Sr. Spclst, Development Project Management (Hybrid)

Merck•North Wales, PA

7d•Hybrid

About The Position

Global Project and Alliance Management (GPAM) is part of the Research and Development organization at our Company, which is also referred to as our Company's Research Laboratories. Position Description/Summary Development Project Managers in GPAM are enterprise leaders that leverage a strong Project Management foundation to enable pipeline progression through integrated planning, aligned project execution, and problem solving. The Senior Specialist, Project Manager is a core member of Drug Development Teams (e.g. Discovery Teams, Early Development Teams and/or Late Product Development Teams), partnering with team leaders to develop strategies and execute our Company's drug and vaccine development efforts. The Senior Specialist is expected to provide project management leadership and drive cross-functional teams with sufficient influence and mastery of project management to handle routine projects independently or support higher complexity assignments alongside a lead partner project manager. Projects could span any therapeutic areas in which our Company is actively engaged. This position may be based in either Rahway, NJ or Upper Gwynedd, PA

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required; concentration in a scientific or applied discipline preferred.
Minimum of three (3) years of experience in project management or a related role required.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree (e.g., MS, MBA, Ph.D., PharmD).
Product development experience strongly preferred (ideally in the pharmaceutical/biotech industry).
Experience and knowledge of clinical drug development strongly preferred; including the different phases of development and how the various functional areas contribute to a comprehensive strategy.
Project management certification (PMP) and/or formal coursework/training in project management strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Managing the end-to-end drug development process including routine projects that are of moderate complexity and/or partnering with a more seasoned lead project manager on higher complexity projects; driving cross functional teams to develop comprehensive strategies and drive execution of aligned plans to achieve on-time delivery of critical milestones, balancing getting it right with meeting timelines.
Act as enterprise leaders by guiding teams through the creation, approval, and execution of integrated project plans appropriate to the project's phase of development and complexity. This includes integrating strategic and tactical input from diverse disciplines (e.g., clinical, regulatory, market access, manufacturing, CMC, commercial, and other areas) as applicable to the project, and driving alignment with key stakeholders and partnerships with Project and Alliance Managers across the GPAM organization, including colleagues in Japan and China.
Building and maintaining project schedules and critical project information in enterprise project management systems and databases; using these as tools to integrate activities across key team members, proactively identify risks, address uncertainty, escalate appropriately, assess program status, and ensure clear and effective communication with key team, management and cross-departmental stakeholders.
Leveraging relationships and networks to improve and enhance team dynamics; with guidance from senior GPAM professionals as needed, proactively identifying, and removing obstacles to drive business results.
Navigating our Company process and organizational norms to enable teams to understand corporate governance and business requirements.
Preparing for, facilitating, and documenting outcomes of team meetings, ensuring meetings have clear purpose and objectives, and promotes thorough discussion and healthy debate; facilitates and is accountable for rapid escalation of critical team issues.
Actively participating and completing ongoing training and personal development activities to increase leadership competency and to gain knowledge and skill in the discipline of project management and the business and science of pharmaceutical product discovery and development.
Providing significant input into the monitoring of GPAM processes and tools used to support the teams, as appropriate; advocate for and contribute to the success of change / process improvements when warranted.