Merck KGaA Posted August 15, 2026

Associate Director, Clinical Trial Lead (all genders)

Feltham, London, United Kingdom FULL_TIME
Clinical Development Associate Director

Merck KGaA is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

Work Your Magic with us!

Ready to explore, break barriers, and discover more? We know you’ve got big plans – so do we! Our colleagues across the globe love innovating with science and technology to enrich people’s lives with our solutions in Healthcare, Life Science, and Electronics. Together, we dream big and are passionate about caring for our rich mix of people, customers, patients, and planet. That's why we are always looking for curious minds that see themselves imagining the unimaginable with us.

United As One for Patients, our purpose in Healthcare is to help create, improve and prolong lives. We develop medicines, intelligent devices and innovative technologies in therapeutic areas such as Oncology, Neurology and Fertility. Our teams work together across 6 continents with passion and relentless curiosity in order to help patients at every stage of life. Joining our Healthcare team is becoming part of a diverse, inclusive and flexible working culture, presenting great opportunities for personal development and career advancement across the globe.

This role requires to be on-site in our office in Feltham, UK for 3 days per week.

Your role:

In this pivotal role, you will own the end-to-end clinical operational strategy and delivery of Phase I -IV studies, including registrational trials, within a hybrid-sourcing or in-house model. You will lead large-sized global clinical trial teams in a matrix organization, directing, influencing, and motivating stakeholders across closely related and broader functional areas to create a high-performing, positive working climate. You will develop and drive the clinical trial strategy while maintaining full accountability for successful project execution, including the delivery of clinical operational budgets, timelines, and quality standards as agreed upon by Governance Committees. As a core member of the Clinical Operations Team and leader of the Clinical Trial Team, you will align trial activities with organizational goals, the Clinical Operations Team, and the Global Program Strategy Team.

You will filter, prioritize, analyze, and validate complex and dynamic information from a diverse range of internal and external sources to address operational and organizational challenges in a holistic manner, proactively mitigating risks. You will serve as a mentor within and beyond the team, acting as a best-practice resource across your discipline and technical functional teams. You will ensure all study management activities are completed in full compliance with SOPs, Working Instructions, and local regulatory guidance, including ICH-GCP, and will lead audit activities and provide interview responses as required. You will contribute to non-study-related initiatives alongside study assignments, provide independent reports and updates to senior management, and demonstrate a high level of creativity and innovation to support projects from a strategic perspective, predicting outcomes and driving toward goal achievement.

Who you are:

At least 8 years in clinical research in a CRO or Pharmaceutical/Biotechnology Industry environment with at least 7 years of in-depth knowledge and experience in clinical trial management including managerial responsibility.

Expert experience in multiple Therapeutic Areas.

Requires strong professional experience in relevant disciplines and substantial project management experience, with strong market and competitor knowledge.

Expert experience in all aspects of clinical study planning and startup (including budget and resource planning), and in executing the complete range of clinical study activities from start up through final study report.

Strong leadership competencies and influencing skills.

Effective oral and written communication skills.

Proven ability to foster partnerships across projects and multidisciplinary teams.

Advanced degree desirable (MPH, MS, MA, MBA, PharmD); PM certification desirable.

What we offer: We are curious minds that come from a broad range of backgrounds, perspectives, and life experiences. We believe that this variety drives excellence and innovation, strengthening our ability to lead in science and technology. We are committed to creating access and opportunities for all to develop and grow at your own pace. Join us in building a culture of inclusion and belonging that impacts millions and empowers everyone to work their magic and champion human progress!

Apply now and become a part of a team that is dedicated to Sparking Discovery and Elevating Humanity!

Job details

Seniority
Associate Director
Function
Clinical Development
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Feltham, London, United Kingdom
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Clinical Development role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 327 comparable Associate Director Clinical Development roles across 52 biopharma companies.

327Comparable roles tracked
313Currently active
52Companies hiring similar roles
29Countries represented

Salary context

73 of 327 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.

This roleSubject Not listed on this posting
Peer group range $90,199 – $315,000 (median $173,950)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 327 comparable roles

United States116
India90
Poland14
United Kingdom13
China12
Japan9

+ 23 more countries

Seniority mix

327 of 327 peers have a known seniority level

Manager153
Senior96
Associate Director78

Therapeutic area mix

27 of 327 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology9
Immunology7
Cardiovascular / CVRM4
Neuroscience3
Dermatology & Aesthetics2
Ophthalmology2

Similar opportunities

The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.

60%similar
Regeneron UK Limited Uxbridge1, United Kingdom Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
GlaxoSmithKline Services Unlimited Uk, United Kingdom Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
CSL Behring UK Ltd Maidenhead, United Kingdom Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
50%similar
Novartis London (The Westworks), United Kingdom Manager
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country
50%similar
Novartis London (The Westworks), United Kingdom Manager
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country
50%similar
Novartis London (The Westworks), United Kingdom Manager
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country

Notify me about similar jobs

Get an email when we spot other openings like this one – same job function, comparable seniority, roles you'd actually want to see.

How we calculate "similar"

No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.

Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.

60%
Associate Director, Precision Medicine (Clinical Diagnostics)
Regeneron UK Limited · Uxbridge1, United Kingdom · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
50%
GCP Compliance Manager - Clinical Programs & Trials
Novartis · London (The Westworks), United Kingdom · Manager
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
50%
Supplier Governance Manager
Amgen Limited · Uxbridge, United Kingdom · Manager
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
50%
Clinical Operations Manager (South East) (London, London, GB)
Novo Nordisk · London, United Kingdom · Manager
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.