Associate Director, D&A Strategy

Merck • North Wales, PA

4d • $156,900 - $247,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Associate Director, US Marketing Engagement develops and communicates data-driven, actionable insights to strengthen commercial strategy and customer engagement. The role partners with US Marketing and cross-functional stakeholders to translate business priorities into integrated insight plans, identify opportunities across the patient journey, and inform launch and in-line brand decisions.

Serving as a strategic analytics partner, the Associate Director may contribute independently or lead work across insight and analytics teams. The role helps define business questions, select appropriate combinations of secondary-data analytics and research, and deliver clear recommendations for HCP segmentation, targeting, engagement, channel, and performance strategies. Success calls for intellectual curiosity, an entrepreneurial and consultative mindset, strong pharmaceutical and healthcare knowledge, stakeholder leadership, compelling communication and storytelling, disciplined project management, and continuous learning.

The position is based in North Wales (Upper Gwynedd), Pennsylvania, with a hybrid work arrangement and 10% travel. The role is regular employment, has a day shift, and offers a stated base salary range of $156,900 to $247,000 for the primary location. The successful candidate is eligible for an annual bonus and long-term incentive, if applicable.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in mathematics, economics, computer science, statistics, decision science, marketing, engineering, public health, business, or a related field.
• At least 5 years of relevant experience delivering complex insights, analytics, strategy, or measurement work in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, healthcare, or consulting environment.
• Demonstrated experience supporting commercial or brand decisions through HCP-focused analytics and insights.
• Strong understanding of the pharmaceutical commercial model and the role of HCP insights in brand, launch, and customer engagement strategy.
• Ability to synthesize complex quantitative and qualitative information into concise, actionable business recommendations.
• Experience using healthcare and commercial data, including patient-level claims, prescription, HCP, affiliation, promotional, digital, and market research data.
• Ability to formulate decision-oriented business questions, evaluate data fitness, and select analytical approaches appropriate to the business context.
• Knowledge of HCP segmentation and targeting, customer journey analytics, omnichannel engagement, promotional response, and performance measurement concepts.
• Experience managing complex, multi-stakeholder projects and balancing priorities while maintaining quality and timeliness.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, and storytelling skills, including the ability to engage colleagues across functions and levels of seniority.
• Strong business acumen, critical thinking, and judgment; ability to navigate ambiguity, identify trade-offs, and recommend a practical path forward.
• Collaborative leadership style, high integrity, and demonstrated ability to build trust, encourage two-way communication, and achieve results through partnerships.
• Strategic thinking and business translation; HCP strategy, customer analytics, and insight generation; executive communication and storytelling with data; client, stakeholder, and project management; cross-functional leadership and influence without direct authority; analytical rigor, critical thinking, and problem solving; integrated insight development across multiple data sources; innovation, experimentation, and continuous improvement; and ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, matrixed environment.

Nice To Haves

• MBA, MS, MPH, PhD, or another relevant advanced degree.
• Experience partnering with Marketing, Sales, Digital, Market Research, Data Strategy, or other commercial functions.
• Prior experience supporting products at launch or across different stages of the product life cycle.
• Working knowledge of analytical and visualization tools; hands-on proficiency with AI platforms, SQL, Python, R, SAS, or related tools is preferred.
• Familiarity with advanced analytics, machine learning, experimental design, marketing effectiveness measurement, and test-versus-control approaches is an advantage.

Responsibilities

• Act as a strategic insights and analytics partner to Marketing and cross-functional stakeholders, with a primary focus on HCP strategy and engagement.
• Translate brand priorities and complex business needs into analytical plans, decision frameworks, and actionable recommendations.
• Develop an integrated understanding of HCP needs, behaviors, adoption drivers, barriers, treatment patterns, and engagement preferences using multiple data sources.
• Inform segmentation, targeting, customer journey, channel, message, and field engagement strategies through analytics and insight generation.
• Lead or coordinate analytics projects from problem definition through delivery, ensuring high-quality, timely, compliant outputs and clear stakeholder communication.
• Integrate and triangulate secondary data, market research, digital analytics, promotional activity, and field insights to develop a cohesive business perspective.
• Partner with DHH capabilities—including data strategy, data solutions, visualization, forecasting, measurement, marketing and sales operations, and advanced analytics—to deliver fit-for-purpose solutions.
• Develop leadership-ready narratives and visualizations that connect analytical findings to business implications and recommended actions.
• Define success measures and support performance tracking to assess whether HCP strategies and customer engagement approaches achieve intended outcomes.
• Identify analytical capability gaps and emerging methods, and bring forward practical ideas to improve HCP insight generation and decision support.
• Contribute to innovation and experimentation by defining measurable hypotheses, test designs, and learning agendas where appropriate.
• Build trusted relationships across stakeholder groups and positively influence decisions in a complex matrix environment.
• Provide guidance and mentorship to analysts and project team members on analytical quality, stakeholder engagement, and storytelling with data.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision healthcare and other insurance benefits for employees and family.
• Retirement benefits, including 401(k).
• Paid holidays, vacation, compassionate days, and sick days.
• Annual bonus and long-term incentive, if applicable.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior