Sr. Director, Patient Support Services, Asundexian

Merck & Co.; Whippany (NJ); On-site; USD 220,000 - 330,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health care

Retirement plan

Paid time off

Job summary

Bayer’s Senior Director, Patient Support Services leads cross-functional programs to improve patient access and therapy adherence across the portfolio. The role focuses on scalable hub operations, copay programs, and affordability strategies in a complex payer landscape.

Impactful leadership across Market Access, Commercial, and Legal teams ensures compliant, patient-centered program design and measurable outcomes in a dynamic regulatory environment.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive experience in the pharmaceutical, biotech, or healthcare industry, with at least 7+ years in patient support services, hub operations, market access, or related functions.
• Strong understanding of the US market access landscape and retail pharmacy dynamics.
• Exceptional strategic thinking and executive communication skills.
• Experience designing and scaling patient access and support programs across multiple product launches.

Responsibilities

• Lead strategy, development, implementation, and continuous improvement of patient support services and hub operations.
• Oversee vendor relationships, SLA oversight, performance reviews and contracts with Legal and Procurement.
• Partner with Market Access, Commercial, Finance, Legal, Compliance and analytics to align patient support offerings.
• Champion patient voice in program design and drive initiatives to improve adherence and reduce therapy abandonment.

Skills

Executive communication

Strategic thinking

Stakeholder management

Vendor/hub partnerships

Digital and AI fluency

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Advanced degree preferred

Job description

At Bayer we’re visionaries, driven to solve the world’s toughest challenges and striving for a world where 'Health for all Hunger for none’ is no longer a dream, but a real possibility. We’re doing it with energy, curiosity and sheer dedication, always learning from unique perspectives of those around us, expanding our thinking, growing our capabilities and redefining ‘impossible’. There are so many reasons to join us. If you’re hungry to build a varied and meaningful career in a community of brilliant and diverse minds to make a real difference, there’s only one choice.

Sr. Director, Patient Support Services, Asundexian

Bayer Pharmaceuticals is committed to delivering on its mission of \"Health for All, Hunger for None\" by advancing a portfolio of innovative treatments. As we advance our operating model towards Dynamic Shared Ownership with an even stronger focus on customer-oriented and mission-based work, the goal of the Field Operations Strategy function is to shape and advance our ways of working between the Customer Engagement (field teams) and Product Squads (brand teams) and enabling partners, with the objective to ensure that Customer Engagement teams are enabled through customer-centric content, programs, and capabilities.

Patient Support Services is a critical and evolving capability that helps patients overcome barriers across the treatment journey, from prescription through therapy initiation and ongoing adherence. Given the complexity of access, affordability, payer requirements, and fulfillment, many patients face delays or never start therapy after a prescription is written.

The Senior Director, Patient Support Services is a strategic leader responsible for defining and advancing the vision, design, implementation, management, and evaluation of comprehensive patient support programs across the Bayer portfolio, with a particular focus on programs supporting patients in secondary stroke prevention. The role is centered on improving access and adherence by creating a simpler, more seamless patient and customer experience.

The Senior Director will serve as a strategic business partner to Market Access, Commercial, Finance, Customer Engagement, Legal, Compliance, Analytics, Learning & Development, and other internal and external stakeholders by providing subject matter expertise in patient access, affordability, hub operations, vendor management, retail pharmacy dynamics, and compliant patient support program design that is scalable and tailored to the needs of the patients.

The Senior Director will leverage market, payer, provider, patient, competitive, legislative, and regulatory insights to drive innovation and operational excellence to ensure that patients continuously face minimal barriers to initiating and staying on therapy.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy & Program Leadership

• Lead the strategy, development, implementation, operations, and continuous improvement of patient support services, including hub services, copay assistance, affordability programs, adherence resources, and patient access solutions that are aligned with brand outcomes.
• Lead the design, launch, and lifecycle management of a scalable, patient-centric service model that continuously supports needs of patients in a complex and evolving payer and regulatory marketplace.
• Lead, mentor, and develop internal and external patient access teams, fostering a performance driven, collaborative, accountable, compliant, and patient-centered culture.

Operational Excellence

• Build, manage, and continuously improve the PSS technology and data infrastructure, including hub partner platforms, CRM systems, and customer engagement tools.
• Establish, monitor, and report comprehensive operating metrics for patient support, proactively providing strategic insights and recommendations to the Product Squad.
• Manage vendor and partner relationships including SLA oversight, performance reviews, and contract management in partnership with Procurement and Legal.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner closely with Market Access, Commercial, Finance, Customer Engagement, Legal, Compliance, Analytics, Learning & Development, and other internal and external stakeholders to align patient support offerings that support and accelerate impact on brand outcomes.
• Work with Legal and Compliance to ensure all patient-facing programs adhere to applicable laws, including OIG guidance, Anti-Kickback Statute, HIPAA, PDMA, and relevant state regulations.

Patient Experience & Insights

• Champion the voice of the patient in all program design decisions, leveraging patient journey research, real-world feedback, and behavioral insights.
• Drive initiatives to reduce therapy abandonment and improve medication adherence and persistency through targeted interventions and personalized support.

Governance, Compliance & Reporting

• Maintain robust program governance with documented SOPs, audit trails, and quality controls for all patient-facing services.
• Serve as the primary executive sponsor for compliance reviews and audits related to patient support programs.
• Prepare and present regular updates to executive leadership on program performance, strategic initiatives, risks, and investment needs, proactively sharing strategic insights and program recommendations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required, and advanced degree preferred.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in the pharmaceutical, biotech, or healthcare industry, with a minimum of 7+ years direct experience in patient support services, hub operations, market access, or commercial operations functions.
• Strong understanding of US market access landscape and nuances of retail pharmacy dynamics.
• Exceptional strategic thinking, executive communication, and presentation skills.
• Excellent stakeholder management and ability to influence and align stakeholders across Market Access, Commercial, Legal, and external partners without direct reporting authority.
• Demonstrated success in designing and scaling patient access and support programs across multiple product launches or therapeutic areas.
• Demonstrated digital and AI fluency, with the ability to leverage AI-enabled tools and data-driven insights to enhance patient support operations, improve patient experience, and drive efficient, compliant decision-making.
• Proven track record of managing large vendor/hub partnerships and complex, multi-stakeholder operational environments.
• Expertise in patient access program design, including copay programs, PAPs, bridge therapy, and hub service models.
• Strong working knowledge of regulatory and compliance frameworks governing manufacturer patient programs (OIG, AKS, HIPAA, CMS reporting).

Travel Requirements

• Up to 30% travel for cross-functional meetings, vendor site visits, field team engagement, and industry

Employees can expect to be paid a salary between $220,240.00 - $330,360.00. Additional compensation may include a bonus or commission (if relevant). Additional benefits include health care, vision, dental, retirement, PTO, sick leave, etc.

This salary range is merely an estimate and may vary based on an applicant’s location, market data/ranges, an applicant’s skills and prior relevant experience, certain degrees and certifications, and other relevant factors.

This posting will be available for application until at least 8/28/2026.

Bayer is an Equal Opportunity Employer/Disabled/Veterans

Bayer is committed to providing access and reasonable accommodations in its application process for individuals with disabilities and encourages applicants with disabilities to request any needed accommodation(s) using the contact information below.

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