Senior Director, Team Lead - U.S. Medical Affairs, Payers & Health Systems

Job Description

The Senior Director, Team Lead (TL) U.S. Medical Affairs (USMA) for Payer & Health Systems (PHS) position resides in the Value & Implementation (V&I) organization, which includes Global Medical and Scientific Affairs as well as Outcomes Research.  The primary role of this position is the leadership, management and accountability of a team of PHS  Medical Affairs Directors (PHS MADs). The PHS TL drives strategic clarity, operational excellence, and cross-functional collaboration to enable impactful scientific engagement and insight generation. They are a key leader responsible for guiding, coaching and developing PHS MADs to execute high-quality scientific and medical activities in alignment with USMA and enterprise priorities. This position holds responsibility for the field execution of the PHS medical affairs strategy, and prioritization of the company’s portfolio across various payer and health-system accounts [e.g., health plan, pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), integrated delivery network (IDN)]. A critical part of the role is the ongoing interface with other medical affairs and commercial account management leadership around medical account management and execution.  The PHS TL ensures all work reflects our company’s commitment to scientific integrity, ethical leadership, and patient-centered value.

Responsibilities and Primary Activities

Leadership and Management

• Recruits, onboards, trains, leads and manages a team of field-based health systems Medical Affairs (MA) professionals.
• Manages all aspects of the performance management process, including assessment of PHS MAD performance to objectives and competencies. Accomplishes assessment via field observation/coaching visits, call discussions, feedback, and field metric analysis. Develops and monitors personal development plans for each PHS MAD.
• Oversees portfolio product launches and in-line product medical affairs plans, including the execution of the plans by the team, ensuring appropriate, balanced support of the PHS portfolio prioritization and account segmentation via the PHS MA plan (MAP).
• Provides insights back to headquarters (HQ) from internal and external stakeholders across the entire health-systems continuum.
• Effectively communicates and coordinates with Commercial, Country MA, V&I Global Medical and Value Capabilities (V&I GMVC), and V&I Outcomes Research (V&I OR) leadership to oversee strategic account plans and associated medical account plans; ensures execution of medical activities in alignment with agreed plans.
• Collaborates with Commercial colleagues to ensure national and regional medical account coverage in the evolving health-systems landscape.
• Maintains a macro view of the healthcare landscape to appropriately develop and allocate our company MA resources to best address key opportunities and threats.
• Facilitates communication with senior HQ leadership to ensure successful execution with key national and regional accounts.
• Represents PHS team on internal cross-functional work streams.
• Ensures that all team members comply with the intent and application of regulations and company policies in the field environment.

Strategic Planning and Project Management

• Supports the PHS Executive Director Medical Affairs (PHS EDMA) and PHS Payor & Access Strategy Lead (PHS PASL) in developing and executing the PHS MAP across the full company portfolio and across key account segments (e.g., payer, IDN, government).
• Leads the medical account planning and management process across all prioritized HS regional accounts, ensuring appropriate account planning and execution in coordination with Commercial, Country MA, V&I GMVC and V&I OR functions as appropriate.
• Provides significant input to the annual resource development plan by HS PASL and coordinates the utilization of resources to assist with the PHS MAD team.
• Provides input to the annual PHS medical meeting coverage plan as well as leadership and oversight of PHS MAD medical meeting attendance.
• Provides project support to the Country MA organization as needed.

Budget Management

• Provides input to the annual budget planning process for PHS MAD team through deep understanding of the next year’s needs.
• Effectively supports the management of PHS MAD team budget.
• Reviews and approves routine expense reports as applicable and appropriate.

Required Qualifications, Skills and Experience

Minimum

• Advanced health-care/science doctoral degree (e.g., MD, PharmD, PhD).
• Three (3) years in customer-facing, field medical-affairs role or relevant experience.
• Deep knowledge of health-systems environment (e.g., payers, IDNs), as well as principles and processes of medical account management.
• Thorough knowledge of U.S. health-care delivery-system structure and function and population health.
• Embrace an AI-first mindset by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) tools and demonstrating a willingness to learn and implement new approaches, without requiring deep technical expertise.
• Excellent interpersonal communication and presentation skills.
• Strong teamwork capabilities (including the ability to lead across a full product portfolio and multiple customer segments).
• Strong track record of effective development and management of multiple cross-functional leadership relationships.
• Strong personal integrity, collaborative mindset, business acumen, and customer focus.
• Thorough understanding of the U.S. regulatory entity, local regulatory agencies, and other ethical guidelines relevant to the pharmaceutical industry to ensure compliance with all external and internal guidelines and standard operating procedures.
• Ability to organize, prioritize and work effectively in a constantly changing environment and to motivate a team to do the same.
• Strong working knowledge of the Microsoft Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Access) and ability to interface effectively with a variety of technical platforms for the collection, review and dissemination of medical information and team execution.

Preferred

• Five years of experience in a field-facing role
• Experience in a front-line management role leading field-medical colleagues working with payers or health systems.
• Thorough knowledge of pharmaco-economics, quality management, value-based payment, and health-care delivery policy and trends.

Required Skills:

Clinical Research, Healthcare Education, Health Care Systems, Medical Knowledge, Payer Reimbursement, People Management, Pharmaceutical Medical Affairs, Scientific Communications, Scientific Exchange, Stakeholder Engagement

Preferred Skills:

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US and Puerto Rico Residents Only:

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As an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer, we provide equal opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.  As a federal contractor, we comply with all affirmative action requirements for protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.  For more information about personal rights under the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment laws, visit:

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We are proud to be a company that embraces the value of bringing together, talented, and committed people with diverse experiences, perspectives, skills and backgrounds. The fastest way to breakthrough innovation is when people with diverse ideas, broad experiences, backgrounds, and skills come together in an inclusive environment. We encourage our colleagues to respectfully challenge one another’s thinking and approach problems collectively.

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The salary range for this role is

$210,400.00 - $331,100.00

This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. An employee’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, government requirements, and business or organizational needs.

The successful candidate will be eligible for annual bonus and long-term incentive, if applicable.

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.

You can apply for this role through https://jobs.merck.com/us/en (or via the Workday Jobs Hub if you are a current employee). The application deadline for this position is stated on this posting.

San Francisco Residents Only: We will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment in compliance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance

Los Angeles Residents Only: We will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance

Search Firm Representatives Please Read Carefully 
Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA, also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, Rahway, NJ, USA, does not accept unsolicited assistance from search firms for employment opportunities. All CVs / resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at our company without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of our company.  No fee will be paid in the event a candidate is hired by our company as a result of an agency referral where no pre-existing agreement is in place. Where agency agreements are in place, introductions are position specific. Please, no phone calls or emails. 

Employee Status:

Regular

Relocation:

No relocation

VISA Sponsorship:

No

Travel Requirements:

25%

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Remote

Shift:

Not Indicated

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

n/a

Job Posting End Date:

10/7/2026

*A job posting is effective until 11:59:59PM on the day BEFORE the listed job posting end date. Please ensure you apply to a job posting no later than the day BEFORE the job posting end date.