Infectious Disease Clinical Science Strategy Director

Merck; New Jersey; On-site; USD 250,000 - 380,000; Full time

Job summary

Merck is seeking a Senior Director, Clinical Science in Infectious Disease to provide strategic leadership across multiple studies and assets. The role shapes disease area strategy, standardizes scientific practices, and partners with cross-functional teams to guide development decisions.

The incumbent will apply deep Infectious Disease expertise, influence study design and endpoints, and drive adoption of innovative analytical approaches within a matrix organization.

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 support alignment of Clinical Science activities with broader program and disease area objectives.
• Apply expert knowledge of therapeutic focus, disease biology, treatment landscape, and clinically 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, data interpretation principles, and key deliverables, as appropriate.
• Promote consistency in how Clinical Science activities are conducted 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 important disease area considerations, including 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.

Job description

Merck is seeking a Senior Director, Clinical Science in Infectious Disease to provide strategic leadership across multiple studies and assets. The role shapes disease area strategy, standardizes scientific practices, and partners with cross-functional teams to guide development decisions.

The incumbent will apply deep Infectious Disease expertise, influence study design and endpoints, and drive adoption of innovative analytical approaches within a matrix organization.