Merck KGaA Posted October 1, 2026

Director, LATAM Operations Strategy & Chief of Staff

Costa Rica 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!

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

In this pivotal role, you will shape the strategic direction and operational performance of a growing regional service organization across Latin America. As the primary strategic and operational partner to the LATAM Region Lead, you will own the multi-year growth roadmap for the Costa Rica hub, drive large-scale business process transitions, and lead enterprise transformation programs that deliver measurable improvements in efficiency, quality, and customer experience.

You will provide executive oversight across two service delivery locations, ensuring alignment of priorities, governance standards, and operational objectives. Acting as a trusted leadership partner, you will enable the Region Lead to focus on enterprise-level priorities by assuming day-to-day accountability for strategic initiatives, performance governance, and organizational development. You will also lead the operating cadence of the regional leadership team, facilitate strategic planning cycles, and represent the region in executive forums and cross-functional governance bodies.

Who You Are

You bring extensive experience in senior operational or strategic leadership roles within a global business services or shared services environment, with a strong track record of driving regional growth and organizational transformation.

You have demonstrated expertise in leading large-scale business process transitions, service integrations, and operating model transformations , including governance design, risk management, and benefits realization.

You are skilled at building and executing multi-year strategic plans, with the ability to translate enterprise priorities into clear operational objectives and measurable outcomes.

You have a strong command of performance management frameworks, including key performance indicator design, operational dashboards, and governance routines that drive accountability and continuous improvement.

You are an effective executive communicator and influencer, with the ability to engage senior stakeholders across finance, human resources, commercial, procurement, and technology functions, and to drive alignment across competing priorities.

You have experience in Chief of Staff or equivalent strategic advisory roles, including managing executive agendas, coordinating leadership governance, and preparing high-quality communications for senior audiences.

You hold a relevant degree or equivalent professional experience in business administration, operations management, or a related field.

You are proficient in English.

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
BD&L & Strategic Planning
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Costa Rica
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 47 comparable Director BD&L & Strategic Planning roles across 23 biopharma companies.

47Comparable roles tracked
45Currently active
23Companies hiring similar roles
11Countries represented

Salary context

11 of 47 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 · Director Global Strategic Projects · Merck KGaA $165,100/yr – $247,700/yr
Highest disclosed · Sr Director, Corporate Strategy & Projects · Gilead Sciences, Inc. $261,375/yr – $338,250/yr
Peer group range $206,400 – $299,813 (median $244,150)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 47 comparable roles

United States23
China9
Germany4
United Kingdom3
Switzerland2
Korea (the Republic of)1

+ 5 more countries

Seniority mix

47 of 47 peers have a known seniority level

Director41
Senior Director4
Principal2

Therapeutic area mix

11 of 47 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Immunology5
Oncology3
Neuroscience2
Respiratory1

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.

45%similar
Gilead Sciences Shanghai Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd. Shanghai, China Director
Same function Same seniority
45%similar
Amgen Inc. Remote, United States Director
Same function Same seniority
45%similar
Amgen Inc. South San Francisco, United States Director
Same function Same seniority
45%similar
Novartis Shanghai (Shanghai), China Director
Same function Same seniority
45%similar
Novartis Shanghai (Shanghai), China Director
Same function Same seniority
45%similar
Novartis Shanghai (Shanghai), China Director
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.

45%
Director, Corporate Development
Gilead Sciences Shanghai Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd. · Shanghai, China · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
45%
Due Diligence Director China
Novartis · Shanghai (Shanghai), China · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
45%
Director, Search & Evaluation
Novartis · Shanghai (Shanghai), China · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
45%
Director International Commercialization Immunology
Regeneron UK Limited · Uxbridge1, United Kingdom · 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.