Business Insights & Analytics, Associate Director

Job Description

The Associate Director, Business Insights & Analytics, US Oncology, HHDDA (Human Health Digital, Data, and Analytics) will be responsible for partnering with commercial teams to ensure business decisions are grounded in data-driven insights. The individual in this role will act as a “First” point of contact for our commercial organization and will lead the broader HHDDA cross-functional team including market research, data strategy, data visualization, data science, and forecasting to help scope, design and deliver well-defined projects with actionable insights to drive greater customer and market understanding. An essential part of the role is clear communication of these data-driven, actionable insights to inform brand strategy for launch as well as in-line indications in a highly competitive environment.

The preferred candidate will have an entrepreneurial spirit and consultative mindset in addition to well-developed leadership and collaboration skills., Strategic thinking and thorough understanding of healthcare & pharma data are essential as is the ability to frame business decisions in a structured way that leads to solvable business questions, which can be answered through primary market research and/or secondary data driven analytics.  The candidate should be able to anticipate the insights and analytics required by our business partners, then collaborate with market research, data strategy, data science and other Centers of Excellence within HHDDA to identify the appropriate data sources and analytics solutions to inform those commercial decisions. The candidate will have demonstrated consistently strong leadership skills, including the ability to lead a large cross functional team.  The person will be required to have a growth mindset and embody a culture of continuous learning. This role will require interfacing and collaborating with many teams. Strong communication skills are essential for a candidate to be successful in this role.

Individuals who will thrive in this role are motivated by developing a deep understanding of the pharmaceutical business and possess an ability to translate business questions into solvable pieces, drive solutioning, and enable inter-connected problem solving to produce actionable insights.

Primary Responsibilities: 

• Lead commercial analytics for US Thoracic tumors focused on lung cancer
• Inform choice of appropriate analytical techniques/methodologies and solutions leveraging understanding of pharmaceutical data landscape
• Proactively monitor business performance leveraging both secondary data and primary market research to identify growth opportunities and risks
• Serve as strategic partner for business leaders to help shape commercial decisions informed by data-driven insights
• Lead a large cross-functional team across HHDDA functions including data science, data strategy, data solutions, market research, and forecasting
• Understand business stakeholders' priorities to help develop data-driven solutions that support business objectives in collaboration with the broader commercial insights team
• Maintain a deep understanding of the therapeutic area, with familiarity of key insights from existing market research, forecasting competitive intelligence, and commercial analytics
• Establish and manage close relationships with partners and stakeholders within HHDDA, marketing, medical, and finance
• Lead agile working teams and PODs comprised of cross-functional stakeholder groups to solve a wide variety of business questions that inform brand and marketing strategy
• Communicate & collaborate effectively with broader ecosystem with competencies in market research, forecasting, customer engagement, data strategy, population health, marketing operations, medical & clinical backgrounds.
• Display comfort in generating insights from both primary market research and secondary data analytics to synthesize actionable insights that answers the ‘so what’ and ‘now what’ and help realize business value
• Work with marketing leadership to prioritize the work that needs to be done considering the capacity availability within HHDDA
• Articulate how the work done till date ties to business priorities, identify unmet needs and gaps that need to be addressed, and develop a plan to address the additional needs and/or gaps to enable brand and commercial strategy by working with the functional leaders across Human Health Digital, Data and Analytics organization
• Understand the full book of work across HHDDA that is underway and planned in support of a brand, tumor, indication or business unit. Work with cross functional teams to articulate the value or impact of each piece of work
• Travel may be required (<10%).

Education Minimum Requirements: 

• BS Degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Management Information Systems, IT, or an equivalent scientific/commercial discipline
• MBA or Master’s degree in Engineering, Biological Sciences, Public Health, Nursing, Pharmacy, Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science preferred

Required Experience and Skills: 

• Minimum of 5+ years of relevant delivery of complex analytical projects in the pharmaceutical/biotech industry using market research and/or large patient or physician databases
• Strong understanding of Oncology health care landscape and commercial analytics capabilities (market research, forecasting, data driven analytics, advanced analytics). Experience could be from a similar role at a pharmaceuticals firm or at a management consulting firm

• Professional experience in applied data science and analytics, familiarity with visualization, data story telling is required. Able to understand key takeaways and insights from various functional teams and articulate the ‘so what’ and ‘now what’ to senior leaders

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills 
• Self-motivated, proactive, ability to work independently and collaborate seamlessly. Ability to operate in an unstructured environment and have strong organizational skills to create structure and clarity
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate and lead with diverse groups of work colleagues and positively manage ambiguity. Ability to lead cross functional pods
• Excellent organizational skills, with ability to navigate a complex matrix environment and organize/prioritize work efficiently and effectively

• Ability to understand brand strategy and break down business questions into specific, tangible hypotheses and requirements to guide analysis

• Demonstrated ability to enable inter-connected problem solving with an appreciation for market research and data oriented analytical methods
• Must have previous experience in Commercial insights & analytics (market research, data analytics, business intelligence and/or forecasting)

Preferred Experience and Skills: 

• Oncology therapeutic area experience with depth in lung cancer preferred
• Experience in healthcare data, analytics and/or market research especially in Oncology
• Have hands on experience with some data base management and/or business intelligence tools like SQL, SAS, R, Python and development experience in tools like Power BI, Spotfire, Qlik, Tableau

Position location: Upper Gwynedd, PA
This is a hybrid role with expectation to be on site 2-3 days a week in Upper Gwynedd, PA

Our Human Health Division maintains a “patient first, profits later” ideology. The organization is comprised of sales, marketing, market access, digital analytics and commercial professionals who are passionate about their role in bringing our medicines to our customers worldwide.  

NOTICE FOR INTERNAL APPLICANTS

In accordance with Managers' Policy - Job Posting and Employee Placement, all employees subject to this policy are required to have a minimum of twelve (12) months of service in current position prior to applying for open positions.

If you have been offered a separation benefits package, but have not yet reached your separation date and are offered a position within the salary and geographical parameters as set forth in the Summary Plan Description (SPD) of your separation package, then you are no longer eligible for your separation benefits package. To discuss in more detail, please contact your HRBP or Talent Acquisition Advisor.

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U.S. Hybrid Work Model

Effective September 5, 2023, employees in office-based positions in the U.S. will be working a Hybrid work consisting of three total days on-site per week, Monday - Thursday, although the specific days may vary by site or organization, with Friday designated as a remote-working day, unless business critical tasks require an on-site presence.This Hybrid work model does not apply to, and daily in-person attendance is required for, field-based positions; facility-based, manufacturing-based, or research-based positions where the work to be performed is located at a Company site; positions covered by a collective-bargaining agreement (unless the agreement provides for hybrid work); or any other position for which the Company has determined the job requirements cannot be reasonably met working remotely. Please note, this Hybrid work model guidance also does not apply to roles that have been designated as “remote”.

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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:

Yes

Travel Requirements:

10%

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Hybrid

Shift:

Not Indicated

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

N/A

Required Skills:

Business Intelligence (BI), Database Design, Data Engineering, Data Modeling, Data Science, Data Visualization, Machine Learning, Software Development, Stakeholder Relationship Management, Waterfall Model

Preferred Skills:

Job Posting End Date:

02/27/2025

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