Director, AI Discoverability and Evidence Architecture

MSD Malaysia; Rahway (NJ); Hybrid; USD 173,000 - 273,000; Full time

Job summary

Merck is seeking a Director-level leader to define strategy for AI Discoverability and Evidence Architecture. You will steer enterprise capability development for AI search readiness, GEO, and LLM-as-a-Customer initiatives across medical, commercial, and digital health functions.

The role demands a strong AI/ML foundation, strategic comms, and the ability to lead across matrixed teams and global markets. Hybrid work model with broad scope.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree (BA/BS).
• 10+ years leading enterprise digital, product, content, search, AI, analytics, or customer experience initiatives.
• Experience translating rapidly evolving technologies into business strategies, investment roadmaps, scalable services, and measurable outcomes.
• Proven ability to lead through influence in highly matrixed environments spanning business, medical, communications, data, technology, digital, and governance functions.
• Systems thinking across people, process, technology, and partner ecosystems.
• Strong technical foundation in AI/ML, including GenAI and agentic AI concepts, with the ability to understand capabilities, constraints, and practical application within enterprise workflows.
• Strong strategic communication, storytelling, and change leadership skills.

Responsibilities

• Define our Company's long-term AI Discoverability and AI Search Readiness strategy, vision, roadmap, governance, and investment models for GEO and related capabilities.
• Lead AI Search Readiness assessments, strategic recommendations, activation roadmaps, and remediation planning across brands and markets.
• Define approaches for evidence architecture, ontology design, and machine-readable content standards; drive ontology strategy and metadata structures.
• Build enterprise capabilities for AI visibility, citation quality, narrative accuracy, and governance processes.
• Recruit, develop, and lead a high-performing team across strategy, ontology, evidence architecture, and GEO operations.

Skills

Architecture Governance

Asset Management

Business Architecture

Business Decisions

Business Workflow Analysis

Computer Science

Goal Setting

Influencing Skills

Machine Learning (ML)

Management System Development

Organizational Leadership

Partner Ecosystem Strategy

Platform Development

Product Management

Product Roadmap

Requirements Management

Situational Leadership

Stakeholder Relationship Management

Strategic Objectives

Strategic Planning

System Designs

Systems Thinking

Team Development

{+ 2 more}

Education

Bachelor’s degree (BA/BS)

Job description

Job Description

Digital Human Health is establishing a new enterprise capability to ensure our Company’s approved scientific evidence, content, and digital experiences are discoverable, accurately understood, authoritatively represented, cited, and trusted across AI-mediated ecosystems. The Director, AI Discoverability & Evidence Architecture, within the Digital Marketing & Channels organization, will define the strategy and lead capability development and execution across AI Search Readiness, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), LLM as a Customer, and Evidence Architecture. Working across Medical, Commercial, Corporate Communications, and Digital Human Health, this leader will build new enterprise capabilities that strengthen our Company's authority, visibility, and narrative accuracy in AI-generated experiences, ensuring that patients, healthcare professionals, and other stakeholders receive trusted, scientifically grounded information in an increasingly AI-mediated healthcare landscape.

Key Responsibilities

• Enterprise Strategy & Capability Leadership: Define our Company's long-term AI Discoverability and AI Search Readiness strategy. Establish the vision, roadmap, governance model, and investment strategy for GEO and AI Discoverability capabilities. Lead evolution of Project Oak and LLM as a Customer initiative into sustainable enterprise services. Develop and maintain a multi-year roadmap aligned to business priorities and AI acceleration objectives.
• AI Search Readiness: Establish repeatable frameworks for assessing AI discoverability opportunities, evidence gaps, narrative vulnerabilities, and competitive risks across pipeline and inline brands. Lead AI Search Readiness assessments, strategic recommendations, activation roadmaps, and remediation planning for priority brands and therapeutic areas. Integrate AI Search Readiness into relevant launch, evidence, content, brand, and digital experience planning processes. Develop scalable service models, playbooks, and engagement approaches that enable adoption across brands, functions, and markets.
• Evidence Architecture & Ontology Strategy: Define approaches for evidence architecture, language architecture, ontology design, and machine-readable content standards. Drive creation of reusable authority hubs, narrative frameworks, taxonomy standards, and metadata structures supporting AI retrieval. Partner with Medical, Corporate Communications, and Commercial organizations to align evidence planning with AI discovery requirements. Shape business and technical requirements for the platforms, content models, data structures, and digital experiences needed to improve machine understanding.
• AI Visibility & Measurement: Build enterprise capabilities for monitoring AI visibility, citation quality, narrative accuracy, authority signals, and competitive positioning. Establish ongoing monitoring, assessment, remediation, and governance processes. Lead evaluation and implementation of AI visibility and GEO measurement platforms.
• Team Leadership & Organizational Development: Recruit, develop, and lead a high-performing team across strategy, ontology, evidence architecture, technical discoverability, GEO operations, and insights. Lead a distributed, high-performing team across strategy and brand engagement, technical discoverability, and monitoring and insights operations. Define capability requirements and workforce strategies needed to scale AI Discoverability globally. Develop new centers of excellence and communities of practice focused on AI-mediated discovery. Establish partnerships with external experts, agencies, platforms, and emerging AI ecosystem providers.

Qualifications Required

• Bachelor’s degree (BA/BS).
• 10+ years leading enterprise digital, product, content, search, AI, analytics, or customer experience initiatives.
• Experience translating rapidly evolving technologies into business strategies, investment roadmaps, scalable services, and measurable outcomes.
• Proven ability to lead through influence in highly matrixed environments spanning business, medical, communications, data, technology, digital, and governance functions.
• Systems thinking across people, process, technology, and partner ecosystems.
• Strong technical foundation in AI/ML, including GenAI and agentic AI concepts, with the ability to understand capabilities, constraints, and practical application within enterprise workflows.
• Strong strategic communication, storytelling, and change leadership skills.

Preferred

• Experience in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, healthcare, or life sciences industry.
• Experience working in a regulated environment with medical, legal, regulatory, privacy, security, and compliance considerations.
• Experience with AI-mediated discovery, generative search, GEO, SEO, semantic search, knowledge graphs, ontologies, structured content, metadata, or evidence architecture.

Required Skills

• Architecture Governance
• Architecture Governance
• Asset Management
• Benefits Management
• Business Architecture
• Business Decisions
• Business Workflow Analysis
• Computer Science
• Goal Setting
• Influencing Skills
• Machine Learning (ML)
• Management System Development
• Organizational Leadership
• Partner Ecosystem Strategy
• Platform Development
• Product Management
• Product Roadmap
• Requirements Management
• Situational Leadership
• Stakeholder Relationship Management
• Strategic Objectives
• Strategic Planning
• System Designs
• Systems Thinking
• Team Development
• {+ 2 more}

Preferred Skills

• 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.
• 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.
• For more information about personal rights under the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment laws, visit: EEOC Know Your Rights EEOC GINA Supplement
• 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

Salary and Compensation

The salary range for this role is $173,200.00 - $272,600.00. This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. An employee’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, government requirements, and business or organizational needs. The successful candidate will be eligible for annual bonus and long-term incentive, if applicable.

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.

Job Details

• Employee Status: Regular
• Relocation: No relocation
• VISA Sponsorship: No
• Travel Requirements: 25% Flexible Work Arrangements: Hybrid Shift: Not Indicated Valid Driving License: No Hazardous Material(s): n/a
• Job Posting End Date: 10/16/2026

Eligibility

• 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 Ord...

Application Deadline

The application deadline for this position is stated on this posting.

Company Description

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 inspiring mission to achieve new milestones in global healthcare.