Merck KGaA Posted October 23, 2026

Principal Medical Writer

Billerica, 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 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.

Your Role:

As the Principal Medical Writer, you will lead the end-to-end development of complex regulatory clinical study documents – ensuring high communication quality, scientific rigor, regulatory compliance, and timely delivery both globally and at regional/local levels. Acting as the study medical writer within cross-functional teams, you will independently prepare or oversee the preparation of clinical and regulatory documents such as Protocols and Clinical Study Reports for noninterventional and interventional studies up to Phase 4. You will be responsible for strict adherence to business objectives, company standards, as well as the organization of content, clarity of text and tables, overall consistency, and appropriate use of English language/grammar.

You will represent the department as a subject-matter expert on clinical study teams, leading document-related meetings and reviewing study-related documents. Beyond your individual contributions, you will mentor and develop fellow writers and contribute to the development and implementation of best practices and standards. This is a role for a seasoned professional who combines medical writing expertise with the ability to lead without authority and deliver with precision on studies that directly advance patient health.

 

Location: Hybrid – 3x/week onsite in Billerica, MA required.

 

Key Responsibilities:

Lead medical writing efforts for global, as well as regional/local clinical study documents (protocols, clinical study reports, authority responses, etc.).

Represent Medical Writing as subject matter expert in study teams; participate in governance and study team meetings.

Leads document-related meetings reviews study-related documents such as statistical analysis plans

Define and implement document strategy, and timelines.

Oversee and coordinate other (external) writers assisting on documents under your responsibility, with focus on adherence to business objectives and company standards and SOPs, and meet the requirements of regulatory authorities and the company.

Proactively contribute to the development and implementation of MW best practices and process improvements.

Coordinate with cross-functional teams (clinical, pharmacovigilance, regulatory affairs, statistics) to ensure timely and compliant delivery.

 

Who You Are:

Minimum Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree in a scientific or writing discipline; Master’s or PhD preferred.

5–8 years of relevant medical writing experience in pharma/biotech, with strong regulatory documentation background.

Lead and oversee medical writing activities (including vendor resources) within a clinical trial, as well as leading and coordinating local/global teams in a matrix organization Solid CTD/CTD-like knowledge; experience across multiple markets is a plus.

Solid knowledge of regulatory requirements, industry standards, and best practices related to medical writing; experience across multiple markets is a plus.

Excellent written and verbal English.

Technical expertise in Microsoft Office suite, electronic document management tools.

Ability to travel as needed.

Preferred Qualifications:

Experience with country-specific submissions.

Proficiency with document management systems, SharePoint, and standard MW templates.

Experience with non-interventional study designs and device studies in development and post-approval settings

Familiarity with industry best practices and evolving regulatory guidelines and experience in everyday AI applications

Strong project management, communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills

High attention to quality, accuracy, and compliance

Pay Range for this position: $126,900 – 215,400

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
Principal
Function
Medical Affairs
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Billerica, Massachusetts, United States
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 524 comparable Principal Medical Affairs roles across 77 biopharma companies.

524Comparable roles tracked
483Currently active
77Companies hiring similar roles
39Countries represented

Salary context

194 of 524 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 $126,900/yr – $215,400/yr
Lowest disclosed · Principal Strategic Medical Writer · AbbVie $109,500/yr – $208,500/yr
Peer group range $159,000 – $392,100 (median $232,750)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 524 comparable roles

United States315
China60
United Kingdom24
Germany16
India13
Japan10

+ 33 more countries

Seniority mix

524 of 524 peers have a known seniority level

Director265
Senior243
Principal16

Therapeutic area mix

206 of 524 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology91
Dermatology & Aesthetics26
Immunology22
Neuroscience20
Rare Disease15
Respiratory12
Cardiovascular / CVRM11
Gastroenterology4
Vaccines & Infectious Disease3
Ophthalmology2

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
ViiV Healthcare UK Limited Durham Blackwell Street, United States Principal
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Teva Pharmaceuticals Los Angeles, California, United States Principal
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
AbbVie Chicago, IL Principal
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Merck Rahway, New Jersey, United States of America Principal
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
IQVIA Durham, United States Principal
Same function Same seniority Same country
50%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Director
Same function Adjacent 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 Medical Writer 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%
Principal Medical Writer
ViiV Healthcare UK Limited · Durham Blackwell Street, United States · Principal
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Principal Strategic Medical Writer
AbbVie · Chicago, IL · Principal
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
50%
Associate Medical Director (Physician Development Program - Hematology)
AbbVie · North Chicago, IL · Director
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
50%
Scientific Director / Senior Medical Director, Multiple Myeloma (International Medical Affairs)
AbbVie · Florham Park, NJ · Director
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent 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.