Associate Director, US Launch Excellence

Merck•North Wales, PA

1d•$142,400 - $224,100•Hybrid

About The Position

The Associate Director, US Launch Excellence serves as the commercial launch partner in the US Oncology business unit, with a primary focus on launches in the hematology portfolio. The role sits at the intersection of strategy, planning and execution, partnering with marketing leadership and cross-functional teams to create integrated launch plans, connect decisions and dependencies, strengthen readiness, and help teams move from strategy to coordinated action. The position leads launch planning and readiness, anticipates risks and supports decision quality, and operates as a strategic launch partner across core and extended launch teams. It also advances launch excellence capabilities by applying launch learnings, improving ways of working, and supporting the evolution of launch planning toward a more strategic, integrated function. The role is hybrid, based primarily in North Wales, Pennsylvania, and requires 10% travel. The salary range for the primary location is $142,400 to $224,100; the successful candidate may be eligible for an annual bonus and long-term incentive, if applicable.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, General Management, Biotechnology or a related field.
At least 5 years of commercial experience in the biopharmaceutical, pharmaceutical, biotechnology or life sciences consulting industry, including experience in marketing, sales, strategy and planning, commercial operations or a related function.
Ability to develop strategy and translate it into executable plans across broad cross-functional stakeholder groups in a matrixed organization.
Strong program and project management capabilities, including managing multiple complex initiatives, milestones, risks and interdependencies simultaneously.
Ability to influence without direct authority, build commitment and drive accountability across functions and organizational levels.
Excellent written, verbal, facilitation and presentation skills, including the ability to synthesize complexity and communicate clearly with senior stakeholders.
Willingness to travel as needed for business meetings and conferences; the posting lists 10% travel.
Ability to meet the on-site expectations defined for the role and location in the approved requisition.

Nice To Haves

Experience leading or materially supporting a branded new product, indication or commercial program launch in the pharmaceutical or biopharmaceutical industry.
Oncology experience, including familiarity with complex patient, provider, access and account pathways.
Experience across integrated go-to-market planning, patient support, market access, field readiness, customer experience or launch measurement.
Demonstrated use of data and insights to inform priorities, readiness decisions, KPIs and performance optimization.
Experience with scenario planning, Agile ways of working, launch governance, knowledge management or post-launch hypercare.
Experience working across global and market teams or in an alliance environment.

Responsibilities

Partner with marketing leadership and launch teams to translate brand, customer and go-to-market strategies into integrated, adaptable launch plans with clear outcomes, milestones, dependencies and ownership.
Orchestrate readiness across core and extended launch workstreams, connecting functional plans and providing a full picture of launch activity.
Establish transparent mechanisms to assess progress, surface gaps and support timely decisions through launch plans, readiness indicators, dashboards and key performance indicators.
Support pre-launch measurement, launch monitoring and post-launch hypercare to enable rapid learning and course correction.
Identify and assess critical paths, risks, assumptions and cross-functional dependencies; facilitate mitigation, trade-off and escalation discussions.
Lead scenario planning and prioritization to focus team attention and resources on activities critical to launch success.
Apply outside-in and enterprise perspectives and excellence practices tailored to the asset, market and oncology customer ecosystem.
Serve as a trusted thought partner and launch excellence subject matter expert, constructively challenging assumptions and engaging appropriate functional experts.
Design and facilitate core and extended launch team meetings and readiness forums that drive alignment, decisions, accountability and follow-through.
Build partnerships across Marketing, Medical Affairs, Market Access, Patient Support, Data & Analytics, Digital, Field, Learning & Development, Global teams and Centers of Excellence.
Clarify global-to-US inputs, ownership and handoffs to help US teams build on enterprise work and avoid unnecessary duplication.
Capture and apply launch learnings and reusable practices to strengthen future Oncology and US Human Health launches.
Improve launch ways of working across people, process and technology, including thoughtful use of digital and AI-enabled capabilities within company policies.
Contribute to evolving launch planning from primarily program coordination toward a strategic partnership that strengthens team thinking, integration and execution.