Associate Director, Patient Support & Access Solutions Strategy - US Marketing Immunology

Merck•North Wales, PA

7d•$142,400 - $224,100•Hybrid

About The Position

The Associate Director, US Marketing Immunology, Patient Access & Enrollment Strategy Lead shapes patient access, enrollment, and time-to-therapy strategy for the Immunology Patient Support Program portfolio. The role translates patient-support and brand strategy into clear, compliant requirements for enrollment, consent, intake, reimbursement support, and access pathways, helping patients and providers enter and navigate programs with minimal friction. It also provides strategic leadership for Quick Start and Bridge programs, including program design, eligibility and experience principles, and go-to-market readiness in partnership with the Patient Access Center of Excellence and implementation teams. The role collaborates with the Patient Support Strategy Lead and partners across Patient Access, Market Access, Brand Marketing, Legal, Compliance, Privacy, Data Strategy, Digital, field teams, and agency and vendor partners. It uses patient and provider insights, market dynamics, operational learnings, and program performance to refine strategy and maintain a high-quality, consistent experience aligned with enterprise patient support standards. The U.S. marketing team uses an Agile Way of Working to adapt to customer needs and digital market changes. The successful candidate is expected to embrace learning, development, challenges, and team achievement. This is a hybrid role based in Upper Gwynedd, Pennsylvania, with on-site work expected three days per week and 10% travel. The role offers a salary range of $142,400–$224,100, eligibility for an annual bonus and long-term incentive if applicable, and a comprehensive benefits package.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree or equivalent (BA/BS).
At least 7 years of experience in the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industry, patient support, market access, patient experience, brand marketing, or related functions.
Experience shaping strategy for complex patient support programs, specialty products, or services across the patient and provider journey.
Ability to translate patient, provider, market, and operational insights into clear strategic requirements and recommendations.
Experience leading cross-functional initiatives and influencing without direct authority in a matrixed organization.
Strong communication, problem-solving, strategic planning, and stakeholder-management skills.
Strategic thinking and ability to balance patient experience, business objectives, compliance requirements, and operational feasibility.
High degree of integrity and ethics.
Resilience, adaptability, comfort operating in ambiguity, and a growth mindset.
Required skills listed: Adaptability, Advertising Campaign Development, Agile Methodology, Clinical Care, Corporate Ethics, Creative Campaign Development, Critical Success Factors, Decision Making, Ethical Standards, Legal Document Review, Liaison Work, Managing Ambiguity, Marketing Strategies, Marketing Strategy Implementation, Patient Care, Patient Engagement, Patient Support, Patient Support Programs, People Leadership, Pharmaceutical Industry, Pharmaceuticals Marketing, Pharmaceutics, Pricing Strategies, Strategic Thinking, and Values-Based Leadership.

Nice To Haves

MBA, MPH, PharmD, or other relevant advanced degree.
Awareness and understanding of U.S. commercial, legal, regulatory, privacy, and compliance considerations applicable to patient support programs.
Understanding of or experience directly working within the Immunology market.
Familiarity with biologic therapies or complex specialty patient support programs.
Experience supporting product launch readiness and lifecycle evolution of patient support programs.
Deep understanding of patient access services, reimbursement support, hub models, and enrollment and consent journeys.
Experience designing or evolving enrollment, authorization, consent, benefits verification, prior authorization, appeals, case-management, Quick Start, Bridge, or other continuity-of-access services.
Experience with specialty pharmacy and provider-office workflows and the interdependencies between patient access channels.
Ability to interpret access trends and patient/provider feedback and translate them into program design recommendations.

Responsibilities

Own Immunology patient access and enrollment strategy across the support journey, from intake and enrollment through consent, reimbursement support, therapy initiation, and continuity of access.
Define strategic requirements and decision criteria for patient and provider enrollment across approved channels, including fax, web forms, portals, and digital workflows.
Shape enrollment form, authorization, and consent requirements in partnership with Patient Access, Legal, Compliance, Privacy, Data Strategy, and other stakeholders.
Design hand-offs and experience principles across the hub, specialty pharmacy, nursing, field support, digital solutions, and patient communications to minimize friction and prevent lost transitions.
Provide strategic input into reimbursement-support services, including benefits investigation and verification, prior authorization support, appeals, case management, and other access-enablement capabilities.
Own brand strategy and go-to-market readiness for Quick Start and Bridge programs, including patient and provider experience, strategic requirements, eligibility and transition principles, cross-functional dependencies, and launch-readiness priorities.
Translate brand and patient-journey needs into business requirements, guardrails, readiness priorities, and decision points for implementation teams and external partners.
Partner with Data Strategy and analytics teams to define success measures and use program insights to identify access barriers, enrollment friction, time-to-therapy challenges, and improvement opportunities.
Support launch and lifecycle readiness by aligning stakeholders on access, enrollment, continuity-of-access decisions, dependencies, risks, and strategic trade-offs.
Bring an outside-in perspective on patient access, enrollment, consent, reimbursement support, and patient-services innovation to inform Immunology patient support programs.