Associate Director, Global Marketing - Obesity

Job Description

The Global Commercial Metabolism Team is responsible for shaping the global commercial strategy for our Obesity portfolio, with a focus on building differentiated, insight-driven strategies that position assets for long-term success in a highly dynamic and competitive market.

The Associate Director, Global Marketing – Obesity will operate at the intersection of strategy, asset development, and customer insight, with responsibility for advancing overall global commercial strategy across obesity assets in development. This individual will bring a dual focus on healthcare professional (HCP) and healthcare customer (HCC) audiences, helping define how each asset can be positioned, differentiated, and valued in the future market environment.

Key responsibilities for this role may include, but are not limited to the following:

• Lead and support development of the overall global commercial strategy for obesity assets, ensuring strategies are insight-driven and aligned to enterprise priorities.

• Develop clear and differentiated HCP and HCC value propositions for each asset and implications for future positioning.

• Apply the brand strategy framework (L3 EARLY) to build and refine commercial foundations, including market in focus, asset differentiators, initial brand positioning, value propositions and early asset strategy.

• Partner with cross-functional colleagues to identify commercial implications of target product profiles, endpoints, patient populations, evidence needs, and development choices.

• Monitor, synthesize, and communicate competitive insights that are meaningful for the obesity franchise and build future scenarios.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to evaluate and build for success against identified strategic opportunities, including opportunity spaces, priority customer segments, unmet needs, access considerations, and potential areas for innovation.

• Partner with regional and key market colleagues to reflect relevant market realities while maintaining strategic consistency across the portfolio.

• Operate as a key member of the Global Commercial Team, leading without authority, fostering enterprise collaboration, and helping build a culture of strategic rigor, accountability, inclusion, and One Team ways of working.

Required Qualifications:

• Education: Bachelor's Degree

• Minimum of 7 years of progressive experience across marketing, market access, strategy, in the pharmaceutical/biotechnology or health and wellness industry.

• Minimum 3 years’ experience in global contributing to asset or portfolio strategy.

• Experience developing HCP and/or HCC strategies, value propositions, positioning, messaging, or customer insight-driven strategic deliverables.

• Strong understanding of early asset development, commercial input into development decisions, and the role of marketing in shaping target product profile, evidence, positioning, and future launch strategy.

• Experience in synthesizing complex market, clinical, and access inputs into clear strategic implications and executive-ready recommendations.

Preferred Qualifications:  

• Experience in obesity, cardiometabolic, diabetes, cardiovascular, renal, or other highly competitive specialty markets preferred.

• Preferred Education: Advanced Degree (MBA)

• Demonstrated ability to think beyond the current market and anticipate how market shifts may shape the future.

• Entrepreneurship: Ability to create high-value deliverables from white space, operate with ambiguity, and identify opportunities to differentiate and win.

• Competitive mindset with experience interpreting and communicating intelligence in a way that informs strategic choices and franchise priorities.

• Cross-Functional Leadership: Strong collaboration skills and ability to lead without authority across Commercial, Clinical Development, Medical Affairs, Market Access, Outcomes Research, Policy, Competitive Intelligence, Forecasting, regional teams, and agency partners.

• Experience applying L3 EARLY, L3 NEXT, launch excellence, or similar strategic marketing frameworks to guide asset or brand strategy development.

• Influence and Communication: Ability to communicate complex insights simply and credibly, tailor messages for senior leaders and cross-functional audiences, and drive alignment across stakeholders.

• Executional Excellence: Ability to manage multiple priorities, clarify decisions, align stakeholders, and deliver high-quality strategic outputs on time.

• Innovation and Learning Agility: Curiosity, external orientation, and willingness to challenge the status quo to identify new ways to create value for customers, patients, and the enterprise.

Required Skills:

Adaptability, Biopharmaceutical Industry, Biotechnology, Brand Strategy, Communication Strategy Development, Creativity, Cross-Functional Collaboration, Cross-Team Collaboration, Customer-Focused, Customer Insights, Global Marketing, Market Access, Market Research, Product Management, Strategic Market Analysis, 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

$142,400.00 - $224,100.00

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

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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:

08/12/2026

*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.