Job Description

Role Summary

The Field Medical Affairs, Team Lead of US Medical Affairs (USMA) drives strategic clarity, operational excellence, and cross-functional collaboration to enable impactful scientific engagement and insight generation. The Senior Director, Team Lead is a key leader responsible for guiding, coaching, and developing Field Medical Affairs Professionals (FMAP) to execute high-quality scientific and medical activities in alignment with USMA and enterprise priorities. In addition, they ensure all work reflects our company's commitment to scientific integrity, ethical leadership, and patient-centered value.

Responsibilities and Primary Activities

 

Strategic Leadership

• Ensures adherence to company policies and SOPs, execution of field medical plans and strategies, and support of research initiatives as appropriate.
• Provide clear direction, vision, and alignment to USMA strategy and enterprise priorities.
• Foster team cohesion, morale, and resilience through effective communication, recognition, and accountability.
• Create a culture of trust and psychological safety (i.e. safe to speak up) that promotes continuous learning and growth.
• Empower team members to lead, take ownership, and drive innovation across the organization.
• Serve as a trusted partner to senior leaders, offering insights that shape decisions and strategic planning.
• Set clear, measurable objectives aligned to USMA goals and monitor progress against established performance expectations.
• Ensure accountability by the disciplined use of performance documentation, highlighting impact, and addressing gaps in a timely manner.
• Act as a responsible data steward to inform decision making and demonstrate impact by the use of data, metrics, and reporting tools.
• Model integrity and ensure team adherence to compliance, medical governance, and regulatory requirements, fostering a culture of transparency and accountability.
• Contribute to annual budget planning through a clear understanding of future needs, effectively manage team budget, and act as a financial steward of company resources.

 

Medical & Scientific Strategy

• Ensure team understanding and execution of medical and scientific strategies within assigned therapeutic areas or functions.
• Translate strategic objectives into actionable engagement plans and measurable team deliverables.
• Monitor execution quality, scientific accuracy, and compliance with regulatory, legal, and governance requirements.
• Guide teams to engage confidently in scientific exchange, strengthening scientific rigor and external stakeholder value. Ensure teams assert the company’s evidence-based scientific perspective with fair-balance and professionalism.
• Integrate field insights into strategic planning, enabling continuous refinement of USMA medical and scientific priorities.

 

Mentoring & Talent Development

• Coach, mentor, and develop team members through structured feedback, goal setting, and guiding individualized development plans.
• Recruit, onboard, and train while providing ongoing coaching and performance management.
• Strengthen team capability by identifying growth opportunities.
• Partner with HR and leadership to ensure succession readiness within your team.

 

Required Qualifications, Skills, & Experience

 

Minimum

• MD, PhD, PharmD, DNP, or DO with demonstrated ability to effectively lead and coach scientific/medical colleagues at all skill and knowledge levels.
• 3 years in customer-facing, field medical affairs role or relevant experience. Excellent interpersonal communication and presentation skills, strong personal integrity, teamwork abilities (including the ability to lead a therapeutic team across a geographical area), business acumen, and focus on scientific education and dialogue.
• Reside in the Eastern US region
• Ability to organize, prioritize, and work effectively in a constantly changing environment and to motivate a team to do the same. 
• Desire to develop and manage a team in an environment of belonging, engagement and empowerment by:
  • Navigating change in an evolving health care landscape
  • Leveraging to ensure business value, per global strategy.
  • Ensuring accountability to drive an inclusive culture.
  • Strengthening the foundational elements.

Preferred

• 5 years of experience in a field facing role plus prior people management experience.
• Relevant therapeutic area knowledge and/or knowledge of the US healthcare delivery system.
• Previous management experience, especially field-based medical professionals.
• Strong working knowledge of the Microsoft Office Suite and ability to interface effectively with a variety of technical platforms, including Gen AI.
• Scientific/medical research experience, including scientific/medical publications.

#eligibleforERP

Required Skills:

Hypertension, Leadership, Medical Affairs, Medical Communications, People Leadership, Pharmaceutical Medical Affairs, Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension, Scientific Communications, Strategic Thinking, Team Management

Preferred Skills:

Current Employees apply HERE

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.

Learn more about your rights, including under California, Colorado and other US State Acts

The primary location for this posting is:

USA - REMOTE - REMOTE

Where required by law, the compensation range for this role is provided below.

The salary range for the primary location of this role is:

$210,400.00 - $331,100.00

This range reflects the Company's reasonable expectation of the base salary applicable to this role at the time of 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.

Additional location(s): Please note the salary range above applies to the Primary Location of the position. Where a role has other listed locations, different compensation guidelines may apply. You may find the salary ranges for additional locations below. If the salary range is not listed for the location you are applying to, our Talent Acquisition team will provide further information to you relevant to your location.

Additional location(s) Compensation Information:

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:

50%

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Remote

Shift:

Not Indicated

Valid Driving License:

Yes

Hazardous Material(s):

n/a

Job Posting End Date:

10/30/2026

*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.