Merck KGaA Posted September 4, 2026

Associate Director Real World Evidence Scientist

Billerica, Massachusetts, United States FULL_TIME
Biostatistics & Data Science 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 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, Immunology 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.

Location: The Associate Director, Real World Evidence, is a hybrid role based in Billerica, MA and minimal domestic and international travel will be required to meet business needs.

Your Role

The Associate Director, Real World Evidence, is an experienced functional lead and subject matter expert who proactively contributes to the development and implementation of the Real-World Evidence and Real-World Data (RWE/RWD) strategy for a therapeutic area or set of compounds, with a primary focus on supporting regulatory objectives. Operating with a high degree of independence, this role leads non-interventional studies end to end, provides methodological expertise in key internal strategic forums, and interfaces with Global Program Teams and their sub-teams.

Responsibilities

Serve as the functional product lead and subject matter expert for assigned studies, conducting needs assessments with relevant stakeholders.

Provide senior-level strategic input into drug development plans and Product Integrated Evidence Plans.

Execute the RWE strategy for assigned products and lead studies with minimal supervision.

Represent and defend projects at internal boards, governance committees, and senior management meetings.

Lead the identification and selection of appropriate real-world data sources, and drive the development of the therapeutic area's real-world data strategy.

Collaborate closely with development, regulatory, medical, commercial, market access, and Patient Real-World Evidence (PRWE) teams.

Lead Non-Interventional Studies from end to end, including study design, planning, protocol development, monitoring, analysis, study reporting, and dissemination of results.

Support interactions with health authorities and develop responses to requests from regulatory agencies.

Foster cross-functional collaboration and maintain and expand external collaborations with other quantitative scientists.

Minimum Qualifications

Doctoral and/or master’s degree (e.g., PhD, MSc) in Epidemiology, Public Health or related field.

5+ years experience in health and life sciences (MD, pharmacist epidemiology, public health), or quantitative data sciences, biostatistics.

5+ years of experience in pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry, CRO, or academic setting.

Demonstrated experience in studies based on secondary data use (claims, EMR, registries) across different types and healthcare environments (Europe, US, Asia).

Comprehensive expertise in drug development, including interfaces and interdependencies of clinical development with other functions.

Experience in global regulatory and/or payer submissions and interactions.

Experience with the regulatory environment and standards (ISPE GPP, GVP, ENCePP).

Preferred Qualifications

Experience in studies based on primary data collection.

Experience in at least one key therapeutic area (Oncology, Neurology, Immunology).

Knowledge of federated data networks (CPRD, Optum, IQVIA, TriNetX) and OMOP CDM or FHIR data standards.

Experience with AI/ML applications in RWE, including NLP.

Track record of thought leadership (publications, conference presentations).

Experience in budget management and vendor oversight.

Knowledge of health equity and DEI principles in evidence generation.

Experience with patient-reported outcomes (PROs) and HTA.

Excellent oral and written communication skills and demonstrated ability to engage and communicate scientific evidence to peers and at scientific meetings.

Collaborative, proactive working style, with ability to work independently.

  Pay range for this position: $131,000 - $210,600

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
Associate Director
Function
Biostatistics & Data Science
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Billerica, Massachusetts, United States
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Biostatistics & Data Science role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 101 comparable Associate Director Biostatistics & Data Science roles across 27 biopharma companies.

101Comparable roles tracked
99Currently active
27Companies hiring similar roles
15Countries represented

Salary context

47 of 101 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 $131,000/yr – $210,600/yr
Lowest disclosed · Senior Research Statistician - Immunology (Hybrid) · AbbVie $96,500/yr – $183,500/yr
Highest disclosed · Biostatistics Associate Director (HYBRID) · Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (US) $174,800/yr – $262,200/yr
Peer group range $140,000 – $218,500 (median $165,200)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 101 comparable roles

United States62
United Kingdom7
India7
Belgium4
Spain3
Switzerland3

+ 9 more countries

Seniority mix

101 of 101 peers have a known seniority level

Senior45
Associate Director34
Manager22

Therapeutic area mix

10 of 101 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Immunology6
Oncology3
Rare Disease1

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
Novartis East Hanover, United States Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
AstraZeneca Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (US) Boston, United States Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc Remote, United States Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development and Commercialization, Inc. Rockville, United States Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development and Commercialization, Inc. Princeton, United States Associate Director
Same function Same 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%
Assoc Director, Statistical Programming
Novartis · East Hanover, United States · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Associate Director, Data Science - Rare Disease
Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc · Remote, United States · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Associate Director, Real World Data Science
Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development and Commercialization, Inc. · Princeton, United States · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Associate Director, Statistical Programming
Neurocrine Biosciences Inc. · US CA San Diego, United States · Associate Director
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.