IAM Director, Employer Engagement

Merck • North Wales, PA

3d • $210,400 - $331,100 • Remote

About The Position

The Employer Segment is a critical customer segment for our company, encompassing over 6 million employers and unions that provide health insurance for more than 167 million people in the United States. This segment spends significantly on prescription drugs and total healthcare expenditures, making their decisions about benefit offerings foundational to patient access to our medicines and vaccines. The Director of Employer Engagement is a strategic leadership role responsible for influencing the employer healthcare landscape to ensure broad and affordable patient access to our company's vaccines and medicines. The role will focus on three key areas: Supporting Employer Health Policy Strategy, Employer and Coalition Engagement, and Brand Support for Employer Segment Strategy. The Director will engage in cross-functional collaboration with internal and external stakeholders to advance employer-focused strategies, reinforce our company's presence, and support access-oriented messaging. This role is responsible for a defined geographic area of the US (West/Central, South) and specific customers including coalitions, health alliances, jumbo employers, and benefit consultants.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree
• 8+ years of relevant experience in Account Management, Marketing, Sales, Health policy, Employer Segment, Market Access, and/or Managed Care
• Demonstrated experience engaging senior level decision‑makers and thought leaders.
• Strong collaboration skills in complex, matrixed environments.
• Demonstrated business acumen and understanding implications of access decisions, benefit designs and contracting strategies.
• Strategic and tactical planning skills and ability to manage several projects simultaneously
• Cross functional headquarters coordination and understanding of operational processes
• Excellent communication skills, written and verbal
• Up to 50% travel

Nice To Haves

• Previous experience in biopharmaceutical/healthcare policy roles focused on access, pricing, prevention, oncology, vaccines or affordability.
• Strong networking and partnering skills
• Knowledge of pipeline planning and the intersection of regulatory changes, policy shifts, and employer benefit design.
• Experience deploying access focused messaging or shaping policy within employer/coalition ecosystems‑.
• MBA

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute an employer health policy strategy, within their region, that is aligned with our company's healthcare policy priorities working collaboratively with State Government Affairs.
• Identify emerging employer health policy issues (e.g., benefit design reform, value-based coverage, utilization management, data transparency, prevention mandates, low value care) and shape strategies to engage collaboratively where it aligns to our company's business objectives around access and affordability.
• Serve as a subject matter expert on employer policy trends and their implications for our company's pipeline, launch brands, and long-term therapeutic strategy.
• Build, deepen, and activate relationships with employer thought leaders, national and regional business coalitions, benefit consultants and other ecosystem partners to enhance our company's presence.
• Translate employer policy, benefit design and utilization trends into actionable business insights for commercial, medical and policy leadership.
• Deploy approved access and affordability messaging to shape external policy and employer perceptions around value, pricing and appropriate utilization.
• Represent our company in employer forums, panels, and roundtables to advance evidence-based perspectives supporting broad access.
• Inform employers on benefit designs — through education on primary prevention, disease state awareness, and early detection strategies — that expand evidence-based benefit structures and optimize provider and patient choice.
• Partner with brand and payer marketing stakeholders by providing employer insights into customer segment planning for our company's products to guide our company's GTM strategy, including customer needs, friction points, policy pressures, and opportunities for differentiation. Incorporate profiling data, benefit design assessments, and coalition insights into segment strategy planning.
• Identify emerging risks and opportunities across prevention, early detection, care pathways, access, and affordability that are relevant for specific therapeutic areas.
• Translate employer policy, benefit design, and utilization trends into actionable business insights for commercial, medical, and policy leadership.
• Support the development of employer focused tools, messaging, and segment education modules.
• Collaborate with Segment Strategy lead, as well as other key stakeholders in IAM, Payer Marketing and Account Management teams.

Benefits

• medical, dental, vision healthcare and other insurance benefits (for employee and family)
• retirement benefits, including 401(k)
• paid holidays
• vacation
• compassionate and sick days
• annual bonus
• long-term incentive

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director