Job Abstract

Job Description

The US CA Veterinary Insights and Medical Affairs Director sets the strategic vision for the development, refinement, and implementation of veterinary medical and technology programs for companion animals.  The individual communicates the medical necessity (the why) of our company's Animal Health products, protocols, and solutions to current and prospective customers as well as internal stakeholders.  This position bridges our company's R&D efforts, innovation, and technology solutions with commercial application to drive scientific engagement and maintain our company's Animal Health’s leadership as a highly innovative company driven by the science of healthier animals in a highly competitive market.

Reporting to the Executive Director, US CABU Professional Services, this position works closely with Marketing and our company's Animal Health Intelligence Team to provide guidance from a medical perspective on strategy and tactics that ensure compliance and alignment with standards of care.  The Veterinary Insights and Medical Affairs Director leads a best-in-class team by establishing a culture that promotes innovation, continuous improvement, a customer focused mindset, and values feedback and inclusion to develop talent.

The Director, Veterinary Insights and Medical Affairs provides oversight and direction for activities such as market support studies, working with R&D on pipeline products, identifying and supporting business development activities, as well as supporting marketing from strategy to execution of existing portfolio of products for the CABU unit.  This position supports investment and promotional program recommendations and brings the pipeline and innovation business to market, uses veterinary insights and trends within the animal health industry to drive innovation, and delivers a full portfolio value proposition that differentiates our company from competitors.   This position also collaborates with internal and external stakeholders to ensure our company's portfolio and solutions exceed standards of care and helps to advance standards of care for pet owners.

The Veterinary Insights and Medical Affairs Director translates strategic insights into potential solutions based on an awareness of market trends, pet owner preferences, competitor strategies, and the challenges facing veterinary and animal welfare professionals to provide the best care for animals.  This position identifies and promotes partnership opportunities (e.g., veterinary schools, industry association) or acquisitions that compliment our company's offerings and strategies, as well as being financially beneficial.

Essential Accountabilities: Strategic, Operational, and Leadership Responsibilities

Strategic responsibilities may include, but are not limited to: (40%)

• Develop technical content (white papers, presentations, blog posts, etc.) to educate customers and sales team about our solutions, as well as excite, motivate, and inspire them to adopt our company's Animal Health’s products and solutions.

• Build compelling and integrated cases for product concepts and solutions considering competitive factors, market demand, risk management, program economics, strategic fit, and operational complexity.

• Identify potential licensing/partnership/acquisition targets.

• Shepherd projects through the licensing/partnership process, working with business, legal, and finance teams to develop investment /business cases and execute the contracts.

• Identify, prioritize, structure, and manage complex issues that drive product priorities and demonstrate bottom line results.

• Develop a plan for training the salesforce to keep them up to date regarding key product messages, why it is medically necessary and within our sales model, as well as gather feedback about how the value statements and messages are received by customers.

• Collaborate with CABU leadership team and key internal partners on the strategy, development, and management of KOLs and Advisory Board for our company's portfolio to help create demand for our company's solutions and influence future direction.

• Ensure awareness of roadmap, projects, products, technologies, and capabilities across CABU leadership team and supporting functions. Identify and use connections, expertise, experiences, and resources where appropriate.

• Guide the PSV specialist team in customer engagement through new product launches and in-line portfolio support

Operational Responsibilities may include, but are not limited to: (30%)

• Work across departments including marketing, business development, R&D, and global teams to develop and drive the implementation of strategies to enhance a culture of scientific excellence and engagement.

• Use innovative business thinking to challenge the status quo and drive the identification of creative solutions that positively impact our company's Animal Health’s portfolio of products and solutions.

• Design, develop, and own the process for setting, tracking, evaluating, and presenting progress on program, acquisition and partnership roadmaps for Companion Animal category.

• Build a reputation both within the company and among our company's Key Opinion Leaders as a recognized authority in innovative products and solutions, the best and most trusted partner in the industry.

• Conduct research on the market, the competition, and customers to identify trends and opportunities for future growth in close collaboration with the marketing team.

• Understand business performance and drivers, customer needs and areas of interest, market and regulatory trends, competitive dynamics, and emerging companies or technologies.

• Develop a strategy and priorities for any post-approval market support studies that expand indications and/or achieve competitive advantage.

• Synthesize insights into a strategic framework to help our company's Animal Health determine where to develop new solutions next.

• Strategizes with the Global Strategic Development & Innovation team on global activities and represents US position in strategic responsibilities and operational practices when appropriate.

• Ideate, design, and implement a comprehensive KOL strategy to expand our company's Animal Health influence and drive the selection of our company's Animal Health solutions.

Leadership Responsibilities may include, but are not limited to: (30%)

• Lead, manage, and develop direct and indirect team members to increase talent, diversity, and capabilities and drive performance; participate in the recruitment of industry-leading talent to build a high-performing team.

• Proactively evolve culture through providing feedback, ongoing monitoring, and coaching to develop highly effective sales team.

