Executive Director Global Marketing

Merck•Carlsbad, CA

About The Position

The Executive Director Global Marketing leads global marketing for Patterning and serves as the external market and commercial strategy voice for Lithography and Cleans. The role sets market, portfolio, product, pricing and go-to-market direction; strengthens customer and competitive insight; and establishes priorities for new-product introduction through launch and adoption. The position may be located in the United States or APAC, excluding China. The role owns market, portfolio, product and go-to-market strategy; leads market and customer research; defines differentiated product positioning and value propositions; and provides commercial leadership across the NPI lifecycle, including launch discipline through Gates 2, 3 and 4. It aligns cross-functional partners around customer requirements, readiness, decision rights, risks and milestones while partnering with dedicated Launch Management on integrated execution. The position also owns portfolio choices, lifecycle strategy, pricing architecture and margin improvement, and develops global marketing capability. It brings an independent external perspective to business decisions, represents Patterning with customers and industry partners, and ensures customer feedback informs action. The role is intended to broaden Global Marketing’s mandate toward market attractiveness, customer needs, competitive positioning, differentiation and value creation, while clarifying the distinction between Marketing’s commercial ownership and Launch Management’s execution planning.

Requirements

Master's degree or equivalent in Marketing, Business Administration, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, Engineering or a related field.
At least 10 years of experience in semiconductor materials, specialty chemicals, advanced materials or a related technology market, including substantial commercial or marketing leadership experience.
Demonstrated success in market assessment, portfolio strategy, product positioning, competitive analysis, pricing and customer value proposition development.
Experience leading global, cross-functional new-product introduction and commercialization in a complex matrix environment.
Strong customer-facing experience with leading semiconductor manufacturers, including the ability to translate technical needs into commercially attractive opportunities.
Experience leading teams and influencing senior leaders across R&D, Manufacturing, Scale Up, Supply Chain, Quality, Customer Applications, Sales and Finance.
Strong strategic marketing fundamentals, including market sizing, segmentation, opportunity assessment, competitive intelligence, customer insight and product differentiation.
Ability to uncover customer pain points, define value propositions and connect technical performance to measurable customer and business value.
Strong command of NPI, stage-gate governance and launch management.
Commercial judgment in portfolio choices, pricing, profitability, resource trade-offs and risk-based decision making.
Ability to set clear ownership and decision rights across functions, challenge gaps early and drive timely decisions.
Strong financial and business acumen, clear communication and executive-level storytelling.
Global leadership, coaching and influencing skills, with the ability to build trust across technical, operational and commercial teams.
Working knowledge of semiconductor manufacturing, lithography materials and customer qualification requirements.

Nice To Haves

An MBA or formal training in strategic marketing, portfolio management, pricing, finance or product management.

Responsibilities

Set global market, portfolio, product and go-to-market strategy for Patterning across Lithography and Cleans.
Translate customer needs, market structure and competitive dynamics into priorities for growth, margin and investment.
Lead opportunity assessment, market sizing, segmentation, competitor analysis and customer pain-point discovery.
Develop evidence-based views of market opportunities and customer priorities.
Define product positioning, differentiation, target applications and customer value propositions, supported by technical, commercial and competitive evidence.
Lead the commercial direction of NPI and launch management, ensuring launch discipline through Gates 2, 3 and 4.
Align R&D, Manufacturing, Scale Up, Supply Chain, Quality, Customer Applications and Sales around customer requirements, launch readiness, decision rights, risks and milestones.
Partner with Launch Management by setting commercial briefs and success criteria while the launch or program manager coordinates the detailed cross-functional plan.
Establish clear ownership, standard deliverables, transparent status and timely escalation for launch work.
Own portfolio choices, lifecycle strategy, pricing architecture and margin improvement; balance growth, customer value, resource needs and strategic fit, and stop or redirect work when the business case no longer supports it.
Build and develop a high-performing global marketing team across market analysis, customer insight, competitive intelligence, value propositions, pricing, portfolio management and launch leadership.
Create practical marketing standards, coaching and reusable examples of strong work.
Bring an independent external market perspective into R&D, operations and leadership decisions.
Represent Patterning with customers, industry partners and at relevant conferences, and convert customer feedback into clear action.
Improve the commercial conversion of the new-product pipeline into dependable revenue and strengthen customer trust through clear requirements, readiness, secure supply, disciplined launches and responsive issue resolution.
Clarify ownership between Marketing, which owns opportunity, customer value and commercial outcomes, and Launch Management, which drives the integrated execution plan.