Merck KGaA Posted August 3, 2026

Director, Strategy & Operations - North America Medical Affairs (Seaport MA)

Boston, Massachusetts, United States FULL_TIME
Medical Affairs 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!  Start your next chapter and join EMD Serono.

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 does not offer sponsorship for work authorization. External applicants must be eligible to work in the US.

Your Role:

The Director, Strategy & Operations, North America Medical Affairs (NAMA) partners with the SVP and Head of NAMA and the NAMA Leadership Team to drive strategic execution, operational excellence, and cross-functional collaboration. This role supports planning, governance, and implementation of key initiatives, ensuring clarity, alignment, and measurable impact across NAMA.

Strategic Transformation and Planning

Partner with the SVP NAMA on strategic priorities, including key transformation and operational initiatives that enhance organizational effectiveness and execution

Support the definition and advancement of strategic initiatives, ensuring alignment with broader R&D and commercial priorities

Assess planned and ongoing initiatives for operational feasibility, impact, and alignment with global, regional and local objective

Drive identification of opportunities to enhance processes, capabilities, and ways of working across NAMA

Governance, Cross-Functional Collaboration, and Communication

Establish and manage governance structures to support effective decision-making, transparency, and accountability across Medical Affairs initiatives

Partner with cross-functional stakeholders to ensure alignment and coordination on key Medical Affairs initiatives

Drive leadership forums, including agenda setting, preparation of materials, facilitation, and documentation of outcomes

Develop and deliver high-quality materials for leadership updates, presentations, and internal communications

Execution and Operational Excellence

Lead and/or support execution of key strategic and operational initiatives, ensuring clear milestones, risks are managed, and outcomes are delivered

Provide program management support across priority initiatives, driving coordination and follow-through across stakeholders

Track progress and performance of initiatives, enabling visibility and informed decision-making

Identify operational gaps and implement continuous improvement opportunities to enhance efficiency and effectiveness

Stakeholder Engagement and Alignment

Partner with senior leaders and cross-functional stakeholders to drive alignment, address risks, and support execution of priority initiatives

Serve as a central coordination point across NAMA and key partner functions to ensure alignment and delivery of objectives

Build strong working relationships across functions to facilitate collaboration and effective decision-making

Strategic Impact:

This role plays a critical role in strengthening the effectiveness of North America Medical Affairs by enabling strategic alignment, improving execution discipline, and driving operational excellence across the region. The Director supports the organization in delivering on key priorities and enhancing overall performance and impact.

Collaboration

Maintains strong collaboration with North America Medical Affairs leadership and functional stakeholders to support execution of strategic and operational priorities

Partners closely with the Head of North America Medical Affairs and the North America Medical Affairs Leadership Team to drive alignment, governance, and decision-making

Works in close coordination with the NAMA leadership team to align on priorities, share best practices, and ensure consistency in strategy execution approaches

Collaborates with cross-functional partners including Commercial, R&D, Finance, HR, Legal, and other enabling functions to ensure alignment and delivery of key initiatives

Engages with functional teams across Medical Affairs to support coordination, information flow, and implementation of strategic initiatives

Maintains collaboration with external vendors and partners supporting strategic initiatives, analytics, and operational programs

Engages with external consultants, as needed, to support delivery of key strategic and operational initiatives

Keeps informed of industry best practices and external trends to support continuous improvement and innovation in Medical Affairs operations

 

Who You Are

Minimum Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree in business, life sciences, or related field; advanced degree preferred

10+ years of experience in the pharmaceutical or biotech industry, including Medical Affairs, strategy, operations, or related functions

Preferred Qualifications:

Demonstrated experience leading strategic initiatives, transformation efforts, and cross-functional programs in a matrixed environment

Strong understanding of drug development and Medical Affairs across the product lifecycle, including familiarity with regulatory frameworks and clinical development processes

Experience supporting organizational change, transformation initiatives, and process improvement efforts within Medical Affairs or R&D environments

Proven ability to work effectively with senior leadership, providing strategic and operational input to inform decision-making and advance key priorities

Experience managing complex programs or initiatives, including planning, tracking, and ensuring delivery of outcomes across multiple stakeholders

Demonstrated ability to operate effectively in a matrixed, cross-functional environment, building alignment across diverse stakeholders and functions

Strong strategic mindset combined with execution discipline, with the ability to translate priorities into actionable plans and measurable outcomes

Experience preparing and delivering materials for executive-level audiences, including presentations and strategic communication

Location:  Onsite Seaport MA

Pay Range for this position: $190,800 - $286,200

The offer range represents the anticipated low and high end of the base pay compensation for this position. The actual compensation offered will be determined by factors such as location, level of experience, education, skills, and other job-related factors. Position may be eligible for sales or performance-based bonuses. Benefits offered by the Company include health insurance, paid time off (PTO), retirement contributions, and other perquisites. For more information click here .

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
Director
Function
Medical Affairs
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

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

We currently track 237 comparable Director Medical Affairs roles across 44 biopharma companies.

237Comparable roles tracked
224Currently active
44Companies hiring similar roles
19Countries represented

Salary context

123 of 237 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 $190,800/yr – $286,200/yr
Peer group range $163,125 – $392,100 (median $262,500)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 237 comparable roles

United States175
United Kingdom17
China's Mainland8
Japan7
Switzerland6
Spain3

+ 13 more countries

Seniority mix

237 of 237 peers have a known seniority level

Director207
Senior Director24
Principal6

Therapeutic area mix

113 of 237 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology46
Immunology17
Neuroscience15
Respiratory9
Dermatology & Aesthetics8
Rare Disease7
Cardiovascular / CVRM7
Vaccines & Infectious Disease2
Gastroenterology1
Ophthalmology1

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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.

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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.