Merck KGaA Posted August 15, 2026

Manager / Senior Manager Inhouse Consulting - Data & AI Strategy (all genders, full-/part-time)

Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany FULL_TIME
BD&L & Strategic Planning Manager

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.

Your role:

We love consulting! Do you? As the company's internal consultancy, we tackle strategic projects across Healthcare, Life Science, Electronics, and Enabling Functions. Our diverse team of around 75 colleagues brings expertise from top-tier external consultancies, major industry players, and top academic institutions. With offices in Darmstadt (HQ), the Greater Boston Area (USA), and Singapore, we deliver high-impact projects to the company's most critical business challenges. Working directly with senior management, we lead local, regional, and global initiatives that drive organizational success. Beyond providing consulting services, we serve as a talent incubator for our company, with a considerable number of colleagues transitioning into key leadership or expert roles throughout the organization every year. Combining both, business consulting and people development, we contribute to the company's success and accelerate your career!

You will work as part of project teams, providing business consulting especially in the field of data & AI, before transitioning to the next exciting career step within our company after approximately 2-4 years. As a colleague and trusted partner, you support projects from design to implementation, inspiring change throughout the organization. You own projects end-to-end, handling interactions with internal clients and guiding project teams in flat team structures.

In this pivotal role, you will lead high-impact client projects across Healthcare, Life Science, Electronics, and Enabling Functions, leveraging your AI expertise to translate complex business challenges into scalable, AI-driven solutions. Alongside your client work, you will contribute to IC's internal AI agenda – identifying use cases, upskilling colleagues, and advancing responsible AI practices within the team. While your impact will be centered on these domains, you will have the flexibility to extend your influence on strategic initiatives beyond this scope as needed.

Our approach differs from external consulting. We offer:

Empowerment: You own your projects from proposal development to steering committee presentations, and project closure. Project assignments are matched with your individual development goals and reflect your level of seniority. You will be able to directly experience the impact your work has on our business and patients worldwide.

Career development:Your leadership in challenging consulting projects will give you high visibility across our business sectors, allowing you to cultivate a deep internal network and ultimately positioning you for a successful transition into your next chapter within our company. While advancing your own professional growth, you simultaneously invest in mentoring and developing junior colleagues.

Flexibility of work: You will experience our high-impact culture with less business travel and more flexible work arrangements than in external consulting. Moreover, we run a hybrid workplace approach with a healthy mix of remote work and office presence.

Who you are:

Master's degree or PhD in Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, Data Science, Information Systems, Economics, Management with data-focus, or related field

Work experience of 3-5 years in management consulting with a genuine passion for the frontiers of AI and digital innovation, ideally in healthcare, life science, or electronics

Strong understanding of business strategy combined with deep conceptual knowledge of modern AI and data ecosystems – including LLM frameworks, agentic AI architectures, RAG, and multi-agent orchestration – with the ability to assess technical feasibility and communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences

Proven ability to translate AI concepts into actionable solutions and drive implementation from discovery through iterative delivery – orchestrating AI workflows, copilots, and autonomous agents into business processes using agile frameworks (Scrum, SAFe, or equivalent) and tooling such as Azure DevOps

Ability to foster a culture of collaboration, curiosity, and responsible AI use within the team

Awareness of AI governance principles, ethical AI practices, and emerging regulatory frameworks (e.g., EU AI Act) is a plus

Strong track record of leading projects across multiple functional areas with exposure to different hierarchical levels. More extensive leadership experience is a plus

Exceptional communication, presentation, and stakeholder engagement skills including the ability to translate technical AI concepts for executive and non-technical audiences

Proactive, self-motivated work approach with a passion for working in teams

Proficiency in English and preferably also in German

Willingness to relocate to Rhine-Main-Area (e.g., Darmstadt, Frankfurt) to allow for regular office presence (2-3 days per week) for close collaboration and network building

What we offer: We are curious minds that come from a broad range of backgrounds, perspectives, and life experiences. We celebrate all dimensions of diversity and believe that it 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 our diverse team!

Job details

Seniority
Manager
Function
BD&L & Strategic Planning
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

Computed from every other active BD&L & Strategic Planning role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 35 comparable Manager BD&L & Strategic Planning roles across 15 biopharma companies.

35Comparable roles tracked
35Currently active
15Companies hiring similar roles
12Countries represented

Salary context

9 of 35 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
Lowest disclosed · Manager, Corporate Strategy · Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) $114,800/yr – $187,400/yr
Highest disclosed · Associate Dir, Search & Evaluation (Platforms & AI) · Novartis $160,300/yr – $297,700/yr
Peer group range $151,100 – $229,000 (median $157,300)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 35 comparable roles

United States13
China8
Germany5
Mexico1
Japan1
Poland1

+ 6 more countries

Seniority mix

35 of 35 peers have a known seniority level

Manager26
Associate Director5
Associate4

Therapeutic area mix

3 of 35 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Vaccines & Infectious Disease2
Oncology1

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
Sandoz Holzkirchen (Sandoz International GmbH), Germany Manager
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Merck KGaA Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany Manager
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Merck KGaA Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany Manager
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Merck KGaA Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany Manager
Same function Same seniority Same country
50%similar
Merck KGaA Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany Associate
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country
45%similar
Gilead Sciences, Inc. Foster City, United States Manager
Same function Same seniority

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%
Senior Manager Strategy – Chief Commercial Office (d/f/m)
Sandoz · Holzkirchen (Sandoz International GmbH), Germany · Manager
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Senior Project Manager M&A (all genders) part-/full-time
Merck KGaA · Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany · Manager
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
45%
Trade Business Manager (Out-Licensing), Mexico
Viatris Healthcare México S. de R.L. de C.V · Mexico City, Mexico · Manager
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
45%
[Pfizer] Senior Manager, Business Development
Pfizer Japan Inc. · Tokyo, Japan · Manager
Function Therapeutic area 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.