Executive Director, AP Commercial Operations & Strategy

msd international gmbh (singapore branch); Singapore; On-site; SGD 300,000 - 420,000; Full time

Job summary

Merck & Co., Inc. is seeking a Head of Asia Pacific Commercial Operations to lead strategy, operations, and capabilities across markets, customers, and patients.

You will partner with senior leaders, drive launch readiness, and deliver measurable outcomes in a dynamic, highly regulated environment. The role oversees Commercial and Sales Excellence, Alliance Management, Strategy & Operations, Marketing Operations, Patient Financial Program, and People leadership, with a focus on speed,

Qualifications

• Significant senior leadership experience in Commercial Operations, General Management, or related field.
• Experience leading teams across regions or markets with measurable outcomes.
• Proven ability to translate strategy into execution in a complex, regulated org.
• Ability to influence senior leaders and deliver tangible results.

Responsibilities

• Translate Asia Pacific strategy into priorities, plans, milestones, and metrics.
• Advise the APAC President with independent thinking and clear recommendations.
• Lead regional priorities, governance, and cross-functional alignment.
• Define APAC commercial excellence, sales effectiveness, and customer engagement.
• Build scalable capabilities in segmentation, incentives, and field performance.
• Improve productivity of customer-facing teams with better tools and processes.
• Lead Marketing Operations, define mandate and operating model.
• Drive use of data, analytics, automation, and AI to boost performance.
• Oversee alliances governance, performance, and value delivery.
• Govern governance for Patient Financial Program and risk visibility.
• Provide Steering Committee materials with concise, evidence-based updates.
• Build and lead a high-performing APAC Commercial Operations organisation.

Skills

Senior Leadership

Strategy & Ops

Commercial Excellence

Alliance Management

Marketing Ops

P/L Accountability

Job description

Job Description

• Lead regional strategy, commercial excellence, and transformational initiatives that improve outcomes for markets, customers, and patients
• Partner with senior leaders to turn bold ambitions into measurable business results across Asia Pacific.
• Build high-performing teams, strengthen commercial capabilities, and help shape one of the region's most significant growth and launch periods

Role Overview:

The Head of Asia Pacific Commercial Operations is a business-critical leadership role reporting directly to the President, Asia Pacific. Asia Pacific is at a pivotal point. The region must continue to maximize its strong in-line business while preparing for one of the most significant launch periods in its history across Oncology, Specialty Medicines, and Vaccines.

As the Commercial Operations leader, you will serve as a trusted strategic thought partner to the Asia Pacific President and help the region operate with clarity, speed, discipline, and strong execution. The role will lead the teams, capabilities, governance, and operating processes required to strengthen business performance, improve launch readiness, and deliver greater impact for markets, customers, and patients.

The role has leadership responsibility for Commercial and Sales Excellence, Alliance Management, Strategy and Operations, the Patient Financial Program, and Marketing Operations. The leader will also strengthen alignment across Managing Directors, regional leaders, and cross-functional partners to advance shared priorities and deliver measurable outcomes.

The successful candidate will bring maturity, strategic judgment, curiosity, autonomy, urgency, and a strong ownership mindset. This individual must anticipate needs, stay one step ahead, and lead complex work from assessment and redesign through implementation and sustained improvement.

No Relocation Support Provided.

What will you do:

Strategy and Operations

• Translate the Asia Pacific strategy into clear priorities, execution plans, milestones, and measures of success.
• Serve as a strategic thought partner to the Asia Pacific President, providing independent thinking, candid advice, and clear recommendations.
• Lead critical regional priorities and strengthen business reviews, decision-making, accountability, and follow-through.
• Align Managing Directors, regional leaders, and cross-functional partners around shared priorities and outcomes.

Commercial and Sales Excellence

• Define and lead the Asia Pacific approach to commercial excellence, sales effectiveness, and customer engagement.
• Build scalable capabilities across segmentation, targeting, resource deployment, incentives, coaching, and field performance.
• Improve the productivity and effectiveness of customer-facing teams through simpler processes, stronger tools, and reduced administrative burden.
• Ensure regional capabilities deliver measurable value to markets, customers, and the business.

Marketing Operations

• Lead and shape the newly integrated Asia Pacific Marketing Operations team.
• Clarify the team’s mandate, priorities, operating model, and value to regional and market teams.
• Improve the quality, speed, consistency, and efficiency of priority marketing processes and services.
• Expand the effective use of technology, data, analytics, automation, and artificial intelligence.

Alliance Management

• Lead the regional approach to strategic alliances and selected commercial partnerships.
• Establish clear governance, decision rights, performance expectations, and escalation processes.
• Integrate commercial, financial, operational, legal, compliance, and reputational considerations.
• Support markets and global teams in resolving complex issues and maximizing alliance value.

Financial Patient Program

• Lead the team responsible for the governance and program management of the Patient Financial Program.
• Ensure clear ownership, decision rights, governance standards, risk visibility, and escalation processes.
• Ensure material outliers, control issues, investigations, and remediation actions are identified and tracked through closure.
• Provide the Steering Committee with timely, concise, evidence-based, and decision-oriented materials.

People, Capabilities and Organizational Leadership

• Build and lead a high-performing Asia Pacific Commercial Operations organization across all five areas of responsibility.
• Ensure the right leadership, talent, skills, structure, and capacity are in place to support current and future business needs.
• Set clear expectations and provide active direction, coaching, development, challenge, and accountability.
• Lead the end-to-end assessment, redesign, simplification, implementation, and sustained improvement of critical processes and capabilities.

What should you have:

• Significant senior leadership experience in Commercial Operations, General Management, commercial strategy, marketing, or a related discipline.
• Experience leading multiple teams and capabilities across markets, regions, or business units.
• Proven success translating strategy into execution and leading change within a complex, matrixed, and highly regulated organization.
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior leaders, build strong teams, simplify complex issues, and deliver measurable outcomes.

Preferred Experience

• Experience in both regional and market-based leadership roles.
• Experience with commercial, business, or P&L accountability.
• Experience across Sales Excellence, Strategy and Operations, Alliance Management, Marketing Operations, or financial patient programs.
• Experience using technology, analytics, digital tools, automation, or artificial intelligence to improve business performance.

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