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Associate Director, US Launch Excellence

MSD

North Wales, PAHybridPosted 10 days ago$142,400.00 - $224,100.00
Full TimeDirector & AboveCommercial & Pharma SalesPharmaceutical
Original posting ↗

Summary

Global Commercial & Launch Excellence | Immunology and IBD Launches. Help launch teams turn strategy into coordinated action, stronger decisions and sustained readiness.

Job description

The Opportunity

The Associate Director, US Launch Excellence will serve as the strategic launch partner for the US Immunology pipeline, with primary focus on approaching inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) launches. This role sits at the intersection of strategy, planning and execution, helping teams connect decisions, dependencies and workstreams into one integrated view of launch readiness. You will work closely with marketing leadership, cross-functional launch teams, Global partners and Centers of Excellence to translate strategy into action, anticipate what could affect readiness and help the team make timely, well-informed decisions.

What You Will Do

Lead integrated launch planning and readiness

  • Partner with marketing and launch leaders to translate brand, customer and go-to-market strategy into integrated, adaptable launch plans with clear outcomes, milestones, dependencies and ownership.
  • Orchestrate readiness across core and extended launch workstreams, connecting functional plans and maintaining a clear view of the critical path.
  • Create transparent ways to assess readiness, surface gaps and support decisions through launch plans, readiness indicators, dashboards and key performance indicators.
  • Support pre-launch measurement, launch monitoring and post-launch hypercare.

Anticipate risk and strengthen decisions

  • Identify and challenge launch-critical risks, assumptions and interdependencies early; facilitate mitigation, trade-off and escalation discussions.
  • Lead scenario planning and prioritization to help teams focus attention and resources on the work most important to launch success.
  • Bring an outside-in and enterprise perspective, applying launch excellence practices while tailoring the approach to the asset, market and IBD customer ecosystem.

Operate as a strategic launch partner

  • Serve as a trusted thought partner and launch excellence subject matter expert.
  • Design and facilitate core and extended launch team meetings and other readiness forums that drive alignment, decisions, accountability and follow-through.
  • Build strong partnerships across Marketing, Medical Affairs, Market Access, Patient Support, Data & Analytics, Digital, Field and Learning & Development, as well as Global teams and Centers of Excellence.
  • Clarify Global-to-US inputs, ownership and handoffs.

Advance launch excellence capabilities

  • Capture and apply launch learnings, reusable practices and knowledge to strengthen future Immunology and US Human Health launches.
  • Improve launch ways of working across people, process and technology, including responsible use of digital and AI-enabled capabilities.
  • Help evolve the launch partner model beyond program coordination toward strategic partnership.

What You Bring

Required Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, General Management, Biotechnology or a related field.
  • Minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology or life sciences consulting industry, including experience in marketing, sales, strategy and planning, commercial operations or related launch work.
  • Demonstrated ability to translate strategy into executable plans and lead complex, cross-functional initiatives in a matrixed organization.
  • Strong program and project management capabilities, including managing multiple priorities, milestones, risks and interdependencies.
  • Proven ability to influence without direct authority, build commitment and create accountability across functions and organizational levels.
  • Excellent written, verbal, facilitation and presentation skills, with the ability to simplify complexity and communicate clearly with senior stakeholders.
  • Willingness to travel as needed and meet the on-site expectations defined for the approved role and location.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience leading or materially supporting a new branded product, indication or commercial program launch in the pharmaceutical or biopharmaceutical industry.
  • Immunology, gastroenterology or IBD experience, including familiarity with complex patient, provider, access and account pathways.
  • Experience across integrated go-to-market planning, patient support, market access, field readiness, customer experience or launch measurement.
  • Demonstrated use of data and insights to inform priorities, readiness decisions, KPIs and performance optimization.
  • Experience with scenario planning, Agile ways of working, launch governance, knowledge management or post-launch hypercare.
  • Experience working across Global and market teams or in an alliance environment.

Critical Skills and Competencies

  • Strategic acumen: Connects market, customer and enterprise context to the priorities that matter most, then translates strategy into action.
  • Integrated launch orchestration: Creates structure across complex workstreams while keeping the team focused on outcomes, dependencies and the critical path.
  • Constructive challenge: Uses sound judgment and thoughtful questions to test assumptions, expose gaps and improve decisions.
  • Systems and risk thinking: Anticipates downstream implications, sees connections across workstreams and helps teams act early.
  • Stakeholder leadership: Builds trust, aligns perspectives and mobilizes teams through influence rather than authority.
  • Executive communication: Turns complex information into clear, concise and decision-oriented narratives.
  • Learning agility: Adapts quickly, seeks outside-in perspectives and applies lessons across launches.
  • Ownership and follow-through: Creates clarity, maintains momentum and ensures decisions translate into accountable action.

Why This Role Matters

This role offers the opportunity to shape readiness for a growing Immunology pipeline, partner with leaders across the enterprise and influence how US Launch Excellence evolves. The impact extends beyond a single asset: you will help build stronger launch teams, better ways of working and capabilities that can scale across future launches.

Requirements

  • Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, General Management, Biotechnology or a related field
  • Minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology or life sciences consulting industry
  • Experience in marketing, sales, strategy and planning, commercial operations or related launch work
  • Demonstrated ability to translate strategy into executable plans and lead complex, cross-functional initiatives in a matrixed organization
  • Strong program and project management capabilities, including managing multiple priorities, milestones, risks and interdependencies
  • Proven ability to influence without direct authority, build commitment and create accountability across functions and organizational levels
  • Excellent written, verbal, facilitation and presentation skills
  • Willingness to travel as needed and meet on-site expectations

Benefits

  • Medical, Dental & Vision
  • Retirement Benefits
  • 401(k)
  • Paid Holidays
  • Vacation
  • Compassionate & Sick Days
  • Annual Bonus
  • Long-Term Incentive

Company overview

MSD, known as Merck Sharp & Dohme outside the United States and Canada, is a global research-intensive biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Rahway, New Jersey. Founded in 1891, the company has established itself as one of the world's leading pharmaceutical corporations with a rich history spanning over 130 years. MSD operates as the international division of Merck & Co., Inc., focusing on the discovery, development, manufacturing, and marketing of innovative medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, and animal health products. The company's extensive portfolio includes groundbreaking treatments in oncology, infectious diseases, cardiology, diabetes, and vaccines, with notable products such as Keytruda (pembrolizumab) for cancer immunotherapy, Gardasil for HPV prevention, and Januvia for diabetes management. MSD maintains a strong commitment to research and development, investing significantly in scientific innovation to address unmet medical needs worldwide. With approximately 75,000 employees globally, the company operates through four main segments: pharmaceuticals, animal health, healthcare services, and strategic alliances. MSD's mission centers on using leading-edge science to save and improve lives around the world, guided by the principle that medicine is for people, not profits.

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