Director, Oncology Business Insights & Analytics

Job Description

Director – Business Insights & Analytics, US Oncology, Digital Human Health

This role will reside within the Digital Human Health (DHH) US Market Engagement Team. This team operates as part of the US commercial team, providing strategic thought-partnership to US commercial stakeholders through understanding brand strategy, co-creating DHH demand and associated business requirements aligned to business priorities. The US Market Engagement team quarterbacks demand fulfillment and leads the activation of DHH products and services.

The Director will be responsible for developing and communicating data-driven and actionable insights that drive greater customer and market understanding to inform launch & go-to market strategies and help meet in-line commercial objectives.

The individual in this role will be an independent contributor, as well as lead a team, supporting commercial insight and analytics needs for US marketing teams.  The person will have demonstrated consistently strong leadership skills, an ability to work objectively and deal well with ambiguity and strong partnership skills. They will empower a growth mindset and inspire a culture of continual learning. This role will require interfacing and collaborating with many teams requiring strong communication skills.

The ideal candidate will lead an insight team consisting of functional teams across market research, data strategy, forecasting, resource effectiveness, measurement, marketing/sales operations, digital analytics, competitive insights and strategy. The candidate should have experience leading cross-functional teams (direct line management and indirect management of individuals with a dotted reporting line) in their prior roles and demonstrated the ability to develop talent, create a team culture that brings the best out of everyone in the team.  Individuals in this role should also have shown the ability to mentor and coach teams. The individual will develop the next generation of leaders within DHH (Digital Human Health).  It is critical for the candidate to create a team culture where team members are focused on ‘things that matter’, empowered to act with urgency, actively innovate and are supported through continuous learning and feedback process.  The chosen candidate should be a leader that strongly believes and embraces diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace.

The preferred candidate will have an entrepreneurial spirit, consultative and strategic mindset, experience in oncology & technology (AI, agentic etc.), and a demonstrated record of producing actionable insights from analytics.  The person should be able to identify the data, analytics and research needs to define, enable, and inform commercial strategies of our brand and business leaders. The selected candidate should have a good understanding of US data landscape, commercial analytics capabilities, and technology, including application of GenAI to drive effectiveness. The individual who will thrive in this role will be motivated by developing a deep appreciation of pharma secondary data sources and possess an ability to define and translate objectives and business questions into analytical problems that require advanced and scalable solutions that produce actionable insights.

Education Requirements:

• BS (or equivalent) in Data Science, Mathematics, Economics, Computer Science, Statistics, Decision Science, Marketing, Engineering, Public Health, or equivalent scientific/ commercial discipline.

Preferred Experience and Skills:

• MBA, MS or PhD degree is a plus.

Key Responsibilities:

• Engage with disease aligned teams and leaders across the US commercial organizations to understand their strategic priorities across the commercial value chain from Business Development, Pipeline management to commercial development across launch and in-line assets and indication management. Translate priorities into business needs and enable interconnected problem solving.

• Be a thought leader and strategic partner for commercial teams and senior marketing leaders. Engage, influence and, if needed, challenge commercial partners as an equal partner. Establish and manage close relationships with partners and stakeholders within DHH, marketing, sales, business operations, medical and finance.

• Lead Associate Directors, Senior Specialists and Specialists with direct line management responsibility. The candidate should be able to lead their own teams and cross-functional insights Pods, comprised of cross-functional stakeholder groups across DHH and other parts of the organization.

• Translate business needs and priorities to build analytical plans that answer business questions by providing actionable insights. Effectively communicating advanced analytics to stakeholders to inform business decisions.

• Communicate & collaborate effectively with cross functional teams with competencies in market research, forecasting, commercial analytics, data science, customer engagement, data strategy, population health, competitive insights, marketing operations, medical & clinical backgrounds.

• Develop and own commercial insight generation strategy and roadmap, applying the latest technological advancements such as AI to strengthen efficiency & productivity

• Articulate how the work, done till date, ties to business priorities, identify unmet needs and gaps that need to be addressed. Develop a plan to address the additional needs and/or gaps to enable brand and commercial strategy by working with the functional leaders across DHH organization.

• Understand the full book of work underway and planned to support a disease area or business unit. Work with marketing leadership to prioritize the work that needs to be done considering the capacity availability within DHH.  For the prioritized work, engage DHH cross-functional teams to articulate the value/impact of each piece of work. Create a process to better articulate the ‘so what’ and ‘now what’ and track realized business value.

Education Requirements:

• Understand the full book of work underway and planned to support a disease area or business unit. Work with marketing leadership to prioritize the work that needs to be done considering the capacity availability within DHH.  For the prioritized work, engage DHH cross-functional teams to articulate the value/impact of each piece of work. Create a process to better articulate the ‘so what’ and ‘now what’ and track realized business value.

Required Experience and Skills:

• Minimum of 7+ years of marketing insights and strategy support and expertise in delivering complex analytical projects in the pharmaceutical/biotech industry using brand analytics, market research and/or large patient or physician databases for US

• Experience and/or deep knowledge in oncology

• Minimum 3+ years in leading commercial insights teams

• Knowledge in mining patient medical claims/EMR data with a strategic mindset and proven record of being able to produce actionable business insights that drive positive commercial results.

• Self-motivated, proactive mindset, and ability to work independently.

• Story-telling and executive presence with senior leaders.

• Effective interpersonal skills, communication skills, and stakeholder management, including experience collaborating in a matrixed organization and ability to align stakeholders on data-driven decisions.

• Strong business acumen and consultative skills, with proven ability to comprehend business processes and commercial strategies in detail and translate these into detailed business standards/questions that power analytics.

• Effective organizational and project management skills to work effectively across the organization and manage a team of business analysts and data scientists efficiently and effectively.

• Innovative thinking with affinity toward experimentation and appropriate risk-taking, including curiosity about how agentic AI and automation can enhance commercial analytics and insight generation.

• Awareness of the opportunities, limitations, and responsible use of AI (including agentic AI) in a regulated environment (e.g., data privacy, validation of AI-generated outputs).

• Prior hands-on experience working with healthcare data especially EMR/EHR, Claims Data (i.e. IQVIA APLD) and various data offerings.

• Travel may be required <20%.

Preferred Experience and Skills:

• Travel may be required <20%.

Work location: Upper Gwynedd, PA (role will be hybrid and chosen candidate is expected to be in the office at least 3 days/week).

Required Skills:

Brand Strategy, Business Analysis, Business Decisions, Business Processes, Commercial Analytics, Commercial Strategies, Customer Engagement, Data Science, Demand Management, Go-to-Market Strategies, Innovation, Marketing Leadership, Market Research, Prioritization, Requirements Management, Sourcing and Procurement, Stakeholder Relationship Management, Strategic Planning, Strategic Thinking

Preferred Skills:

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Current Contingent Workers apply HERE

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. Please click here if you need an accommodation during the application or hiring process.

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:

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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.

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The salary range for this role is

$190,800.00 - $300,300.00

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.

You can apply for this role through https://jobs.merck.com/us/en (or via the Workday Jobs Hub if you are a current employee). The application deadline for this position is stated on this posting.

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:

Not Indicated

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

n/a

Job Posting End Date:

05/27/2026

*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.