Associate Director - Customer Behaviour Analytics

MSD; Pune District; Hybrid; INR 17,159,000 - 22,879,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Domestic relocation

Visa sponsorship: No

Hybrid work arrangements

Travel 10%

Job summary

Merck & Co. invites applications for an Associate Director – Customer Behaviour Analytics within the CK&M vertical of Digital Human Health.

The role leads a 15+ member team across capability domains to deliver customer insights, segmentation, propensity modeling, and data-product spine that powers downstream activation for the US Commercial Organization. You will orchestrate cross-functional pods with DHH, Data Strategy & Solutions, IT and other groups, applying advanced analytics, ML/AI,

Qualifications

• Experience in pharma/biotech analytics and commercial analytics.
• Ability to translate brand and commercial strategies into actionable analytics.
• Experience with real-world datasets (claims, Rx, CRM, promotional data).
• Strong leadership and ability to coach teams in a matrixed setup.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of customer-understanding models for segmentation and propensity.
• Own analytics build for ICP and KOL identification; define inputs and validation.
• Oversee PIE and consumer extension data spine evolution and data augmentation.
• Drive micro-segmentation analytics for targeted content recommendations and brand strategy alignment.
• Lead cross-functional insights pods and manage team workload.

Skills

SQL

Python

AI/ML

NLP

Snowflake

Databricks

AWS/GCP

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Tools

Snowflake

Databricks

AWS

GCP

Job description

Associate Director – Customer Behaviour Analytics

Job Description

The Opportunity This role sits within the Customer Knowledge & Measurement (CK&M) vertical of Digital Human Health (DHH). The Associate Director, Customer Behavior Analytics owns the "know the customer" of CK&M: the model-build and insight-generation layer that produces the customer understanding the rest of CK&M (Field & CRM Engagement) acts on and measures. The Associate Director will be responsible for leading the analytics that define who matter and why: HCP / account / consumer segmentation, micro-segmentation, propensity and risk-stratification modelling, integrated customer profiling, KOL identification, content-affinity modelling, campaign analytics and the data-product spine that powers downstream activation. The team supports the US Commercial Organization, informing customer engagement strategy. The role is a key node in evolving the India Hub from delivery support to strategic analytics partner across the customer-insight value chain.

Role Overview

The Associate Director will lead a team of 15+ covering capability domains under Customer Behavior Analytics. The candidate must be able to lead direct teams and orchestrate cross-functional insights pods spanning DHH, Data Strategy & Solutions, IT and the broader DHH organization. The individual will demonstrate consistently strong leadership, the ability to work objectively in ambiguity, strong partnership skills, and a culture of continual learning. The preferred candidate will have an entrepreneurial spirit, a consultative and strategic mindset, deep customer-analytics experience in pharma / biotech (segmentation, micro-segmentation, campaign analytics, productized customer-data offerings), fluency in technology (AI, agentic, GenAI), and a demonstrated record of producing actionable insights from analytics. The individual should have a strong understanding of the US data landscape (claims, EMR / EHR, Rx, activity, promotional data, content-engagement data) and the ability to translate ambiguous business questions into advanced, scalable analytical solutions.

