Director, UX and Digital Communications

Socket.dev; Rahway (NJ); Hybrid; USD 173,000 - 273,000; Full time

Job summary

Merck & Co., Inc. in Rahway, NJ seeks a Director of UX and Digital Communications to shape our external web ecosystem. Lead strategy, governance, and scalable workflows across global teams, ensuring accessible, measurable, and discoverable digital experiences.

You will collaborate with IT, legal, privacy, analytics, and regional partners to set priorities, define success, and drive continuous improvement in a hybrid work environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree a plus.
• 10+ years in digital strategy, UX, web communications, or related field.
• Experience leading enterprise web strategy and large-scale digital transformation.

Responsibilities

• Lead enterprise UX, web experience, and digital communications strategy across external properties.
• Use research, analytics, and stakeholder insights to identify opportunities and improve experiences.
• Set standards for site architecture, navigation, accessibility, and content structure.
• Oversee content governance, taxonomy, tagging, and discoverability improvements.
• Partner with IT, legal, privacy, and regional teams to align priorities and outcomes.
• Define success metrics and use data to guide decisions and continuous improvement.

Skills

Adaptability

Content Creation

Content Management

Digital Strategy

AI-enabled search

Content Governance

Public Speaking

Executive Presence

Stakeholder Leadership

Analytics & KPIs

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

Job Description

We are seeking a Director, UX and Digital Communications to shape how our company shows up across its external web ecosystem. This leader will define the strategy, standards, and operating model for intuitive, accessible, user-centered, measurable, and discoverable digital experiences across both traditional and AI-powered search environments.

This is an opportunity to lead enterprise-wide web experience strategy, strengthen our company's digital presence, and help stakeholders find, understand, and engage with our content in an evolving digital landscape.

The Director will work closely with UX, content, analytics, IT, Legal, Privacy, regional teams, and external partners to create clear priorities, practical governance, and scalable ways of working. The role provides strategic oversight of major web initiatives without owning day-to-day production or technical development.

The Director reports to the Executive Director, Enterprise Brand Social Media and Digital Communications.

What you will do

• Lead enterprise UX, research, web experience, and digital communications strategy across our company's external digital properties.
• Use audience research, journey mapping, usability testing, analytics, and stakeholder insights to identify opportunities and improve digital experiences.
• Set clear standards for site architecture, navigation, accessibility, inclusive design, content structure, and user journeys.
• Guide web content strategy and governance in partnership with digital, editorial, analytics, platform, and regional teams.
• Improve findability and reuse through enterprise taxonomy, metadata, tagging, and content classification standards.
• Turn audience needs, pain points, performance data, and research findings into practical experience improvements.
• Provide strategic oversight for major web initiatives, helping teams align on scope, priorities, experience standards, and outcomes.
• Build practical governance frameworks, workflows, compliance expectations, and operating practices that help teams move with clarity and consistency.
• Partner with IT and development teams to shape platform strategy, technology direction, and performance standards.
• Define success measures and use analytics, insights, and performance data to guide decisions and continuous improvement.
• Bring together Communications, IT, Legal, Privacy, analytics, regional teams, and external partners to align on shared priorities and outcomes.
• Advance GEO and AI-era discoverability so content is structured, credible, current, measurable, and optimized for search, citation, and answer-engine visibility.
• Build, coach, and lead a strong team and partner model with clear ownership across strategy, execution, and delivery.
• Stay ahead of trends in UX, digital experience, AI search, and content innovation, and translate them into opportunities for our company.

What you will bring

• Bachelor's degree required, Advanced degree a plus.
• Minimum 10 years of experience in digital strategy, UX, web communications, or a related field, ideally in a global or highly regulated environment.
• A track record of setting enterprise web strategy and leading large-scale digital experience transformation.
• Experience leading and influencing cross-functional teams across UX, content, SEO/GEO, analytics, technology, and external partners.
• Strong knowledge of UX, accessibility, information architecture, SEO/GEO, AI-enabled search, answer engines, and content governance.
• Ability to establish practical governance models, operating frameworks, standards, and best practices across complex organizations.
• Strong stakeholder leadership, with the ability to align senior leaders and teams around shared strategy, priorities, and outcomes.
• Comfort using KPIs, analytics, and insights to guide decisions and measure impact.
• Familiarity with web platforms, CMS ecosystems, and collaboration with IT and development partners.
• Excellent communication, executive presence, and relationship-building skills.
• Ability to thrive in a global, matrixed, and regulated environment.

Required Skills

Adaptability, Adaptability, Community Relations, Content Creation, Content Management, Crisis Communication Management, Critical Success Factors, Detail-Oriented, Digital Media, Digital Media Channels, Digital Strategy, Digital Transformation, Digital Transformation Initiatives, Environmental Social And Governance (ESG), Event Management, Executive Presence, Impact Analysis, Media Relations, Performance Metrics, Platform Design, Platform Management, Policy Development, Public Speaking, Research Development, Social Media Management {+ 8 more}

Preferred Skills

Digital Experiences

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

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

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

Search Firm Representatives Please Read Carefully

Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA, also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, Rahway, NJ, USA, does not accept unsolicited assistance from search firms for employment opportunities. All CVs / resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at our company without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of our company. No fee will be paid in the event a candidate is hired by our company as a result of an agency referral where no pre-existing agreement is in place. Where agency agreements are in place, introductions are position specific. Please, no phone calls or emails.

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

09/25/2026

*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.*