Job Description

The Director, Data Science (R-track) provides strategic leadership and governance for analytics and data enablement across multiple therapeutic areas. This individual defines and oversees the implementation of enterprise-wide data and analytics strategies, ensuring high-quality automation, methodological consistency, and alignment with clinical and digital health objectives. The Director, Data Science establishes governance frameworks, drive cross-functional collaboration, and advance innovation in analytical methodologies, tools, and automation.

Responsibilities

Data analysis, insights, and visualization

• Lead the development and execution of therapeutic-area data enablement and analytics strategies aligned with organizational goals.
• Guide the creation of analytics KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and dashboards to monitor data performance, quality, and operational efficiency across therapeutic areas.
• Serve as a key advisor to executive leadership, governance boards, and cross-functional leaders by translating analytical insights into strategic business decisions.

Technical delivery, automation, ML/AI enablement

• Maintain accountability for the design, performance, and integrity of automated data and analytics pipelines, ensuring scalability and compliance with regulatory standards.
• Oversee analytics governance to ensure consistent application of standards, metrics, and quality controls across programs and platforms.
• Drive adoption of emerging technologies (e.g., AI/ML, advanced data visualization, predictive analytics) and promote continuous improvement in analytical efficiency and value generation.
• Define and enforce best practices for dataset design, feature engineering, and analytical evaluation to ensure comparability and reproducibility across studies.
• Lead and mentor analytics team members, fostering an environment of innovation, accountability, and collaboration.
• Strengthen organizational analytics maturity through targeted capability development and knowledge-sharing initiatives.
• Partner with clinical, data management, and IT teams to ensure cohesive, interoperable analytics processes that drive meaningful business and scientific outcomes.
• Champion organizational change; drive adoption of new operating models and digital capabilities across global functions

Technical skills

• Expert knowledge of analytics governance frameworks, successful data strategy implementation, and cross-functional data integration techniques.
• Expert knowledge in advanced data analytics, automation, and AI/ML evaluation applied to clinical and digital health data.
• Expert experience in designing and overseeing automated analytics pipelines, data architectures, and metadata-driven workflows.
• Expert command of programming languages and analytics tools (e.g., Python, R, SQL) as well as data visualization and monitoring platforms (e.g., Power BI, Tableau, Spotfire).
• Expert knowledge of clinical and real-world data standards (e.g., CDISC, SDTM) and of regulatory compliance requirements (e.g., GxP, 21 CFR Part 11).
• Expert experience driving enterprise-scale data transformation initiatives and enabling scalable, technology-driven analytics ecosystems.

Non-technical skills

• Ability to distill complex issues into decision-ready narratives; frames options, risks, and recommendations to influence senior decisions.
• Strong proficiency in driving adoption of standardized methods/ways of working; mobilizes cross-functional champions and measures uptake.
• Capable of aligning senior stakeholders on objectives, interfaces, and responsibilities, while ensuring clean handoffs and conflict resolution
• Coordinates decisions across regions/time zones; uses asynchronous mechanisms to maintain momentum.
• Engages vendor forums; represents team professionally and credibly under pressure; maintains resilience and composure.
• Resilient and adaptable, with a balance of strategic vision and operational execution.
• Ability to integrate business, operational, and people dimensions into decision-making.

Enterprise Leadership Skills

• Business Savviness​ | Anticipates business and regulatory issues and shapes strategy accordingly; connects technical expertise to organizational and industry context to make strategic recommendations​
• Influence | Leads large teams / projects, helps shape departmental strategy influences leaders, peers, and cross-functional partners to align on decisions and strategic direction​
• Change Catalyst​ | Drives improvements (e.g., organizational and cultural changes) with broader impact; demonstrates adaptability and ability to collaborate with others to make change successful; helps others overcome resistance to change​

Qualifications & experience

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Statistics, Pharmacy, Nursing, Biological Sciences, or health care related discipline with a minimum of 10 years of experience in relevant field for job description, including:
• Demonstrated aptitude of working with large datasets to transform into actionable insights, deep subject matter expertise in relevant discipline
• People management skills
• Programming and/or analysis experience may include SQL, Python, R, Databricks and the like.
• Expert knowledge of statistics, data visualization, organizational skills, time management, and database concepts.

OR

• Advanced Degree (Masters or Doctorate) in Computer Science, Statistics, Pharmacy, Nursing, Biological Sciences, or health care related discipline with a minimum of 8 years of experience in relevant field for job description, including:
• Demonstrated aptitude of working with large datasets to transform into actionable insights, deep subject matter expertise in relevant discipline
• People management skills
• Programming and/or analysis experience may include SQL, Python, R, Databricks and the like.
• Expert knowledge of statistics, data visualization, organizational skills, time management, and database concepts.

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The salary range for this role is

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.

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