Merck KGaA Posted October 2, 2026

Director Strategic Partnerships

Burlington, Massachusetts, 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 MilliporeSigma.

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.

This role does not offer sponsorship for work authorization. External applicants must be eligible to work in the US.

Your Role:

MilliporeSigma Corporation is searching for Director Strategic Partnerships, reporting directly into the VP of Life Science Business Development within the Life Science sector covering discovery, pre-clinical, and bioprocessing domains.  You will identify key partnerships where MilliporeSigma and the partner can innovate, build, and grow together.  This role will external technology developments with MilliporeSigma priorities turning strategic insight into joint solutions and long-term competitive advantage. Primary stakeholders include R&D, product management, patents, regulatory, and controlling.

Success will be demonstrated by measurable business impact, accelerated innovation, effective cross-company execution, and sustainable growth resulting from the partnership.

Key Responsibilities:

Owning the strategic relationship serving as the primary point of contact across the partnership.

Building trusted relationships with executives, business leaders, product teams, and technical stakeholders.

Defining and executing a multiyear partnership strategy aligned with the priorities of both companies.

Identifying high-value opportunities and connecting the partner’s technologies and capabilities with the appropriate MilliporeSigma businesses.

Advancing co-innovation and technology-integration initiatives across life science consumables, instruments, equipment, AI, robotics, digital twins, cloud, data, and enterprise platforms.

Developing joint solutions, ecosystem initiatives, and go-to-market programs that create measurable customer and business value.

Establishing effective partnership governance, including clear objectives, ownership, milestones, and measures of success.

Delivering concise, executive-ready updates on partnership progress, risks, decisions, and business outcomes.

Serving as a strategic bridge between MilliporeSigma, the partner, and the broader life science technology ecosystem.

Deal sheet required as attachment to application.

Demonstrated success building and scaling complex partnerships with major global life science tools companies.

Experience operating effectively within large, global, matrixed organizations.

Proven ability to lead cross-functional initiatives and deliver results through influence.

Experience engaging senior executives and managing high-value external relationships.

Strong understanding of technology industry dynamics, partner ecosystems, and emerging business models.

Ability to translate complex technologies and market developments into strategic priorities and commercial opportunities.

Strong executive communication, negotiation, stakeholder-management, and decision-making skills.

Demonstrated experience in negotiation and knowledge of basic contract language and contract negotiation.

Financial acumen and ability to build and defend financial analyses and business cases including DCFs for both consumables and digital assets.

Ability to operate as individual contributor in the face of ambiguity, shifting priorities, and limited resources.

Travel, including international, up to 30%

Location: Boston, MA area; San Diego, CA area or Raleigh/Durham, NC area preferred

 

Who You Are

Minimum Qualifications:

Bachelor’s Degree in a Life Science AND 10+ years industry experience in 10+ years of experience in strategic partnerships, alliances, business development, corporate development, platform strategy, or a related field preferably at an MNC

Or

Graduate Degree in a Scientific field AND industry experience in 10+ years of experience in strategic partnerships, alliances, business development, corporate development, platform strategy, or a related field preferably at an MNC

Preferred Qualifications:

MBA

Experience structuring and scaling global technology alliances, co-development programs, or joint go-to-market initiatives.

Understanding of IP protections, contract negotiations, and Venture Capital

Experience working at the intersection of corporate strategy, product development, technology, and commercial execution.

Experience informing build, buy, and partner decisions.

Pay Range for this position: $172,800 - $259,200

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 .

Direct link to benefits site if the hyperlink no longer works: https://careers.emdgroup.com/us/en/benefits ].

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
Burlington, Massachusetts, United States
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 45 comparable Director BD&L & Strategic Planning roles across 22 biopharma companies.

45Comparable roles tracked
40Currently active
22Companies hiring similar roles
12Countries represented

Salary context

10 of 45 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 $172,800/yr – $259,200/yr
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 $248,075)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 45 comparable roles

United States21
China8
Germany4
United Kingdom3
Switzerland2
Spain1

+ 6 more countries

Seniority mix

45 of 45 peers have a known seniority level

Director39
Senior Director4
Principal2

Therapeutic area mix

11 of 45 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.

60%similar
Amgen Inc. Remote, United States Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Amgen Inc. South San Francisco, United States Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Boehringer Ingelheim Fremont, California, United States Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Merck KGaA Burlington, Massachusetts, United States Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Merck KGaA Burlington, Massachusetts, United States Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Teva Pharmaceuticals Parsippany, New Jersey, 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.

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%
Oncology Strategy Director
Amgen Inc. · Remote, United States · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director Global Strategic Projects
Merck KGaA · Burlington, Massachusetts, United States · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director / Lead, Commercial Analytics & Forecasting, Biologics
Dr. Reddy's Laboratories · Princeton, NJ, United States · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director, Corporate Strategy & Projects
Gilead Sciences, Inc. · Foster City, 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.