Associate Director, Marketing - Patient Adherence

Job Description
Our commercial teams are passionate about bringing our medicines and vaccines to our customers around the world. The Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) brand team is recruiting an Associate Director of Consumer Marketing to lead the strategy, development, and sustained performance of the Patient Adherence Program designed to help patients start therapy, stay on therapy, and achieve the best possible experience over time. This role is accountable for building an integrated adherence ecosystem, combining patient insights, behavioral science‑informed interventions, omnichannel engagement, hub/specialty pharmacy coordination, and robust analytics, to deliver measurable patient impact and outcomes.

Reporting to the U.S. Consumer Marketing Lead, the Adherence Program Lead will operate as a cross‑functional orchestrator of the program, setting the vision, driving execution, establishing governance and measurement, and evolving the program through continuous improvement and innovation in close partnership with key internal and external stakeholders.

Within the first 12‑18 months, the successful leader will:

Stand up and scale an omnichannel adherence program that measurably improves persistence, confidence, and sustained engagement across key patient segments; build a clear adherence “strategy‑to‑execution” operating model, including governance, decision rights, vendor/agency model, budget, and compliance documentation.

Establish an adherence measurement framework (KPIs, dashboards, reporting cadence) that ties interventions to patient and business outcomes and enables test‑and‑learn optimization.

Drive seamless integration across the patient journey – coordinating with hub services, distribution/specialty pharmacy, digital/data/IT, and field teams to reduce friction points that threaten adherence.

Evolve the program pipeline (MVP 2.0 +) continuously improving content and experiences through insights, operational learnings, and emerging capabilities/technology.

Primary Responsibilities
1) Adherence Strategy & Program Architecture

Own the end‑to‑end adherence strategy: refine the program north star, target behaviors, segment needs, value proposition, and the integrated set of interventions that address adherence barriers across the journey.

Translate patient insights, behavioral barriers, and operational learnings into prioritized program enhancements that improve the patient experience and retention outcomes.

2) Omnichannel Engagement & Content Excellence

Lead development of omnichannel adherence interventions (e.g., CRM journeys, email/SMS where appropriate, web experiences, education content, toolkits) aligned to brand strategy and patient needs.

Ensure adherence communications are built for confidence‑building, expectation‑setting at initiation, and sustained reinforcement – tailored by segment and lifecycle stage.

Partner with Global/Comms and internal brand teams to ensure message consistency, education alignment, and channel synergy.

3) Data, Measurement, and Performance Management

Partner with Digital, Data & Analytics and IT to define adherence KPIs, data requirements, and dashboards, enabling performance tracking, insight generation, and ongoing optimization.

Build a closed‑loop measurement approach: connect interventions to outcomes (engagement, behavioral proxies, persistence metrics where available), and drive test/learn/scale cycles.

Synthesize complex data sets (patient experience signals, operational metrics, channel performance) to uncover drivers, risks, and opportunities to improve adherence outcomes.

4) Enterprise Collaboration & Journey Integration

Enable collaboration across Marketing, Patient Experience, Market Access, Field Access, Medical Affairs, Regulatory, Legal/Compliance, Pharmacovigilance, Privacy, distribution/specialty pharmacy, and hub/patient services to optimize the post‑Rx experience.

Ensure program design integrates seamlessly into the real‑world ecosystem (hub workflows, specialty pharmacy touchpoints, field education needs, consent capture considerations, etc.).

5) Operating Model, Vendor Leadership, and Executional Excellence

Lead integrated planning: program roadmap, timelines, resourcing, risk logs, and decision points; drive disciplined execution with clear milestones and accountability.

Oversee agencies and vendors (AORs, digital partners, operational partners): contracts/SOWs, SLAs, performance management, and budget stewardship.

6) Governance, Compliance, and Risk Management

Ensure adherence program strategy and execution are compliant with applicable requirements (e.g., FDA promotional regulations, privacy/HIPAA considerations, OIG guidance, state laws, AE/product complaint reporting), and partner with Legal/Compliance for approvals and monitoring.

Embed governance and guardrails into the program's operating rhythm to enable speed without compromising compliance.

Education

Required: BA/BS

Preferred: MBA, MPH (or advanced degree in a related field)

Required Experience & Capabilities

5+ years of relevant experience in U.S. pharma/biopharma across consumer marketing, patient support, patient experience, access/coverage, distribution/SP ecosystem, and/or digital engagement.

Demonstrated success building and executing integrated marketing/program strategies with measurable outcomes.

Strong cross‑functional leadership‑ability to influence senior stakeholders and align complex enterprise teams.

Strong business and financial acumen (budget ownership, vendor management, value‑case thinking).

Strong written/verbal communication and executive‑ready storytelling with data.

Preferred Experience

Experience designing, scaling, or optimizing patient adherence/retention programs and/or high‑touch patient support models (hub services, specialty pharmacy‑distributed therapies).

Rare disease and/or specialty therapy commercialization experience; PAH familiarity a plus.

Strong understanding of U.S. commercial and regulatory environment affecting patient programs (privacy, PV, compliance guardrails).

Hands‑on experience with analytics and CX tooling (journey mapping, service design, call analytics, CRM/case management, BI tools such as Tableau/Power BI).

Experience operating in agile or agile‑like delivery models.

Required Skills

Adaptability

Agile Methodology

Business Planning Development

Competitor Analysis

Digital Marketing

Executive Presence

Financial Analysis

Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

Market Access

Market Planning

Market Research Techniques

Market Trend Analysis

Medical Affairs

Oral Communications

Organizational Performance Management

Patient Engagement

Performance Tracking

Product Management

Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

Strategic Planning

Strategic Thinking

Vendor Management

Preferred Skills

Adaptability

Agile Methodology

Business Planning Development

Competitor Analysis

Digital Marketing

Executive Presence

Financial Analysis

Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

Market Access

Market Planning

Market Research Techniques

Market Trend Analysis

Medical Affairs

Oral Communications

Organizational Performance Management

Patient Engagement

Performance Tracking

Product Management

Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

Strategic Planning

Strategic Thinking

Vendor Management

Location and Eligibility
US and Puerto Rico Residents Only: Our company is committed to inclusion, ensuring that candidates can engage in a hiring process that exhibits their true capabilities. Please click here if you need an accommodation during the application or hiring process.

San Francisco Residents Only: We will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment in compliance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.

Los Angeles Residents Only: We will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including the City of Los Angeles' Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance.

Equal Employment Opportunity
As an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer, we provide equal opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.--As a federal contractor, we comply with all affirmative action requirements for protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.- For more information about personal rights under the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment laws, visit: EEOC Know Your Rights EEOC GINA Supplement.

Compensation and Benefits
The salary range for this role is $142,400.00 - $224,100.00. The successful candidate will be eligible for annual bonus and long‑term incentive, if applicable.

We offer a comprehensive package of benefits. Available benefits include medical, dental, vision healthcare and other insurance benefits (for employee and family), retirement benefits, including 401(k), paid holidays, vacation, and compassionate and sick days. More information about benefits is available at https://jobs.merck.com/us/en/compensation-and-benefits.

Job Details

Employee Status: Regular

Relocation: No relocation

VISA Sponsorship: No

Travel Requirements: 10%

Flexible Work Arrangements: Hybrid

Shift: Not Indicated

Valid Driving License: No

Hazardous Material(s): N/A

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