Merck KGaA Posted August 30, 2026

Associate Director, Trial Clinical Delivery Lead (all genders)

Eysins, Vaud, Poland 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 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 Warsaw, Poland for 3 days per week.

 

Your role:

Accountable for the delivery and quality of site level activities in Phase I-IV Clinical Development studies; act as link between Clinical Site Leads (CSLs), Global functions & CRO counterparts - single point of contact for site management & operational topics/escalations; support information channeling and issue resolution for the study

Provide leadership, strategic direction, and operational oversight for Clinical Site Lead (CSL) activities across assigned study(ies) in response to quality and performance oversight measures and trends.

Serve as the operational delivery expert for the study(ies) and promote data-driven, realistic planning at the site and study level.  Drive delivery-focused accountability and ownership amongst key external (CRO/vendor partners) and internal partners as appropriate

Facilitate identification and implementation of operational excellence strategies within studies - leveraging expertise within Global Development Operations (GDO) and other partner functions.

Ensure timely and appropriate escalation of trends, issues, and risks within the Clinical Operations Team/Clinical Trial Team/CRO/Vendor Team, department Leadership Team and/or Senior Management as appropriate.

Promote solution-orientated thinking and issue resolution at the country and study team level. Provide an escalation pathway to ensure study-specific major observations from CSLs are relayed to and followed up by the appropriate internal and/or external business partners.

Support product and study-specific onboarding for new CDPC team members and contribute to enhancing their site/study management capabilities/skills.

Promote Product Knowledge ensuring all team members understand trial assets and protocols. Foster Collaboration: Encourage regular communication and teamwork between sites and stakeholders.

Streamline Information Sharing: Use clear channels to share updates and information.

Develop Best Practices: Contribute to and follow guidelines for consistent site and study management.

Lead regular calls with CSLs working on study and/or other activities within the assigned study(ies)

Act as functional lead for process improvement initiatives

 

As a member of the Clinical Trial Team:

Represent the CSL group at the Clinical Operations Team (COT)/Clinical Trial Team (CTT) via:

Regular review meetings of study/site performance and quality metrics and the associated strategic action planning

Ad hoc interactions to address immediate issues.

Other COT/CTT meetings as appropriate e.g., kick-off meeting

Consolidate and assess data-driven proposals for selecting countries and sites, ensuring quality and consistency across regions. Provide clear, actionable information to Clinical Trial Teams (CTTs) to support their decision-making and keep Clinical Site Leads (CSLs) informed of the final selection of regions, countries, and sites.

Lead activities with internal and external stakeholders to proactively gather and integrate patient and physician insights into study design and conduct e.g., utilizing Patient and Site advisory boards, social media campaigns, surveys, interactions with patient advocacy groups/organizations etc.

Design country start-up strategy in consultation with the Start-up Solutions Team and Country Start-up Specialists (CSS), and in alignment with the CTL(s) and CRO(s).  Work closely with the CSL to oversee and ensure delivery at the site and country level.

Design patient and site centric recruitment and retention strategies, in consultation with the CTL and CRO/Vendor(s), and in alignment with the study and company diversity and inclusion objectives:

Lead identification and implementation of optimal solutions, considering program and study characteristics, with clearly delineated key performance indicators to deliver tangible impact and drive study execution e.g., utilizing digital channels, biomarker-driven recruitment services and Decentralized Clinical Trial (DCT) capabilities such as telemedicine, mobile health applications, wearable sensors, direct to patient medication, etc.

Oversee service providers to ensure successful implementation within agreed timelines, budget, and quality.

Develop and implement a monitoring strategy in collaboration with Clinical Trial Leads (CTLs) and Contract Research Organizations (CROs), using a risk-based quality management approach. Continuously update the strategy based on external changes and new internal data.

Utilize site performance and quality data analytics to drive proactive, risk-based site oversight practices and quality risk oversight and management across all stages of study delivery.

Develop, implement, and follow up on robust Site Oversight Plans, in collaboration with the CTL(s) and working closely with the respective CSLs.

Identify and encourage use of data-driven oversight tools and methods at the site and study level.

Identify trends and issues within/across assigned study(ies) which may impact key study deliverables (e.g., timelines/quality/costs) and work with CSLs, CTLs, Data Managers, Clinical Lead(s) and other relevant business partners to implement action plans to resolve and/or mitigate.

Participate in Investigator/Study Coordinator Meetings and promote information sharing with the CSLs as needed.

Travel: Position may require domestic/international travel up to 20% of time.

Who you are

Minimum Requirements:

Bachelor’s Degree Medical or Life Sciences degree in a clinical research related discipline

8-10 years professional and project management experience in delivering Clinical Operations of global clinical trials required.

Expert knowledge of clinical development (principles and concepts as well as regulatory environment e.g., ICH GCP and applicable regional/local regulations

Preferred Requirements:

Oncology and/or Neurology and/or Immunology TA experience desired

Experience in clinical operations in a CRO, pharma or biotech company including site management/oversight, clinical study planning and conduct.

Exhibit strong interpersonal skills: Adaptability / Flexibility, Critical Thinking, Strong Communication Skills, Analytical Skills, Business Partnering, Clinical Trials Knowledge, Influencing Skills, Strategic Thinking, Therapeutic Area Knowledge, and cultural awareness to effectively lead and collaborate with diverse teams.

Ability to work independently on assigned tasks or projects.

Aptitude to interpret outputs from analytical tools to enhance and improve study execution.

Ability to assess risk, solve problems and take decisions.

Demonstrated ability to handle and oversee multiple tasks simultaneously and to prioritize in a meaningful way.

Comfortable working in a fast‐paced environment where speed is paramount.

YOUR MAIN BENEFITS:

Health and well-being: Get access to private medical care, life insurance, and sports card, receive prepaid lunch card

Work-Life balance: Enjoy additional paid days off, flexible working hours.

Learning and Development: Take advantage of co-financing for language courses, trainings, and certifications as well as other development opportunities

Employee support and engagement: Benefit from Employee Assistance Program and join employee engagement groups for support and connection.

Information on how we process your personal data for recruitment purposes, you can find on the registration form in our Recruitment Portal.

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
Eysins, Vaud, Poland
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 71 biopharma companies.

384Comparable roles tracked
349Currently active
71Companies hiring similar roles
29Countries 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 Not listed on this posting
Peer group range $96,200 – $315,000 (median $171,500)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 384 comparable roles

United States166
India91
United Kingdom22
Poland16
Germany12
Japan12

+ 23 more countries

Seniority mix

384 of 384 peers have a known seniority level

Manager174
Associate Director107
Senior103

Therapeutic area mix

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

Oncology20
Neuroscience10
Immunology6
Dermatology & Aesthetics2
Cardiovascular / CVRM1
Rare Disease1
Ophthalmology1
Respiratory1

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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.

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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.