Merck Posted November 4, 2026

Principal Scientist (Director) - Outcomes Research - Lung Cancers

North Wales, Pennsylvania, United States of America FULL_TIME
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About this opportunity

Job Description

Job Description:

This position resides within our company's Value and Implementation, Outcomes Research organization, which is responsible for real-world evidence generation and outcomes research to enable sustained patient access to our company’s innovations and improve patient health outcomes. Under the guidance of a senior leader, this individual will be responsible for the Outcomes Research strategy and value evidence activities in support of a Lung Cancers program.

Primary Responsibilities:

Lead Outcomes Research strategy for a specific Lung Cancer program and contribute to value evidence activities for in-line and pipeline products. Obtain senior management approval of value evidence generation plans. Provide outcomes research leadership on cross-functional regional and global teams.

Critically assess drivers and barriers to reimbursement and market access in collaboration with internal teams, and provide input into clinical, payer/access, marketing and value evidence generation strategies and programs.

In collaboration with internal teams and external partners, design non-interventional and data synthesis studies, author study protocols, develop measurement questionnaires, case report forms, data analysis plans, final study reports, scientific presentations, and publications.

Responsible for study-related contracting, budgets, and vendor/partner management.

Develop American Managed Care Pharmacy dossiers for US payers, and Global Value Dossiers.

Develop supplementary clinical data package for submission to Health Technology Assessment agencies in close partnership with local country affiliates and Health Technology Assessment statistics group.

Support country affiliates to understand local evidence generation needs, adapt health economic evaluations, customize outcomes research documents, such as protocols and reimbursement dossiers, according to local requirements.

Work closely with cross functional teams to effectively communicate outcomes research and health economic modelling data internally and to external stakeholders.

Maintain awareness of new scientific and methodological developments within therapeutic area.

Build relationships with scientific experts worldwide.

Present outcomes research data at national and international congresses and publish articles in scientific journals.

Requirements for Education, Experience and Skills:

Advanced or professional degree in a relevant discipline (e.g., Outcomes Research, Health Economics, Epidemiology, Pharmaceutical Administration, Public Health, Health Policy, Medicine, or Clinical Pharmacy)

4+ years of experience post-doctoral degree or 7+ years of experience post master’s degree in life sciences industry conducting non-interventional research and generating value evidence.

Oncology experience

Preferred for Education, Experience and Skills:

PhD in a relevant discipline (e.g., Outcomes Research, Health Economics, Epidemiology, Pharmaceutical Administration, Health Policy, Public Health)

Lung cancer/thoracic malignancies experience

Required skills:

Decision making: Identifying and understanding problems and opportunities by gathering, analyzing and interpreting quantitative and qualitative information; choosing the best course of action by establishing clear decision criteria, generating and evaluating alternatives, and making timely decisions; taking action that is consistent with available facts and constraints and optimizes probable consequences.

Emotional intelligence: Meeting the personal needs of individuals to build trust, encourage two-way communication and strengthen relationships. Ability to work with difficult stakeholders while achieving business results.

Networking and partnerships: Building partnerships; developing and leveraging relationships within and across work groups to achieve results.

Innovation: Creating novel solutions with measurable value for existing and potential customers (internal or external); experimenting with new ways to solve work problems and seize opportunities that result in unique and differentiated solutions.

Knowledge of evolving payer and reimbursement environment: Educate the asset teams on impact of US Value Assessment and other key market HTA requirements on the asset and possible mitigation strategies.

Required Skills:

Cancer Epidemiology, Cross-Functional Teamwork, Observational Studies, Outcomes Research, Real World Data, Real World Evidence (RWE), Stakeholder Relationship Management, Strategic Planning

Preferred Skills:

Current Employees apply HERE

Current Contingent Workers apply HERE

US and Puerto Rico Residents Only:

Our company is committed to inclusion, ensuring that candidates can engage in a hiring process that exhibits their true capabilities. Please click here if you need an accommodation during the application or hiring process.

As an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer, we provide equal opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.  As a federal contractor, we comply with all affirmative action requirements for protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.  For more information about personal rights under the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment laws, visit:

EEOC Know Your Rights

EEOC GINA Supplement​

We are proud to be a company that embraces the value of bringing together, talented, and committed people with diverse experiences, perspectives, skills and backgrounds. The fastest way to breakthrough innovation is when people with diverse ideas, broad experiences, backgrounds, and skills come together in an inclusive environment. We encourage our colleagues to respectfully challenge one another’s thinking and approach problems collectively.

