Director - Contacting and Customer Experience

Merck; North Wales (Montgomery County); Hybrid; USD 191,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical benefits

401(k) retirement plan

Bonus potential

Hybrid work option

Job summary

Merck in the United States (North Wales, PA) seeks a Director, Contracting and Customer Experience to lead HQ teams including the VCAS, VAS, and C&DS Development, driving customer-focused contracting and ordering processes across the vaccine portfolio.

You will shape strategic priorities, allocate resources, ensure compliance, collaborate with global markets and sales leadership, and deliver a seamless, value-driven customer experience with strong P&L accountability.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 10 years experience in Sales, Marketing or Managed Care - Pharmaceutical industry.
• Minimum of 3 years People Management experience.
• Minimum of 3 years experience developing and managing customer relationships.
• Ability to create strategic plans integrating short, mid, and long-term objectives.

Responsibilities

• Oversees customer experience related to contracting, information management, and purchasing processes.
• Leads staffing, performance management, and development across multiple teams.
• Partners with sales leadership to address key customer issues and opportunities.
• Directs promotions management and ensures compliant application of promotion standards.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic planning

Customer relationship management

Communication

Education

Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science

Master of Business Administration

Tools

CRM systems

Job description

Job Description

Director, Contracting and Customer Experience

The US Vaccines Contracting and Customer Experience team supports our customers’ vaccine contracting and ordering experience by providing outstanding customer service through contractual and ordering touchpoints. We assist our Field Sales Team, healthcare providers, and healthcare systems to help them meet their contractual and vaccine ordering goals.

The Director for our Contracting and Customer Experience team has overall responsibility for the management and results of the customer-facing headquartered teams, along with the D&DS development team. This includes the Vaccine Contracting Account Specialist (VCAS) Team, the Vaccine Account Specialist (VAS) Team which staffs the Our Company's Vaccine Customer Center (MVCC), the C&DS Development Team responsible for promotional and resource creation, approvals, and management.

This oversight includes staffing and multi-team leadership, development of a strategic priorities, resource allocation decisions, ownership/management of the customer experience, compliance with laws and policies, and HQ cross functional team collaboration. The Director is also responsible for the successful pull-through and implementation of contract strategies.

Key Responsibilities

People Management

• Recruits, hires, and supervises the hiring of top talent to build a high-performing, diverse & customer-centric integrated national team.
• Sets appropriate expectations and assesses performance of direct reports, including team leaders.
• Rewards and retains team members based on results and by creating an environment supportive of growth and development.
• Supports and fosters a diverse and inclusive environment.
• Ensures understanding and continually reinforces principles of the commercial model and provides formal and informal feedback to Headquarter based team regarding the status of implementation.
• Responsible for leading ongoing organizational and cultural transformation within the contracting and customer experience divisions.
• Leads annual people management processes for employees (performance management, employee development, compensation & rewards); ensures ongoing feedback & coaching throughout the year to all employees to support achievement of assigned performance objectives.
• Prioritizes and allocates human resources across customers/accounts.

Customer Experience

• Has ultimate responsibility and ownership of the “customer experience” as it relates to contracting, managing customer account information, and purchasing processes through direct and/or indirect channels.
• Accountable for the teams’ delivery of customer experiences that demonstrate value and create trust.
• Implements an effective customer-centric approach, demonstrating the importance of the customer to our Company.
• Partners closely with sale team leadership to understand critical customer issues and opportunities to improve the customer experience, ensuring this understanding is incorporated into team plans.
• Works closely with Headquarter teams, including the OMC, BSC, CCM, and IAM, to ensure a quality and value-driven customer experience.
• Collaborates closely with other stakeholders to ensure consistency and seamless support across the customer base

Strategic Portfolio Support

• Oversees the C&DS Development Team, guiding strategic content design, implementation of agile principles, resource stewardship, and operational guidelines to align customer support with business priorities.
• Directs promotions management and ensures the prioritization and correct, compliant application of promotion process and standards across all resources.
• Reviews operational metrics, queue times, service levels, and customer sentiment (via surveys and customer research) to drive continuous improvement in MVCC performance and VAS/VCAS engagement.

Education:

• Required: Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science
• Preferred: Masters in Business Administration

Required:

• Minimum of (10) years experience in Sales, Marketing or Managed Care - Pharmaceutical industry
• Minimum of (3) years People Management experience
• Minimum of (3) years experience developing and managing customer relationships

Technical/Functional Capability Requirements:

• Create a strategic plan by integrating short, mid, and long-term objectives
• Formulate a strategic business plan based on customer business needs and available resources
• Clearly communicate and articulate a vision and strategy that motivates and energizes the region
• Understands the market environment - identification of customer segments and business drivers
• Listen, understand and proactively address customer needs
• Assess business results against objectives and realign resources based on the assessment
• Enhance the selling skills and capabilities of the Representatives and Managers to optimize the customer experience

Critical Experience Requirements

• Translated division vision and strategy to directives and procedures
• Experience leading a large team-organization
• Experience in buy/bill therapeutic areas
• Marketing/brand experience or experience working closely with Headquarter brand teams.
• Made resource decisions and trade-offs to maximize business potential
• Identified and pursued opportunities for new products, services, and/or markets
• Delivered customer value
• Achieves results
• Experience managing a Profit & Loss
• Business analytics to review and evaluate performance trends across customer segments and geographies
• Analyze the human resource needs of the region to maximize the customer experience
• Experience managing contract sales force and customer call center

Leadership Capability Requirements:

• Deliver Customer Value - ability and appreciation to clearly understand the customer and their unique needs; ability to translate understanding into effective development and delivery of relevant solutions
• Collaborate and relationship development
• Builds Talent
• Shape Strategy
• Makes Sound Business Decisions and Achieves Results

Required Skills:

Adaptability, Adaptability, Brand Management, Business Decisions, Client Development, Competitor Analysis, Customer Centricity, Customer Engagement, Customer-Focused, Customer Management, Customer Relationship Building, Data Analysis, Executive Presence, Expectation Management, Financial Analysis, Goal Setting, High Performance Team Building, Hiring, Leadership Management, Market Opportunity Identification, Market Trends, People Leadership, Pricing Strategies, Product Management, Sales Management {+ 7 more}

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 Affimative 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

The primary location for this posting is:

USA - Pennsylvania - North Wales (Upper Gwynedd)

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

The salary range for the primary location of this role is:

$190,800.00 - $300,300.00

This range reflects the Company's reasonable expectation of the base salary applicable to this role at the time of 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.

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:

none

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:

Not Indicated

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

N/A

Job Posting End Date:

• A job posting is effective until 11:59:59PM on the day BEFORE the listed job posting end date. Please ensure you apply to a job posting no later than the day BEFORE the job posting end date.

Requisition ID: R421817