Merck KGaA Posted October 9, 2026

Director, Global Regulatory and Scientific Policy

Washington, District of Columbia, United States FULL_TIME
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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 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.

Why Join Us?

Shape the Future of Drug Development and Regulatory Policy.

This role offers the opportunity to help shape the future regulatory landscape for innovative medicines and medical products. You will work with internal and external leaders to advance policies that support scientific innovation, regulatory modernization, and better outcomes for patients.

If you are intellectually curious, energized by complex policy challenges, and passionate about advancing innovation in healthcare, we encourage you to apply.

Your Role

We are seeking a strategic, scientifically grounded, and highly collaborative Director, US Regulatory and Scientific Policy to help shape the regulatory environment supporting the development and delivery of innovative medical products. This role sits at the intersection of science, policy, and strategy, providing a unique opportunity to influence regulatory frameworks that impact patients, drug development, and healthcare innovation.

As a trusted advisor to Research & Development, Regulatory Affairs, and senior leadership, you will monitor emerging regulatory, legislative, and scientific policy trends; provide strategic insights to support development programs; and engage with regulators, industry associations, and other stakeholders to advance science-based regulatory frameworks. Candidates with experience in drug development, regulatory affairs, regulatory policy, and health authority engagement are encouraged to apply. Experience at FDA or another health authority is highly valued.

Key Responsibilities

Monitor and assess evolving regulatory, legislative, scientific, and healthcare policy developments that may impact the company, its pipeline, and the broader drug development ecosystem.

Provide strategic policy analysis and actionable recommendations to product teams, regulatory leaders, R&D stakeholders, and senior management.

Advise development teams on regulatory opportunities, emerging pathways, policy risks, and innovative approaches that may accelerate development and patient access.

Identify and help shape policy frameworks that support innovation in areas such as regulatory science, clinical development, digital health technologies, New Alternative Methods (NAMS), AI, rare diseases, and other emerging topics.

Represent the company in interactions with trade associations, policy organizations, and other external stakeholders.

Develop and advance company positions on key regulatory and legislative issues, including coordinating responses to guidance documents, requests for information, and other policy initiatives.

Develop and support advocacy strategies that advance science-based, patient-focused regulatory policies.

Develop briefing materials, policy analyses, presentations, executive communications, and training content for internal stakeholders.

Serve as an internal subject matter expert in strategic policy areas and facilitate cross-functional collaboration across Regulatory Affairs, Clinical Development, Medical Affairs, CMC, Legal, Government Affairs, and other functions.

Build strong internal and external relationships, lead through influence, and foster a culture of curiosity, innovation, continuous learning, and excellence.

Who You Are:

Minimum Qualifications:

Bachelor's degree in biological sciences, healthcare, public health, policy, regulatory affairs, legal studies, or a related discipline with substantial relevant experience required; advanced degree strongly preferred (MS, PharmD, PhD, MD, MPH, JD, or equivalent),

5+ years of experience in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, regulatory, policy, government, consulting, or related fields.

Strong knowledge of drug development and the regulatory environment governing pharmaceuticals and biologics.

Understanding of FDA regulations, guidance development processes, and international regulatory frameworks, including ICH.

Preferred Qualifications:

Experience at FDA, another health authority, or a policy-making organization.

Experience developing regulatory policy positions and advancing regulatory reform initiatives.

Excellent analytical, strategic thinking, communication, and problem-solving skills.

Demonstrated ability to influence stakeholders and build consensus in a matrixed organization.

Familiarity with legislative and healthcare policymaking processes.

Experience working with trade associations, public-private partnerships, patient organizations, or multi-stakeholder collaborations.

Demonstrated effectiveness engaging with senior executives, regulators, scientific experts, and industry leaders.

Expertise in one or more emerging areas of regulatory science and innovation.

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
Regulatory Affairs
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

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

We currently track 112 comparable Director Regulatory Affairs roles across 44 biopharma companies.

112Comparable roles tracked
105Currently active
44Companies hiring similar roles
18Countries represented

Salary context

50 of 112 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 $119,000 – $322,900 (median $254,775)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 112 comparable roles

United States76
United Kingdom7
Ireland6
China4
Japan3
Canada2

+ 12 more countries

Seniority mix

112 of 112 peers have a known seniority level

Director73
Senior Director23
Principal16

Therapeutic area mix

15 of 112 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Rare Disease4
Oncology4
Cardiovascular / CVRM2
Immunology2
Neuroscience2
Vaccines & Infectious 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
AbbVie Director
Same function Same seniority Same country

Open in 3 locations

North Chicago, United StatesFlorham Park, United StatesWaltham, United States
60%similar
Mylan Institutional Inc. Washington, United States Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Mylan Inc. Washington, United States Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) Cambridge, United States 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.

Or follow a whole field: get every new Regulatory Affairs job in the United States, and choose locations and companies.

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%
Director, RA Global Regulatory Strategy
AbbVie · North Chicago, IL · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director, RA Global Regulatory Strategy
AbbVie · North Chicago, IL · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director, Global Regulatory Strategist -Allergy/Cardiovascular Portfolio
Mylan Institutional Inc. · Washington, United States · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director, Global Patient Safety Sciences - General Medicine
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) · Cambridge, United States · 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.