Learn more about your rights, including under California, Colorado and other US State Acts

The primary location for this posting is:

USA - Pennsylvania - North Wales (Upper Gwynedd)

Where required by law, the compensation range for this role is provided below.

The salary range for the primary location of this role is:

$190,800.00 - $300,300.00

This range reflects the Company's reasonable expectation of the base salary applicable to this role at the time of posting. An employee’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, government requirements, and business or organizational needs. The successful candidate will be eligible for annual bonus and long-term incentive, if applicable.

We offer a comprehensive package of benefits. Available benefits include medical, dental, vision healthcare and other insurance benefits (for employee and family), retirement benefits, including 401(k), paid holidays, vacation, and compassionate and sick days. More information about benefits is available at https://jobs.merck.com/us/en/compensation-and-benefits .

Additional location(s): Please note the salary range above applies to the Primary Location of the position. Where a role has other listed locations, different compensation guidelines may apply. You may find the salary ranges for additional locations below. If the salary range is not listed for the location you are applying to, our Talent Acquisition team will provide further information to you relevant to your location.

Additional location(s) Compensation Information:

San Francisco Residents Only:  We will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment in compliance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance

Los Angeles Residents Only:  We will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance

Search Firm Representatives Please Read Carefully 

Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA, also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, Rahway, NJ, USA, does not accept unsolicited assistance from search firms for employment opportunities. All CVs / resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at our company without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of our company.  No fee will be paid in the event a candidate is hired by our company as a result of an agency referral where no pre-existing agreement is in place. Where agency agreements are in place, introductions are position specific. Please, no phone calls or emails.

Employee Status:

Regular

Relocation:

Domestic

VISA Sponsorship:

No

Travel Requirements:

10%

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Hybrid

Shift:

Not Indicated

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

n/a

Job Posting End Date:

11/30/2026 *A job posting is effective until 11:59:59PM on the day BEFORE  the listed job posting end date. Please ensure you apply to a job posting no later than the day BEFORE the job posting end date.

Requisition ID:R424834

Job details

Seniority
Director
Function
Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research
Therapeutic area
Oncology
Location
North Wales, Pennsylvania, United States of America
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 241 comparable Director Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research roles across 45 biopharma companies.

241Comparable roles tracked
232Currently active
45Companies hiring similar roles
16Countries represented

Salary context

122 of 241 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 · Principal Scientist - ADME · Lilly $69,000/yr – $101,200/yr
Highest disclosed · Senior Director, Toxicology · Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) $242,000/yr – $403,300/yr
Peer group range $85,100 – $322,650 (median $201,575)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 241 comparable roles

United States184
China16
Germany8
United Kingdom8
India6
Switzerland4

+ 10 more countries

Seniority mix

241 of 241 peers have a known seniority level

Principal152
Director61
Senior Director28

Therapeutic area mix

43 of 241 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology18
Immunology14
Cardiovascular / CVRM6
Neuroscience2
Vaccines & Infectious Disease2
Dermatology & Aesthetics1

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.

100%similar
GlaxoSmithKline LLC Waltham, United States Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Same seniority Same country
100%similar
Amgen Inc. South San Francisco, United States Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Same seniority Same country
100%similar
GlaxoSmithKline LLC Upper Providence, United States Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Same seniority Same country
90%similar
Celgene - Summit (Corp) Seattle 400 Dexter, United States Principal
Same function Same therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Same country
90%similar
Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Home-Based, United States Senior Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Same country
90%similar
Cambridge Discovery Hub Cambridge Crossing, United States Principal
Same function Same therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Same country

Notify me about similar jobs

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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.

100%
Director, AI/ML MIDD Oncology Clinical Pharmacology, Modeling and Simulation
GlaxoSmithKline LLC · Waltham, United States · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
90%
Senior Principal Scientist, Cancer Immunology, Discovery Biology, Oncology Thematic Research Center
Celgene - Summit (Corp) · Seattle 400 Dexter, United States · Principal
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
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Senior Director, Pathology Diagnostics - Global Oncology
AstraZeneca · Gaithersburg, Maryland, United States of America · Senior Director
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
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Principal Scientist - Computational Cancer Immunology
Cambridge Discovery Hub · Cambridge Crossing, United States · Principal
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.