Merck KGaA Posted September 22, 2026

Associate Director, Clinical Trial Lead

Billerica, Massachusetts, United States FULL_TIME
Clinical Development Associate Director
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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 Location:  Billerica, Massachusetts

Shift:  No

Department:  HC-RD-DT Clinical Trial Management

Recruiter:  Shelby Elizabeth Briggs

This information is for internals only. Please do not share outside of the organization.

Your Role:

Manage multiple studies, projects, and work streams with

high complexity, risk, impact and reach, typically Phase III and registrational/sourcing models.

Demonstrates skills in successfully leading large-sized global project teams in a matrix organization and directs, influences and motivates stakeholders from closely related areas and beyond, creating a positive working climate.

Leads the development of the clinical trial strategy while accountable for successful project execution and delivery of clinical operational budget, timelines and quality standards agreed upon by Governance Committees.

As a core member of the Clinical Operations Team and leader of the Clinical Trial Team, aligns clinical trial team with organizational goals, Clinical Operations Team, and/or Global Program  Strategy Team.

Filters, prioritizes, analyzes and validates complex and dynamic information from a diverse range of external and internal sources to respond to operational and organizational challenges in a holistic manner to mitigate risks.

Exhibits Subject Matter Expert level understanding of multiple functions and functional processes. Familiar with and considers overall company strategy.

Acts as a senior advisor and mentor within the team and beyond and serves as best practice resource within own discipline or as technical functional teams or projects.

Ensure all study management activities will be completed in accordance with SOPs/WI, local regulatory guidance including ICH-GCP; audit leadership- interviewee & responses.

Contribute to non-study -related initiatives in addition to study assignments. Provide reports to senior management, including updates and timelines independently.

Demonstrates creativity and innovation to support projects from a strategic perspective, able to predict the result of action in advance and achieve goals.

Who You Are

Minimum Qualifications:

Bachelors degree with minimum 8 or more years in clinical research in a CRO or Pharmaceutical/Biotechnology Industry environment

Minimum 7 years of in-depth experience in clinical trial management

Demonstrated experience in managerial responsibility

Preferred Qualifications:

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

Proven experience in all aspects of clinical study planning and startup (including budget and resource planning) and in executing study activities, from startup through final study report.

Experience in multiple Therapeutic Areas (oncology and immunology preferred)

Requires substantial to extensive professional experience in relevant disciplines and substantial project management experience. Required and experience in own discipline and beyond which may also require good market and competitor knowledge.

Strong leadership competencies and influencing skills.

Proven team dynamic knowledge and skills and ability to foster partnerships across projects and multidisciplinary teams.

Growing expertise in drug development, including some knowledge of interfaces and interdependencies of clinical development with other nonclinical & pharmaceutical development, regulatory, commercial/marketing)

Location: Billerica MA, Onsite

Travel:

Pay range for this position: $122,200 - $202,900

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 .

The Company is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. No employee or applicant for employment will be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, gender identity, transgender status, marital status, or any other classification protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.  This policy of Equal Employment Opportunity applies to all policies and programs relating to recruitment and hiring, promotion, compensation, benefits, discipline, termination, and all other terms and conditions of employment. Any applicant or employee who believes they have been discriminated against by the Company or anyone acting on behalf of the Company must report any concerns to their Human Resources Business Partner, Legal, or Compliance immediately. The Company will not retaliate against any individual because they made a good faith report of discrimination.

Job details

Seniority
Associate Director
Function
Clinical Development
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Billerica, Massachusetts, United States
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 384 comparable Associate Director Clinical Development roles across 80 biopharma companies.

384Comparable roles tracked
369Currently active
80Companies hiring similar roles
27Countries represented

Salary context

103 of 384 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 $122,200/yr – $202,900/yr
Lowest disclosed · Sr. Research Associate, Clinical Biomarker Laboratory · ModernaTX, Inc. $74,000/yr – $118,400/yr
Highest disclosed · Sr Statistical Advisor · Gilead Sciences, Inc. $261,375/yr – $338,250/yr
Peer group range $96,200 – $299,813 (median $175,750)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 384 comparable roles

United States163
India81
United Kingdom20
Poland20
Japan12
China12

+ 21 more countries

Seniority mix

384 of 384 peers have a known seniority level

Manager171
Associate Director113
Senior100

Therapeutic area mix

43 of 384 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology19
Immunology11
Neuroscience8
Rare Disease1
Cardiovascular / CVRM1
Respiratory1
Ophthalmology1
Dermatology & Aesthetics1

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.

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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.

60%
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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.