Executive Director, AP Commercial Operations & Strategy

Job Description

• Lead regional strategy, commercial excellence, and transformational initiatives that improve outcomes for markets, customers, and patients

• Partner with senior leaders to turn bold ambitions into measurable business results across Asia Pacific.

• Build high-performing teams, strengthen commercial capabilities, and help shape one of the region's most significant growth and launch periods

Role Overview:
The Head of Asia Pacific Commercial Operations is a business-critical leadership role reporting directly to the President, Asia Pacific. Asia Pacific is at a pivotal point. The region must continue to maximize its strong in-line business while preparing for one of the most significant launch periods in its history across Oncology, Specialty Medicines, and Vaccines.
 

As the Commercial Operations leader, you will serve as a trusted strategic thought partner to the Asia Pacific President and help the region operate with clarity, speed, discipline, and strong execution. The role will lead the teams, capabilities, governance, and operating processes required to strengthen business performance, improve launch readiness, and deliver greater impact for markets, customers, and patients.
 

The role has leadership responsibility for Commercial and Sales Excellence, Alliance Management, Strategy and Operations, the Patient Financial Program, and Marketing Operations. The leader will also strengthen alignment across Managing Directors, regional leaders, and cross-functional partners to advance shared priorities and deliver measurable outcomes.
 

The successful candidate will bring maturity, strategic judgment, curiosity, autonomy, urgency, and a strong ownership mindset. This individual must anticipate needs, stay one step ahead, and lead complex work from assessment and redesign through implementation and sustained improvement.
No Relocation Support Provided.
 

• Translate the Asia Pacific strategy into clear priorities, execution plans, milestones, and measures of success.

• Serve as a strategic thought partner to the Asia Pacific President, providing independent thinking, candid advice, and clear recommendations.

• Lead critical regional priorities and strengthen business reviews, decision-making, accountability, and follow-through.

• Align Managing Directors, regional leaders, and cross-functional partners around shared priorities and outcomes.
   

Commercial and Sales Excellence

• Define and lead the Asia Pacific approach to commercial excellence, sales effectiveness, and customer engagement.

• Build scalable capabilities across segmentation, targeting, resource deployment, incentives, coaching, and field performance.

• Improve the productivity and effectiveness of customer-facing teams through simpler processes, stronger tools, and reduced administrative burden.

• Ensure regional capabilities deliver measurable value to markets, customers, and the business.
   

Marketing Operations

• Lead and shape the newly integrated Asia Pacific Marketing Operations team.

• Clarify the team’s mandate, priorities, operating model, and value to regional and market teams.

• Improve the quality, speed, consistency, and efficiency of priority marketing processes and services.

• Expand the effective use of technology, data, analytics, automation, and artificial intelligence.
   

Alliance Management

• Lead the regional approach to strategic alliances and selected commercial partnerships.

• Establish clear governance, decision rights, performance expectations, and escalation processes.

• Integrate commercial, financial, operational, legal, compliance, and reputational considerations.

• Support markets and global teams in resolving complex issues and maximizing alliance value.
   

Financial Patient Program

• Lead the team responsible for the governance and program management of the Patient  Financial Program.

• Ensure clear ownership, decision rights, governance standards, risk visibility, and escalation processes.

• Ensure material outliers, control issues, investigations, and remediation actions are identified and tracked through closure.

• Provide the Steering Committee with timely, concise, evidence-based, and decision-oriented materials.
   

People, Capabilities and Organizational Leadership

• Build and lead a high-performing Asia Pacific Commercial Operations organization across all five areas of responsibility.

• Ensure the right leadership, talent, skills, structure, and capacity are in place to support current and future business needs.

• Set clear expectations and provide active direction, coaching, development, challenge, and accountability.

• Lead the end-to-end assessment, redesign, simplification, implementation, and sustained improvement of critical processes and capabilities.
   

• Significant senior leadership experience in Commercial Operations, General Management, commercial strategy, marketing, or a related discipline.

• Experience leading multiple teams and capabilities across markets, regions, or business units.

• Proven success translating strategy into execution and leading change within a complex, matrixed, and highly regulated organization.

• Demonstrated ability to influence senior leaders, build strong teams, simplify complex issues, and deliver measurable outcomes.
   

• Experience in both regional and market-based leadership roles.

• Experience with commercial, business, or P&L accountability.

• Experience across Sales Excellence, Strategy and Operations, Alliance Management, Marketing Operations, or financial patient programs.

• Experience using technology, analytics, digital tools, automation, or artificial intelligence to improve business performance.
   

Who we are: 

We are known as Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, New Jersey, USA in the United States and Canada and MSD everywhere else. For more than a century, we have been bringing forward medicines and vaccines for many of the world's most challenging diseases. Today, our company continues to be at the forefront of research to deliver innovative health solutions and advance the prevention and treatment of diseases that threaten people and animals around the world.
 

What we look for:

Imagine getting up in the morning for a job as important as helping to save and improve lives around the world. Here, you have that opportunity. You can put your empathy, creativity, digital mastery, or scientific genius to work in collaboration with a diverse group of colleagues who pursue and bring hope to countless people who are battling some of the most challenging diseases of our time. Our team is constantly evolving, so if you are among the intellectually curious, join us—and start making your impact today

Required Skills:

Business Consulting Services, Business Decisions, Business Development, Business Management, Business Planning, Client Counseling, Emerging Technologies, Management Consulting, Operational Acceptance Testing (OAT), People Management, Product Management, Project Management, Requirements Management, Solution Architecture, Stakeholder Relationship Management, Strategic Analysis, Strategic Consulting, Strategic Management, Strategic Planning, Strategy Development, Technical Advice, User Experience (UX) Design, Waterfall Model

Preferred Skills:

Current Employees apply HERE

Current Contingent Workers apply HERE

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:

Regular

Relocation:

No relocation

VISA Sponsorship:

Yes

Travel Requirements:

50%

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Hybrid

Shift:

Not Indicated

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

NA

Job Posting End Date:

09/30/2026

*A job posting is effective until 11:59:59PM on the day BEFORE the listed job posting end date. Please ensure you apply to a job posting no later than the day BEFORE the job posting end date.