What will you do in this role

• Customer model-build: Lead the development of customer-understanding models that drive downstream activation and measurement: HCP segmentation (personal / non-personal), account / IDN segmentation, patient segmentation and profiling, propensity models (writer / non-writer), patient risk-stratification (initial model build with analog / business rules, progressing to ML), and early adopter / follower analysis.
• Integrated Customer Profile (ICP) and KOL build: Own the analytics build for ICP and the KOL-identification capability. Define data inputs, model logic, refresh cadence and validation criteria.
• Patient Insights Engine (PIE) and consumer extensions: Lead the build and evolution of the customer-data spine across PIE phases (CDM, Business Rules, Data Augmentation including EMR, and Predictive Models) and the consumer extension (PIECON) where applicable.
• Content Affinity: Drive micro-segmentation analytics to enable targeted content recommendations and quantify which content resonates with distinct segments, informing both brand strategy and Field & CRM execution.
• Team leadership and cross-functional orchestration: Lead and mentor Senior Managers (and the specialists / interns reporting into them), providing guidance on best practices in data analytics, modelling, validation and insight synthesis. Manage team workload proactively and ensure optimal resource utilization. Lead cross-functional insights pods in addition to direct teams.
• Prioritization and value tracking: Understand the full book of work underway and planned for each disease area or business unit. Work with BU LT to prioritize against the team’s capacity. For prioritized work, engage cross-functional teams to articulate the value and impact of each piece. Encourage the mindset to articulate the "so what" and "now what" and to track realized business value.
• Stakeholder collaboration: Drive proactive, transparent engagement with cross-functional partners to co-create solutions, align on organizational priorities, and set clear expectations. Provide internal and business stakeholders with forward-looking visibility into key programs to inform milestones, prioritization, risk mitigation, and aligned decision-making.
• Pharma data-ecosystem analytics: Analyze data across disparate data sources (claims, EMR, Rx, activity, promotional, consumer, content) to develop insights that inform commercial business strategies.
• Advanced analytics and modelling: Leverage advanced statistical methods and ML/AI modelling with strong validation practices; deliver regression and time-series models, and segmentation/clustering approaches (k-means, hierarchical) to generate actionable insights.
• Innovation and GenAI experimentation: Contribute to and lead innovation experiments (idea generation, idea incubation, experimentation), including responsible application of GenAI and agentic AI. Identify tangible, measurable criteria to make meaningful improvements to business processes.

Primary skills (must-have)

8+ years in pharma/biotech across commercial analytics and strategy, with deep pharmaceutical commercialization experience and delivery of complex analytical initiatives. 4+ years leading high-performing teams; proven ability to coach talent, build an inclusive culture, and lead cross-functional pods in a matrixed setup. Strong consultative mindset with demonstrated ability to translate brand and commercial strategies into actionable analytics and insight plans. Executive presence with ability to influence senior leaders, align US Marketing & DHH stakeholders, and communicate clear, data-driven narratives. Extensive experience working with real-world datasets (claims, Rx, CRM, promotional and sales data), leveraging SQL, Python, and AI-driven tools; familiarity with modern data platforms including Snowflake, Databricks, and AWS/GCP. Experience leveraging advanced statistical methods, Machine Learning / AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP) modelling and model evaluation, including segmentation & clustering (k-means, hierarchical). Self-motivated, proactive mindset, and ability to work independently.

Who we are

We are known as Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, New Jersey, USA in the United States and Canada and MSD everywhere else. For more than a century, we have been bringing forward medicines and vaccines for many of the world's most challenging diseases. Today, our company continues to be at the forefront of research to deliver innovative health solutions and advance the prevention and treatment of diseases that threaten people and animals around the world.

What we look for

Imagine getting up in the morning for a job as important as helping to save and improve lives around the world. Here, you have that opportunity. You can put your empathy, creativity, digital mastery, or scientific genius to work in collaboration with a diverse group of colleagues who pursue and bring hope to countless people who are battling some of the most challenging diseases of our time. Our team is constantly evolving, so if you are among the intellectually curious, join us—and start making your impact today.

Additional location(s) Compensation Information

Required Skills: Business Analysis, Business Processes, Business Process Improvements, Customer Engagement, Data Analytics, Data Science, Demand Management, Digital Healthcare, Innovation, Machine Learning (ML), Pharmacodynamics, Pharmacology, Propensity Models, Requirements Management, Sourcing and Procurement, Stakeholder Relationship Management, Strategic Planning, Team Leadership, US Marketing, Value Chain.

Benefits and Perks

• Employee Status: Regular
• Relocation: Domestic
• VISA Sponsorship: No
• Travel Requirements: 10%
• Flexible Work Arrangements: Hybrid Shift: Not Indicated Valid Driving License: No Hazardous Material(s): NA

Job Posting End Date

11/4/2026 *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.

Our company is a global health care leader with a diversified portfolio of prescription medicines, vaccines and animal health products. The difference between potential and achievement lies in the spark that fuels innovation and inventiveness; this is the space where we have codified our legacy for over a century. Our success is backed by ethical integrity, forward momentum, and an inspiringmissionto achieve new milestones in global healthcare.