Associate Director, Strategic Planning

Merck & Co. • Rahway, NJ

129d • $139,600 - $219,700 • Onsite

About The Position

The Enterprise Strategy Office (ESO) develops, implements, and drives enterprise strategy in support of our company, its customers, and shareholders. The scope of this group includes strategic program management, enterprise strategic planning, risk management, as well as strategic venture investments in healthcare as part of our Global Health Innovation fund. Together, we identify business critical challenges, create and evaluate options, and ensure effective implementation and cross-functional engagement. Position Description: The Associate Director of Strategy Execution plays a crucial role in translating organizational strategy into successful implementation. This involves executing strategic initiatives across the company, collaborating with senior leaders and initiative leads. This role will be responsible for driving the execution of enterprise and cross-divisional projects, solving complex problems, ensuring effective stakeholder engagement, value creation and adoption of change. The successful candidate will be a driven, strategic thinker with a focus on executional excellence, adept at navigating complex environments, and experienced in driving large-scale organizational change.

Requirements

• B.S. degree or equivalent required, MBA or PhD preferred.
• A minimum of 7 years of professional experience across diverse roles including pharmaceutical industry, enterprise strategy, R&D, manufacturing, business and/or management consulting experience from a top-tier firm with strong focus on innovation and enterprise business transformations.
• Minimum 3 years of enterprise program management and strategy execution.
• Experience leading large organizational change and providing oversight to transformation.
• Experience coordinating teams as well as external vendors preferably in a consulting or corporate transformation context.
• Thrives in ambiguity, excels at problem-solving, and makes rapid, disciplined decisions focused on value delivery.
• Effective problem-solving and analytical skills, successfully navigating matrixed organizations, building consensus and influencing decision-making.
• Strong communication skills to effectively engage with senior management and across all levels of the business.
• Excellent business acumen, including subject matter expertise in areas such as Marketing, Commercial, IT, R&D, Manufacturing, Access, Policy, and/or Obs. Research.
• Strong leadership qualities to empower and inspire teams, with an emphasis on empathy, active listening, and enabling colleagues' success.
• Collaborative nature, with the ability to work with diverse personalities and collaborate effectively with various functions and stakeholders.
• Possesses emotional intelligence, growth mindset, curiosity, drive, teamwork, organization, and coachability.

Nice To Haves

• MBA, PhD, consulting firm, and/or multi-industry experience.
• Deep and diverse understanding of the pharmaceutical industry.
• Management consulting experience from a top-tier firm.
• Ability to attract talent and build/lead a highly functioning team over time.
• Potential for taking on greater responsibilities within the organization over time.

Responsibilities

• Ensure executional excellence of key enterprise initiatives.
• Lead the execution of ongoing and future key enterprise initiatives in collaboration with operational leaders with a focus on enhancing execution and value delivery.
• Drive internal and external teams to progress critical enterprise initiatives with timely and effective execution.
• Identify and address critical gaps in team performance, in coordination with transformation leaders.
• Manage directly and indirectly internal and external associates dedicated to our programs.
• Lead special projects and assignments as needed.
• Create thriving and psychologically safe engagements to provide new and strategic novel perspectives.

Benefits

• 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.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Industry: Chemical Manufacturing
• Education Level: Bachelor's degree