Associate Director, Global Marketing - Obesity

Merck; Rahway (NJ); Hybrid; USD 142,000 - 224,000; Full time

Job summary

Merck, Rahway, USA, seeks an Associate Director, Global Marketing – Obesity, to shape global commercial strategy for obesity assets in development. You will define differentiated HCP and HCC value propositions and collaborate across Clinical Development, Market Access, and Medical/Policy groups to align strategy with future launch plans.

The role requires 7+ years in marketing/strategy in pharma, strong cross‑functional leadership, and the ability to synthesize complex market data into strategic

Qualifications

• 7+ years of progressive or combined experience across marketing, market access, strategy, or related pharmaceutical/biotechnology roles.
• Experience in obesity, cardiometabolic, diabetes, cardiovascular, renal, or other highly competitive specialty markets.
• Experience developing HCP and/or HCC strategies, value propositions, positioning, messaging, or customer insight‑driven strategic deliverables.
• Strong understanding of early asset development, commercial input into development decisions, and the role of marketing in shaping target product profile, evidence, positioning, and future launch strategy.
• Ability to synthesize complex market, customer, clinical, competitive, and access inputs into clear strategic implications and executive‑ready recommendations.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of the global commercial strategy for obesity assets in development, ensuring insights‑driven, future‑focused strategies.
• Develop differentiated HCP and HCC value propositions for assets, including benefits and reasons to believe.
• Apply brand strategy framework to build commercial foundations, market focus, and positioning.
• Collaborate with Clinical Development, Market Access, OR, and other teams to align commercial implications with product profiles and evidence needs.
• Monitor competitive insights and translate them into strategic implications for prioritization and launch readiness.
• Support governance materials and leadership updates with clear commercial perspectives and risks.

Skills

Marketing strategy

Market access

Strategic planning

Cross-functional leadership

Competitive intelligence

Launch planning

Asset/portfolio strategy

Education

Bachelor's Degree

MBA

Job description

Job Description

The Global Commercial Metabolism Team is responsible for shaping the global commercial strategy for our Obesity portfolio, with a focus on building differentiated, insight-driven strategies that position assets for long-term success in a highly dynamic and competitive market. The team plays a critical role in translating evolving science, customer needs, competitive intelligence, and cross-functional input into clear strategic choices that support development decisions, future launch readiness, and meaningful value creation for patients, healthcare professionals, healthcare customers, and the enterprise.

The Associate Director, Global Marketing – Obesity will operate at the intersection of strategy, asset development, and customer insight, with responsibility for advancing overall global commercial strategy across obesity assets in development. This individual will bring a dual focus on healthcare professional (HCP) and healthcare customer (HCC) audiences, helping define how each asset can be positioned, differentiated, and valued in the future market environment. This role requires a future-oriented strategic thinker who can understand the current and anticipated competitive landscape, apply the brand strategy framework (L3) with discipline, and collaborate effectively across Clinical Development, Medical Affairs, Market Access, Outcomes Research, Policy, Competitive Intelligence, Forecasting, regional teams, and other partners to build a strong commercial foundation for identified strategic opportunities.

Key responsibilities for this role may include, but are not limited to the following:

• Lead and support development of the overall global commercial strategy for obesity assets in development, ensuring strategies are insight-driven, future-focused, and aligned to enterprise priorities.
• Develop clear and differentiated HCP and HCC value propositions for each asset, including customer-specific benefits, reasons to believe, and implications for future positioning.
• Apply the brand strategy framework (L3) to build and refine commercial foundations, including market in focus, asset differentiators, initial brand positioning, value propositions, early asset strategy, and implications for transition to launch phase.
• Partner with Clinical Development, Market Access, OR, Manufacturing and other cross-functional colleagues to identify commercial implications of target product profiles, endpoints, patient populations, evidence needs, and development choices.
• Monitor, synthesize, and communicate competitive insights that are meaningful for the obesity franchise, including current and emerging mechanisms, competitor development plans, market‑shaping trends, customer expectations, and future scenarios.
• Translate competitive and market insights into actionable strategic implications for asset prioritization, differentiation, development planning, and future launch readiness.
• Collaborate with cross‑functional teams to evaluate and build for success against identified strategic opportunities, including opportunity spaces, priority customer segments, unmet needs, access considerations, and potential areas for innovation.
• Support development of strategic deliverables, governance materials, leadership updates, and cross‑functional decision documents that clearly communicate commercial perspective, assumptions, risks, opportunities, and recommended actions.
• Partner with regional and key market colleagues to ensure global strategies reflect relevant market realities and customer needs while maintaining strategic consistency across the portfolio.
• Operate as a key member of the Global Commercial Team, leading without authority, fostering enterprise collaboration, and helping build a culture of strategic rigor, accountability, inclusion, and One Team ways of working.

