Merck KGaA Posted October 8, 2026

Head of Sales - East

Rockville, Maryland, 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.

Your Role

Candidate must live East of the Mississippi

The Head of Sales - East is a field based commercial role leading a team of Business Development Managers, each responsible for a sales territory, and reports to the Head of Commercial for North America. The sales region spans over multiple states, selling BioReliance Biosafety Testing Services. BioReliance is the world's largest provider of pharma and biopharma GMP manufacturing and biologics safety testing.

Responsible for driving region-wide business performance with a strong emphasis on coaching, forecasting accuracy, customer relationship management, proactiveness, and cross-functional collaboration. Demonstrates proactive leadership and strategic account stewardship to grow revenue.

Reach or exceed quarterly and yearly sales targets

Monitor and improve the region’s sales performance, identify gaps, and implement actionable plans with clear milestones and owner accountability.

Lead, mentor, and develop the sales team through regular, structured coaching; establish and communicate best practices for forecasting, deal execution, and customer relationship management.

Ensure accurate and timely forecasting; maintain a robust, properly staged pipeline; implement rigorous review cadences with leadership and account teams.

Develop a comprehensive sales plan within the region focusing on growth activities and based on a target account list for each territory within the region

Provide feedback and recommendations on the workforce and support required for the success of the plan

Track pricing and price increase success within the region to protect business profitability

Develop relationship with key decision-makers at target accounts within the region as well as foster the networking activities of the Account Managers at these customers

Support Business Development Managers (BDM) during specific situations where an escalation process is needed to either solve a significant issue or protect/win a significant piece of business

Provide clear focus and prioritization to the regional BDM team

Represent the team in key meetings and calls to ensure visibility and impact.

Evaluate individual performance at mid-year and year-end and allocate compensation accordingly

Work collaboratively with business partners (customer service, technical service, field marketing, technology management, demand planning, etc.)

Maintain reliable accessibility during business hours to support the team, respond to issues, and remove obstacles to order progress.

Travel requirement within sales territory is approximately 50%, with minimal international travel.

Who you are:

Minimum Qualifications:

Bachelor's Degree in Biology, Biochemistry, or related Life Science

8-10+ years of commercial sales experience in the biotech industry including the use of CRM software, forecasting tools and other sales-related programs

Experience leading teams -  coaching, developing, and motivating a high-performing sales team

Knowledge of Contract Testing Services (CTS) within the pharmaceutical and biotech drug production segment, or related experience

Strong quantitative skills; proficient in pipeline management, opportunity assessment, and data-driven decision making.

Data-driven; uses metrics to coach and drive decisions.

Proactive problem-solver; identifies risks early and assigns ownership.

Preferred Qualifications:

Advanced Degree (MBA, MS, PhD)

Pay Range for this position: $140,100 - $220,700. 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
Not listed
Function
Sales
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Rockville, Maryland, United States
Employment type
Full time

How this role compares

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

We currently track 4506 comparable Sales roles across 209 biopharma companies.

4506Comparable roles tracked
4118Currently active
209Companies hiring similar roles
82Countries represented

Salary context

921 of 4506 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function. This posting doesn't list a seniority level, so peers aren't narrowed by seniority either -- the range below may span more levels than usual.

This roleSubject $140,100/yr – $220,700/yr
Lowest disclosed · Pharmaceutical Sales Associate - Salt Lake City, UT · IQVIA $55/yr – $63,000/yr
Highest disclosed · Senior Global Client Partner · IQVIA $168,600/yr – $469,900/yr
Peer group range $31,528 – $319,250 (median $145,550)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 4506 comparable roles

United States1854
China796
India283
Germany220
Poland90
Spain80

+ 76 more countries

Seniority mix

1754 of 4506 peers have a known seniority level

Manager1005
Senior460
Associate130
Director92
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc38
Associate Director16
Senior Director8
Executive/VP5

Therapeutic area mix

1101 of 4506 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology359
Neuroscience182
Dermatology & Aesthetics137
Cardiovascular / CVRM134
Immunology78
Rare Disease62
Vaccines & Infectious Disease59
Respiratory43
Gastroenterology39
Ophthalmology8

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.

40%similar
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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.

Or follow a whole field: get every new Sales 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.

40%
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Gilead Sciences, Inc. · Field, United States · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
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Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
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District Manager, Pain - Ohio Valley
Viatris Specialty LLC · United States Remote Office, United States · Manager
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
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District Manager, Pain - Houston
Viatris Specialty LLC · United States Remote Office, United States · Manager
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.