Breast Oncology: Senior Clinical Science Leader

Merck; New Jersey; On-site; USD 210,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

Merck, a leading pharmaceutical company in New Jersey, seeks a Senior Director of Clinical Science for Breast Oncology to provide strategic leadership across multiple studies and assets. You will shape disease-area strategy, standardize practices, and guide cross-functional teams in data interpretation and development planning.

The role emphasizes collaboration with Clinical Operations, Regulatory Affairs, Biostatistics and Data Management, Drug Safety, Translational Medicine, and Medical

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic Clinical Science leadership across the disease area, including multiple studies, programs, and assets.
• Contribute to disease area strategy by providing Clinical Science input on development opportunities, scientific considerations, portfolio risks, and implications of emerging internal and external data.
• Partner with Section Heads, Asset Leads, Program Development Team Leads, and cross-functional leaders to alignClinical Science activities with broader program and disease area objectives.
• Apply expert knowledge of therapeutic focus, disease biology, treatment landscape, and meaningful endpoints to inform study planning, data interpretation, and issue resolution.
• Support cross-study and cross-asset integration of scientific insights to inform development decisions.
• Lead efforts to standardize Clinical Science approaches across the disease area, including medical data review practices and data interpretation principles.
• Promote consistency in Clinical Science activities across studies and programs while allowing for program-specific needs.
• Help establish and maintain standards, expectations, and leading practices for Clinical Science work within the portfolio.
• Support alignment across assets on endpoint interpretation, patient population considerations, safety topics, and emerging scientific issues.
• Advocate for implementation of innovative approaches, including visual analytics, centralized data review, AI-enabled workflows, and other technologies that improve quality and efficiency.
• Provide senior scientific guidance across assigned studies and programs to support high-quality and consistent Clinical Science input.
• Guide interpretation of clinical data across studies, cohorts, and assets to support broader understanding of trends, opportunities, risks, and program implications.
• Support identification and evaluation of important clinical, scientific, and data-related issues and help ensure they are appropriately framed for cross-functional and governance discussions.
• Contribute scientific perspective to protocol development, protocol amendments, study design considerations, endpoint selection, eligibility criteria, biomarker strategy discussions, and other development planning activities.
• Serve as a Clinical Science subject matter resource for their disease area or therapeutic focus across study teams and partner functions.
• Contribute Clinical Science perspective to portfolio discussions, governance reviews, and senior leadership meetings within their disease area.
• Support preparation of clinical and scientific content for governance discussions, program reviews, and senior management communications.
• Present cross-study insights, scientific assessments, and key issues to cross-functional leaders and governance bodies, as appropriate.

Job description

Merck, a leading pharmaceutical company in New Jersey, seeks a Senior Director of Clinical Science for Breast Oncology to provide strategic leadership across multiple studies and assets. You will shape disease-area strategy, standardize practices, and guide cross-functional teams in data interpretation and development planning.

The role emphasizes collaboration with Clinical Operations, Regulatory Affairs, Biostatistics and Data Management, Drug Safety, Translational Medicine, and Medical