Position Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor's Degree
• Preferred Education: Advanced Degree (MBA)

Required Experience And Skills

• Minimum of 7 years of progressive or combined experience across marketing, market access, strategy, or related pharmaceutical/biotechnology roles, with demonstrated experience contributing to asset, brand, or portfolio strategy.
• Experience in obesity, cardiometabolic, diabetes, cardiovascular, renal, or other highly competitive specialty markets.
• Experience developing HCP and/or HCC strategies, value propositions, positioning, messaging, or customer insight‑driven strategic deliverables.
• Strong understanding of early asset development, commercial input into development decisions, and the role of marketing in shaping target product profile, evidence, positioning, and future launch strategy.
• Ability to synthesize complex market, customer, clinical, competitive, and access inputs into clear strategic implications and executive‑ready recommendations.

Preferred Experience And Skills

• Experience applying brand/marketing strategy (L3) or launch excellence frameworks to guide asset or brand strategy development.
• Demonstrated ability to think beyond the current market and anticipate how customer expectations, competitor activity, clinical evidence, access dynamics, and policy evolves and shifts may shape future opportunities.
• Competitive mindset with experience monitoring, interpreting, and communicating competitive intelligence in a way that informs strategic choices and franchise priorities.
• Strategic Planning: Proven ability to analyze complex data and situations, make clear strategic choices, and develop long‑term customer‑centric strategies.
• Entrepreneurship: Ability to create high‑value deliverables from white space, operate with ambiguity, and proactively identify opportunities to differentiate and win.
• Cross‑Functional Leadership: Strong collaboration skills and ability to lead without authority across Commercial, Clinical Development, Medical Affairs, Market Access, Outcomes Research, Policy, Competitive Intelligence, Forecasting, regional teams, and agency partners.
• Influence and Communication: Ability to communicate complex insights simply and credibly, tailor messages for senior leaders and cross‑functional audiences, and drive alignment across stakeholders.
• Executional Excellence: Ability to manage multiple priorities, clarify decisions, align stakeholders, and deliver high‑quality strategic outputs on time.
• Innovation and Learning Agility: Curiosity, external orientation, and willingness to challenge the status quo to identify new ways to create value for customers, patients, and the enterprise.

Adaptability, Biopharmaceutical Industry, Biotechnology, Brand Strategy, Communication Strategy Development, Creativity, Cross‑Functional Collaboration, Cross‑Team Collaboration, Customer‑Focused, Customer Insights, Global Marketing, Market Access, Market Research, Product Management, Strategic Market Analysis, Strategic Thinking

US And Puerto Rico Residents Only

Our company is committed to inclusion, ensuring that candidates can engage in a hiring process that exhibits their true capabilities.

Requirements

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. 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. Learn more about your rights, including under California, Colorado and other US State Acts.

The primary location for this posting is: USA - New Jersey - Rahway.

Where required by law, the compensation range for this role is provided below.

The salary range for the primary location of this role is: $142,400.00 - $224,100.00.

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.

Additional location(s)

Please note the salary range above applies to the Primary Location of the position. Where a role has other listed locations, different compensation guidelines may apply. You may find the salary ranges for additional locations below. If the salary range is not listed for the location you are applying to, our Talent Acquisition team will provide further information to you relevant to your location.

Additional location(s) Compensation Information

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.

Employee Status

Regular

Relocation

No relocation

VISA Sponsorship

No

Travel Requirements

10%

Flexible Work Arrangements

Hybrid

Shift

1st - Day

Valid Driving License

No

Hazardous Material(s)

N/A

Job Posting End Date

10/26/2026