Strategic Clinical Science Leader, Lung & Head & Neck

Merck; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 260,000 - 380,000; Full time

Job summary

Merck in the United States seeks a Senior Director of Clinical Science to provide strategic clinical leadership across the lung and head and neck portfolio. You will partner with Clinical Directors and Program Leads to shape development strategy and integrate scientific insights across studies and programs.

The role requires deep clinical science expertise, mentorship, and the ability to drive evidence-generation strategies, regulatory interactions, and external engagement with investigators and

Qualifications

• Deep clinical development expertise across programs and disease areas.
• Ability to translate therapeutic-area science into development strategy.
• Strong leadership and mentorship capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic scientific leadership across programs, assets, or disease areas, ensuring quality and consistency of Clinical Science approaches
• Shape the development and evolution of Clinical Development Plans and set strategic direction for study design
• Provide oversight of medical monitoring and medical data review approaches and guide interpretation of complex clinical data across programs
• Integrate clinical evidence, therapeutic-area science, emerging external data, and competitive insights to shape development strategy across programs
• Provide strategic oversight and clinical guidance for key regulatory documents, Health Authority interactions, and other major development activities
• Shape governance strategy and communicate scientific development opportunities to senior leaders
• Shape scientific publication and external engagement strategies and develop strategic relationships with investigators and key opinion leaders
• Provide strategic oversight of clinical/scientific quality, risk management, and audit and inspection readiness across areas of responsibility
• Shape digital and AI-enabled Clinical Science approaches, identify high-value use cases, and drive scalable adoption across programs
• Shape Clinical Science standards, leading practices, and ways of working across programs or disease areas
• Develop Clinical Science talent and organizational capabilities through scientific leadership, coaching, mentoring, and sponsorship
• May lead a large Clinical Science team

Skills

Clinical development

Strategic leadership

Evidence generation

Regulatory strategy

Scientific communication

Mentoring

Cross-functional collaboration

Job description

Merck in the United States seeks a Senior Director of Clinical Science to provide strategic clinical leadership across the lung and head and neck portfolio. You will partner with Clinical Directors and Program Leads to shape development strategy and integrate scientific insights across studies and programs.

The role requires deep clinical science expertise, mentorship, and the ability to drive evidence-generation strategies, regulatory interactions, and external engagement with investigators and