Associate Director, Development Project Management (Hybrid)

Merck; New Jersey; On-site; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Merck is seeking an Associate Director, Project Manager in Global Project and Alliance Management (GPAM) to drive cross-functional project strategies across drug development teams and therapeutic areas. This role partners with team leaders to progress the R&D pipeline, build integrated plans, manage risks, and mentor other project managers across the GPAM organization, including teams in the US and abroad.

Based in Rahway, NJ or Upper Gwynedd, PA, the position emphasizes leadership, negotiation,

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required; concentration in a scientific or applied discipline preferred.
• Minimum of five (5) years of experience in project management or a related role required.
• Advanced degree (MS, MBA, Ph.D., PharmD) preferred.

Responsibilities

• Managing the end-to-end drug development process, including projects of significant complexity; driving cross-functional teams and leading by influence.
• Guide teams through creation, approval, and execution of integrated project plans across development phases.
• Build and maintain project schedules and enterprise information systems; identify risks and ensure clear communication.
• Leverage relationships to remove obstacles and drive business results.
• Navigate corporate governance and enable decision-making processes.
• Lead key team meetings with agendas and accountable follow-up.
• Participate in ongoing training to enhance leadership competency.
• Participate in GPAM initiatives to improve processes and cross-department collaboration.
• Provide mentoring and oversight to partner project managers.

Skills

Project Management

Cross-Functional Leadership

Enterprise Project Management (EPM)

Drug Development

Clinical Research

Collaboration

Process Optimization

Change Management

Business Decisions

Progress Monitoring

Project Implementations

Project Management Governance

Education

Bachelor's degree

Advanced degree preferred

Tools

PMP certification

Job description

Job Description

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.

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 GPAM Associate Director, 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 to progress the Research & Development pipeline and realize its full potential.

The Associate Director is expected to provide project management leadership and drive cross-functional teams with sufficient influence and mastery of project management to take on challenging assignments with minimal guidance. Projects could span any therapeutic area in which our company is actively engaged. In addition to project work, the Associate Director is expected to contribute to ongoing business process improvement and talent development in Global Project and Alliance Management (GPAM).

This position may be based in either Rahway, NJ or Upper Gwynedd, PA

Primary Responsibilities:

• Managing the end-to-end drug development process, including projects of significant complexity; driving cross-functional teams and leading by influence to develop comprehensive strategies and ensure successful execution.
• 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 different 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 tools to integrate activities across key team members, proactively identify risks, address uncertainty, escalte 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; proactively identifying and removing obstacles to drive business results.
• Navigating our company's process and organizational norms to enable teams to understand corporate governance and business requirements, thereby enabling decision-making.
• Leading key team meetings including creating thoughtful agendas, ensuring appropriate participation, contributing project management insights, and following up to ensure the team continues to make progress while holding others accountable.
• 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.
• Participating in Global Project and Alliance Management (GPAM) departmental initiatives and workstreams aimed at improving the way that we work and the way that we interact with one another as well as other departments. Improving business processes to find new efficiencies and connect people to the information that they need.
• Providing mentoring, coaching, and oversight to partner project managers working on common projects. Sharing lessons learned and best practices to impact the Global Project and Alliance Management (GPAM) community positively.

Required Education, Experience, and Skills:

• Bachelor's degree required; concentration in a scientific or applied discipline preferred
• Minimum of five (5) years of experience in project management or a related role required

Preferred Experience and Skills:

• Advanced degree (e.g., MS, MBA, Ph.D., PharmD) preferred
• Product development experience strongly preferred (ideally in 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

Required Skills:

• Business Decisions, Change Management, Clinical Research, Collaboration, Cross-Functional Leadership, Drug Development, Enterprise Project Management (EPM), Process Optimization, Progress Monitoring, Project Implementations, Project Management, Project Management Governance, Pr