Director, Functional Area Geography Lead, External Data Management
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Job Summary
Job Description
The Director Functional Area Geography Lead provides strategic and operational leadership for all functional area activities within an assigned geography. This role drives execution of regional and global priorities ensures quality and compliance develops organizational capabilities and leads high-performing teams. The incumbent fosters innovation standardization digital transformation and effective cross-functional collaboration to deliver measurable business outcomes.
- Define and execute the functional areas strategy operating model and multi-year optimization roadmap within the assigned geography aligned with GDMS and enterprise priorities.
- Lead cross-functional partnerships with internal stakeholders and support functions to achieve regional objectives.
- Communicate risks trade-offs and recommendations to senior leadership while promoting innovation automation and risk-based data management practices.
- Identify opportunities to expand capabilities adopt industry best practices and implement new technologies across relevant organizations.
- Ensure consistent execution quality compliance and operational excellence across the region.
Operational Governance & Execution
- Drive delivery of compliant high-quality decision-ready data and processes supporting clinical regulatory and operational milestones.
- Maintain inspection readiness and ensure adherence to global and local quality regulatory privacy and system validation requirements.
- Oversee regional risk escalation capacity and resource management processes.
- Analyze operational and performance trends to improve efficiency quality and employee engagement.
- Partner with resource and portfolio teams to forecast demand optimize capacity and implement performance dashboards.
- Provide clear operational updates and serve as the primary escalation point for regional issues.
- Lead and contribute to global initiatives focused on continuous improvement and capability development.
People Leadership & Talent Development
- Set clear goals priorities and performance expectations aligned with organizational objectives.
- Lead recruiting onboarding performance management succession planning and talent development activities.
- Coach mentor and develop team members through regular feedback career planning recognition and growth opportunities.
- Foster an inclusive collaborative and high-performance culture across globally distributed teams.
- Manage workforce planning contingent resources and operating budgets to support business priorities.
- Strong knowledge of clinical data management clinical trial operations and the clinical development lifecycle.
- Expertise in ICH-GCP guidelines regulatory requirements inspection readiness and 21 CFR Part 11.
- Experience implementing risk-based digital and automated data management practices.
- Advanced analytical forecasting capacity planning and dashboard reporting capabilities.
- Knowledge of data standards data governance system validation privacy requirements and study start-up processes.
- Experience managing vendors SLAs SOWs performance metrics and contract risks.
- Proven ability to drive organizational change innovation standardization and continuous improvement.
- Demonstrated financial acumen including budget ownership workforce planning and investment management.
- Deep expertise in end-to-end clinical data management clinical trial operations and the clinical development lifecycle.
- Strong knowledge of ICH-GCP guidelines regulatory requirements clinical data standards and quality frameworks.
- Proven experience leading risk-based data management strategies vendor oversight and outsourced delivery models.
- Experience with data governance study start-up systems data flows and clinical technology platforms.
- Demonstrated ability to design validate and deliver high-quality clinical data in support of regulatory submissions and business objectives.
Leadership & Interpersonal Skills
- Strong stakeholder management collaboration and influencing skills across all organizational levels.
- Ability to lead cross-functional and virtual teams without direct authority.
- Excellent judgment problem-solving and decision-making skills in complex environments.
- Demonstrated success building developing and leading high-performing global teams.
- Excellent written and verbal English communication skills.
- Strong coaching talent development and performance management capabilities.
Enterprise Leadership Competencies
- Execution Excellence: Delivers high-quality KPI-driven outcomes and continuous performance improvement.
- Strategic Planning: Aligns regional strategy with organizational priorities and drives execution through influence.
- Networking & Partnerships: Builds effective internal and external relationships to advance business objectives.
- Strong stakeholder management and ability to influence senior leaders and cross-functional teams.
- Proven success leading developing and retaining high-performing global teams.
- Excellent coaching talent development succession planning and performance management capabilities.
- Strong business acumen decision-making problem-solving and organizational leadership skills.
- Highly adaptable and effective in complex fast-paced and evolving environments.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.
Qualifications & Experience
- Bachelors degree with 10 years of relevant data management experience or an Advanced Degree with 8 years of relevant experience.
- 3 years of people management experience.
- Demonstrated expertise in clinical data management and clinical trial operations.
- Proven success leading large globally distributed teams and complex cross-functional initiatives.
Required Skills:
Adaptability Adaptability Budget Management Clinical Data Management Clinical Trials Cross-Functional Collaboration Data Validation Decision Making eCRF Ethical Standards Good Clinical Data Management Practice (GCDMP) Good Clinical Practice (GCP) Inspection Readiness Labor Compliance Mentoring Staff Metadata Management Operational Decisions Organizational Performance Management People Leadership Performance Dashboards Strategic Collaborations Strategic Thinking Study Data Tabulation Model (SDTM) Talent Management Team Leadership 1 morePreferred Skills:
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Job Posting End Date:
08/28/2026*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.
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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
