Associate Director, US Marketing Ophthalmology Scientific Strategy (Operations)

Merck • North Wales, PA

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

Our US Ophthalmology team is committed to transforming the lives of patients living with diabetic macular edema (DME) and neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) with a portfolio of two products in the pipeline. We aspire to achieve this through a relentless commitment to patients, innovation, ensuring access to life‑changing therapies, and collaborating with healthcare systems, governments, and payers to make treatments available to those who need them most. Our focus is on patients, scientific rigor, and flawless execution—bringing breakthrough therapies to those who need them.
We are passionate about bringing our medicines and vaccines to customers around the world. This is a terrific opportunity for a highly motivated individual to serve as a key team member on the US Ophthalmology marketing team and contribute to our scientific strategic development and key tactics for medical education. The ideal candidate for this role has a demonstrated record of strong strategic thinking, the ability to comprehend and translate complex scientific and clinical data, and a history of delivering results while working cross‑functionally and leading without authority.
As an Associate Director in this role, you will drive cross-functional planning and execution for all congresses in Ophthalmology. This role will also lead overall execution of medical education programs for Ophthalmology in collaboration with the Medical Education Center of Excellence. This role supports the development and implementation of the integrated congress plans and educational programs that align and advance the scientific and clinical understanding of retinal diseases, including DME and nAMD, as well as related therapies. This position will be based in Upper Gwynedd, PA and will report into the Director, Scientific Strategy.

Requirements

• Industry Expertise: Minimum 5+ years of experience in pharmaceutical or biotech; ophthalmology, retina, or specialty biologics preferred.
• Scientific Acumen: Ability to understand complex medical science and translate it into clear, compelling communications.
• Leadership: Strong people leadership and the ability to influence without direct authority.
• Strategic & Innovative Thinking: Demonstrated strategic thinking, problem solving, analytical skills, and the ability to convert complex data into actionable strategies; leverages innovation to drive impact.
• Collaboration & Influence: Proven success working in matrixed environments and partnering effectively with cross-functional teams to achieve shared objectives.
• Executional Excellence: Strong operational and project management capabilities with a focus on delivering a positive customer experience.
• Product Launch Experience: Prior launch experience preferred.
• Analytics: Ability to interpret data analytics and customer/market insights to inform business decisions.
• Communication Skills: Strong written and verbal communication demonstrated through strategy development, business case creation, customer engagement, and/or sales presentations.
• Compliance: Solid understanding of regulatory and compliance requirements in the biopharmaceutical industry.
• Healthcare Ecosystem Knowledge: Familiarity with the broader healthcare landscape and stakeholder dynamics.
• Growth Mindset & Agility: Embraces learning, collaboration, adaptability, and continuous improvement.
• Integrity & Ethics: Demonstrates a high level of professionalism, integrity, and ethical judgment.
• Required: Bachelor’s Degree

Nice To Haves

• Ophthalmology marketing specific experience.
• Ophthalmology product launch experience.
• Medical education development.
• Experience building relationships with external customers.
• Understanding of omnichannel marketing, digital and non-digital channels.
• Budget, Agency and vendor management.
• Preferred: Advanced degrees (MBA, MS, PhD, PharmD)

Responsibilities

• Lead the end-to-end planning, coordination, and execution of ophthalmology congress activities, ensuring alignment with marketing and scientific priorities.
• Translate scientific strategy into operational congress plans, including product theater, booth design, scientific engagement activities, and stakeholder interactions.
• Lead content development for congress activities from content creation with agency partners, medical legal review to deployment.
• Guide logistical planning and vendor coordination to support pre-, during-, and post-congress deliverables, ensuring high quality, compliance, and execution excellence.
• Execute medical education initiatives aligned with the Ophthalmology scientific strategy, including branded and unbranded medical education (IME) programs
• Collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to continue to improve customer experience with medical education program for Ophthalmology
• Establish our company as a key player in Ophthalmology by shaping and participating in opportunities for industry.
• Define and monitor congress and medical education KPIs and success metrics with robust post-event analysis to inform future strategy and maximize impact.
• Drive field readiness for medical education programs at launch, partnering with Medical Education COE to provide training, facilitating best practices, and serving as the marketing point to enable successful and compliant execution of medical education programs.
• As a member of the US Pharma Ophthalmology marketing team, partner with fellow colleagues to invest in each other’s development, build a culture of inclusivity, psychological safety, transparency and stretch our collective team’s thinking by challenging the status quo for the purpose of creating stronger outcomes.

Benefits

• We offer a comprehensive package of benefits.
• Available benefits include 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.
• More information about benefits is available at https://jobs.merck.com/us/en/compensation-and-benefits.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees