Associate Director D&A Strategy

MSD•Rahway, NJ

9d•$156,900 - $247,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Associate Director, Specialty Pharmacy Data Strategy, Contracting & Enablement leads the strategy, acquisition, contracting, and enablement of Specialty Pharmacy and patient-level data assets that support commercial operations, reporting, analytics, and decision-making. The role connects business processes, patient journeys, reporting needs, and KPIs to required data, while ensuring requirements are reflected in vendor agreements and operationalized successfully. It reports to the Director, Commercial Data Solutions, within the Data Strategy, Products and Innovation organization. The role develops the Specialty Pharmacy data strategy and roadmap; translates business and analytical needs into detailed contractual data requirements; and partners with Sourcing/Contracting, Legal, Privacy, and Compliance on agreements, renewals, amendments, data usage rights, and delivery expectations. It establishes traceability from business needs and KPIs through vendor commitments and data delivery to reporting and analytics, and manages strategic relationships with Specialty Pharmacies, data aggregators, PSS providers, and other data partners. The Associate Director oversees aggregator engagements, FMV evaluations, vendor governance, and end-to-end implementation of new or enhanced data feeds. This includes partnering with vendors and internal technology teams on design, testing, validation, production deployment, and stabilization; setting data quality and delivery standards; and resolving gaps across contracted requirements, vendor delivery, ingestion, and reporting. The role also embeds data strategy into launches, onboarding, network changes, PSS transformations, and vendor transitions; develops scalable data standards and governance frameworks; rationalizes external data assets; and ensures patient-level data acquisition aligns with HIPAA, PHI, privacy, tokenization, usage, and enterprise governance requirements.

Requirements

BA/BS with 10 or more years, or MBA/MS with 7 or more years, of relevant experience in pharmaceutical or biotechnology data, Specialty Pharmacy, Patient Support Services, Market Access, analytics, or related disciplines.
Deep understanding of the Specialty Pharmacy and patient data ecosystem, including dispense/inventory, patient status/referral, BI/BV, PA/ePA, copay, PAP/free goods, and adherence data.
Ability to translate business processes, patient journeys, reporting requirements, and KPIs into data requirements and contractual deliverables.
Experience developing and managing data agreements and external data partnerships, including with Specialty Pharmacies, data aggregators, Hub/PSS vendors, or other commercial data providers.
Experience partnering across Sourcing, Legal, Privacy, Compliance, Analytics, Technology, and business teams to acquire and operationalize external data.
Understanding of FMV assessments, data licensing, usage rights, SLAs, data quality, and vendor governance.
Strong understanding of patient-level data governance, PHI/HIPAA considerations, and data quality management.
Strong strategic thinking, stakeholder management, problem-solving, and communication skills, with the ability to influence internal and external stakeholders.
Required skills listed: Advanced Analytics, Business Analysis, Data Aggregation, Databricks Unified Data Analytics Platform, Data Quality Control, Data Science, Demand Management, HIPAA Compliance, Influencing Skills, Patient Access, Patient Support Programs, Product Rollouts, Requirements Management, Sourcing and Procurement, Speciality Pharmaceuticals, and Stakeholder Relationship Management.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting specialty/rare disease or other patient-support-intensive therapeutic areas.
Working knowledge of data and analytics environments such as SQL, Databricks, Redshift, or equivalent platforms.
Familiarity with commercial and patient-level data sources such as IQVIA, Symphony Health, MMIT, Precision, or similar data providers.
Experience supporting product launches, Specialty Pharmacy network changes, Hub/SP implementations, or major data/vendor transformations.

Responsibilities

Define the Specialty Pharmacy data strategy and roadmap for patient journeys, operational processes, reporting, KPIs, and advanced analytics.
Lead Specialty Pharmacy data contracting by translating business and analytical needs into data requirements, including critical data elements, business rules, file specifications, delivery frequency, data quality expectations, and SLAs.
Partner with Sourcing/Contracting, Legal, Privacy, and Compliance to incorporate data requirements, usage rights, and delivery expectations into agreements, renewals, and amendments.
Establish traceability from business needs and KPIs through data requirements, vendor commitments, delivery, reporting, and analytics.
Manage strategic relationships with Specialty Pharmacies, data aggregators, PSS providers, and other data partners.
Oversee data aggregator engagements, including data scope, licensing and usage rights, service levels, renewals, commercial considerations, and vendor governance.
Lead or support Fair Market Value evaluations for data and data-related services.
Drive implementation and enablement of new or enhanced data feeds through design, testing, validation, production deployment, and stabilization.
Establish and monitor data quality and delivery standards and resolve gaps across contracted requirements, vendor delivery, downstream ingestion, and reporting.
Embed data strategy and requirements into product launches, Specialty Pharmacy onboarding, network changes, PSS transformations, and vendor transitions.
Develop data standards, dictionaries, specifications, data maps, and governance frameworks across Specialty Pharmacy and patient-level data assets.
Identify opportunities to enhance, consolidate, or rationalize external data assets to improve business value and reduce duplication and complexity.
Ensure patient-level data acquisition and enablement comply with applicable HIPAA, PHI, privacy, tokenization, data usage, and enterprise governance requirements.