred:

• At least 5 years of Medical Affairs experience; respiratory therapy (COPD, PH) experience preferred.

• Expertise in interactions with SLs and other key stakeholders such as payers, public groups, government officials, and medical professional organizations.

Required Skills:

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Clinical Development, Congress Planning, Data Analysis, Healthcare Education, Medical Affairs, Oncology Marketing, Operational Excellence, Pharmaceutical Medical Affairs, Strategic Planning, Strategic Thinking

Preferred Skills:

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US and Puerto Rico Residents Only:

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As an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer, we provide equal opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.  As a federal contractor, we comply with all affirmative action requirements for protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.  For more information about personal rights under the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment laws, visit:

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The salary range for this role is

$190,800.00 - $300,300.00

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.

San Francisco Residents Only: We will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment in compliance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance

Los Angeles Residents Only: We will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance

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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:

No relocation

VISA Sponsorship:

No

Travel Requirements:

25%

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Remote

Shift:

Not Indicated

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

n/a

Job Posting End Date:

07/9/2026

*A job posting is effective until 11:59:59PM on the day BEFORE the listed job posting end date. Please ensure you apply to a job posting no later than the day BEFORE the job posting end date.