Associate Director, Strategic Planning
Job Summary
Job Description
Corporate Strategic PMO provides enterprise-level governance and strategic project management to ensure the successful delivery and realization of the companys strategy and highest strategic priorities. The role partners with senior leaders to translate strategy and strategic priorities into executable tasks drive cross-functional alignment and delivery discipline surface opportunities and risks early and provide insights that accelerate high-quality management decisions.
Core responsibilities
Corporate Strategic Priorities QBR governance
- Translate enterprise strategic priorities into clear QBR narratives and measurable OKRs with chapter owners; ensure consistent interpretation and alignment across functions.
- Lead quarterly QBR planning and assessment; run the governance cadence and cross-functional alignments decision-making; surface cross-BU dependencies constraints delivery risks and support needed.
- Identify emerging opportunities and leadership-ready strategic insights by synthesizing complex inputs to enable timely high-quality management decisions.
- Establish a closed-loop feedback mechanism with key stakeholders; continuously improve QBR governance effectiveness strategic fit and execution quality.
Corporate Strategic Initiatives Realization
- Lead end-to-end strategic project management for corporate initiativesset up the team define scope and success metrics build integrated plans and governance manage interdependencies and ensure disciplined delivery aligned to corporate priorities.
- Drive value realization by identifying opportunities gaps and cross-functional synergies; convert delivery signals into insights to accelerate high-quality leadership decisions.
- Own risks issues and critical path items through disciplined RAID management; drive early escalation mitigation and contingency planning to protect outcomes and timelines.
Agile Project Management Legacy & Capability Building
- Institutionalize enterprise agile delivery by establishing a professional agile project management framework standards and toolkit that is scalable and reusable.
Qualifications
- Bachelors degree or above; PMP / Scrum certification is a strong plus.
- 5 years of project management experience within a pharmaceutical company (or closely related biotech/healthcare environment) with exposure to cross-functional stakeholders and regulated operations.
- Proven track record leading enterprise projects and transformational changes in complex matrixed organizations balancing speed quality and governance.
- Executive stakeholder management: influence across functions and communicate clearly with senior leadership using concise decision-oriented narratives.
- Change leadership: design endtoend adoption strategies mobilize stakeholders and build sustainable change capability.
- Strong command of PM tooling and data-driven governance; hands-on experience applying agile delivery methods in complex projects.
- Leadership maturity: strategic thinking structured problem solving influencing without authority resilience and strong compliance mindset.
- Expertise in strategy-to-execution operating models project governance.
- Fluent in English and Mandarin for effective communication.
Required Skills:
Adaptability Agile Project Management Data-Driven Decision Making Developing Proposals Project Governance Project Management Resource Allocation Risk Management Stakeholder Management Strategic Planning Strategic ThinkingPreferred Skills:
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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:
RegularRelocation:
No relocationVISA Sponsorship:
NoTravel Requirements:
No Travel RequiredFlexible Work Arrangements:
Not ApplicableShift:
Not IndicatedValid Driving License:
NoHazardous Material(s):
n/aJob Posting End Date:
07/31/2026*A job posting is effective until 11:59:59PM on the day BEFOREthe listed job posting end date. Please ensure you apply to a job posting no later than the day BEFORE the job posting end date.
Required Experience:
Director
About Company
Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, New Jersey, USA is known as “Merck” in the United States, Canada & Puerto Rico. We are known as “MSD” in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Latin America & Asia Pacific. We are a global biopharmaceutical leader with a diverse portfolio of prescription medicine ... View more