Merck KGaA Posted September 14, 2026

MSL Rare Tumor_BioPharma

Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan 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

Roles providing expertise on scientific topics regarding relevant disease areas and Company assets to ensure their safe and appropriate use by patients.

Acts as a field-based expert, building relationships with External Experts as trusted scientific partners. Exchanges credible scientific information to ensure the optimal use of Company assets and to improve patient care. Gathers and provides insights back to the Company to inform strategy and activities.

IMPACT: Impacts the results of own team or even influences a range of customer, operational, project or service activities of closely related teams with own contributions. Explains complex or even difficult/sensitive information to others in straightforward situations and interacts across business areas. May even advance discussions and build consensus across the business and with external parties regarding own technical area.

COMPLEXITY: Performs a range of routine or even non-routine assignments to solve problems of low to moderate complexity that require working knowledge and experience in own job discipline. Analyzes factual information and possible solutions to make independent judgement, recommendations and decisions. May also use best

practices to improve products or services.

ACCOUNTABILITY/ INDEPENDENCE: Accountable for the quality of own work. Works independently and receives a moderate to low level of guidance and direction within clear or even broad guidelines.

EXPERIENCE: Requires a graduate background plus some to substantial relevant professional experience, and good knowledge and experience in own discipline and beyond.

ORGANIZATION: Typically reports to a Manager role, Project Manager role for a defined period of time based on organizational set-up (there is not necessarily a difference in role level between a manager and its direct reports - same level or lower level reporting is possible, provided job scope and responsibilities are clearly distinct); typically no direct reports.

University degree (Bachelor’s) required, preferably in scientific field of relevance to position

Secondary/ advanced scientific degree (e.g., MSc, PharmD, PhD, DO, MD) required

Scientific and/ or clinical training in area of relevance to position strongly preferred

Proven experience in oncology Medical Affairs, with preferred exposure to rare tumors, sarcomas, or other rare/orphan disease areas

Professional, clinical or research experience in a scientific or related field required (minimum of 5 years)

Knowledge and experience of methodology of clinical research and Good Clinical Practice preferred

Advanced English language competency and fluency in local language

Advanced scientific knowledge, relationship building and networking skills

Strong analytical skills and ability to think strategically

Strong ability to evaluate publications on scientific content and communicate peer to peer on the scientific content with external stakeholders

Master communicator to external stakeholders and peers, in both small and large group settings

Ability to build ongoing and productive relationships throughout the organization to achieve strategic goals

Excellent organizational and time management skills

Highly developed interpersonal and teamwork skills

Excellent presentation and communication skills, for both in-person and virtual environments

Good knowledge of computer tools and software (MS Office), including virtual interaction platforms (MS Teams, Zoom, etc.)

Good conflict resolution/management skills

Job details

Seniority
Not listed
Function
Medical Affairs
Therapeutic area
Oncology
Location
Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

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

We currently track 1126 comparable Medical Affairs roles across 161 biopharma companies.

1126Comparable roles tracked
1072Currently active
161Companies hiring similar roles
57Countries represented

Salary context

301 of 1126 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 Not listed on this posting
Highest disclosed · Sr Medical Director (Heme Oncology) (Boston, US) · Servier $298/hr – $350/hr (≈ $619,840–$728,000/yr)
Peer group range $0 – $673,920 (median $223,450)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 1126 comparable roles

United States534
Japan69
China55
China's Mainland50
Germany49
United Kingdom46

+ 51 more countries

Seniority mix

695 of 1126 peers have a known seniority level

Director203
Senior171
Manager125
Associate Director68
Associate56
Executive/VP26
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc21
Senior Director19
Principal6

Therapeutic area mix

389 of 1126 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology155
Neuroscience46
Rare Disease37
Immunology34
Cardiovascular / CVRM32
Dermatology & Aesthetics31
Vaccines & Infectious Disease21
Respiratory20
Gastroenterology9
Ophthalmology4

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.

80%similar
Amgen K.K. Tokyo, Japan
Same function Same therapeutic area Same country
80%similar
Gilead Sciences K.K. Tokyo, Japan Associate Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Same country
80%similar
Gilead Sciences K.K. Tokyo, Japan
Same function Same therapeutic area Same country
80%similar
Pfizer Japan Inc. Tokyo, Japan Manager
Same function Same therapeutic area Same country
80%similar
AstraZeneca Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Same function Same therapeutic area Same country
80%similar
Merck KGaA Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Same function Same therapeutic area 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.

80%
Medical Science Liaison for lung cancer
Amgen K.K. · Tokyo, Japan · Seniority not listed
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
80%
[MA] Lung Cancer MAS team, ONC Field MAS [Manager/Staff]
Pfizer Japan Inc. · Tokyo, Japan · Manager
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
80%
Medical Director or Clinical Scientist (Oncology experience required) / Biopharma
Merck KGaA · Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
65%
Early Development Lead Medical Director, Oncology
Roche · Shanghai, Shanghai, China's Mainland · 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.