• Champion, develop, and integrate a consistent strategic platform, mission, and purpose for the organization through close collaboration with CABU Leadership Team and other key stakeholders.

• Conduct and encourage frequent formal and informal communication within the group to ensure full engagement and efficient operation.

• Promote and use diversity to achieve the best outcomes. Ensure all interested parties have opportunities to influence and contribute to decisions and outcomes.

• Lead a group of professionals who will work in close collaboration with US Marketing and their contract agencies to ensure marketing materials and programs are developed efficiently, and ensuring content is accurate and relevant for the target audiences.

• Serve as an essential member of the Executive Director’s leadership team.

Internal Key Contacts

• Global CA&E Marketing and Technical Teams

• Veterinary & Consumer Affairs

• Research and Development

• Supply, Quality, Regulatory

• Strategic Development and Innovation, Marketing, Sales, Salesforce Enablement and Effectiveness, Integrated Customer Experience, our company's Animal Health Intelligence, Field Professional Services, Corporate Accounts, Distribution, Finance, Learning and Development, Communications, HR, Legal, Compliance,

• Corporate Business Development

Leadership Behaviors

• Demonstrate Ethics & Integrity

• Drive Results

• Focus on Customers

• Act with Courage & Candor

• Foster Collaboration

• Make Rapid Disciplined Decision

Professional Competencies

• Working Across Boundaries

• Strategic Thinking

• Project Management

• Productive Communication

Core Commercial Functional Competencies

• Customer and Market Insights

• Strategic Business Management

• Product Knowledge & Portfolio Management

• Account Management

• Customer Engagement

• Market Access

• Regulatory & Compliance Knowledge

• Lifecycle Management

CA Specific Leadership Behaviors

• Thinks Broadly – Places broader organizational interests above own or team interest

• Creates Strategic Visions – Creates a compelling vision for the team and has the ability to marry vision with other functions and influence others

• Embraces an Agile Mindset & Coaching – Leads teams using appropriate agile methodology for the iterative development of tools, processes, and ideas, as well as to solve systemic problems through employing adaptive experimentation, collective responsibility, and agile methodologies

• Champions Leadership Development – Champions leadership development initiatives and practices that contribute to a strong, diverse succession pool; hires and develops the best leaders

• Maintains a Growth & Transformational Mindset – Constantly looks for room for improvement and is open-minded and curious about new possibilities; adapts and embraces new practices, tools, and behaviors as the digital area evolves; understands and leverages technology to democratize, scale, and drive efficiency within every business action

• Leverages Critical Metrics – Focuses on the critical metrics that drive unit and organizational performance

• Connects Others (Super Connector) – Builds effective networks and acts with agility

• Provides Coaching & Feedback – Makes coaching and providing feedback a priority across the organization; Demonstrates effective performance management; Holds direct reports accountable and ensures outcomes are achieved

• Shares Power & Success – Shares power and success as a way to motivate teams and strengthen the organization; Pushes decisions down when appropriate; Empowers own team to make decisions; Encourages and supports others to express their views, especially on tough issues

• Engages Others with Empathy – Appreciates and understands the perspective of others by putting oneself in other’s shoes in order to connect and respond appropriately

• Displays Customer Obsessions & Ownership – Demonstrates understanding of internal and external customers’ needs and wants; Starts with customers and represents the voice of the customer, works backward thinking, long-term business goals and results; conducts planning to ensure teams are focused on items with the highest impact to the business; Holds employees accountable for maintaining and acting in accordance with a “customer focused” mindset 

• Displays Resilience – Embraces ambiguity and drives to success with persistence

Education:

• DVM degree required

Required Skills/Abilities:

• Minimum 10 years of experience in Animal Health organizations with at least 5 years of Companion Animal medicine and/or research experience

• Prior people management experience

• Demonstrate business acumen to effectively manage assigned budgets and timelines.

• Strong financial acumen and budget planning skills.

• Demonstrated ability to draw appropriate and scientifically balanced conclusions from reports/data and analyses to support product recommendations.

• Demonstrable business acumen with P&L accountability.

• Passion and aptitude for business analytics critical for guiding KPI development and measurement, market share acquisition.

• Be able to plan and coordinate strategic project activities, collaborating with other stakeholders to maximize own and other’s (team’s) results.

• Have broad experience in Animal health commercial operations, R&D, and Regulatory Affairs 

• Expertise in project management, business adoption/change management, and continuous improvement to translate strategic priorities into operational reality.

• Builds effective teams by fostering positive relationships and trust to be able to drive strategy development and ensure successful project execution.

• Creates structure from ambiguity and translates data into actions to enable project success and organizational efficiencies.

• Interprets information for project application and development of solutions to effectively communicate key messages. Aligns communication, accountabilities, resource capabilities, internal processes, and ongoing measurement systems to ensure that strategic priorities yield measurable and sustainable results

Employees working in roles that the Company determines require routine collaboration with external stakeholders, such as customer-facing commercial, or research-based roles, will be expected to comply not only with Company policy but also with policies established by such external stakeholders (for example, a requirement to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to access a facility or meet with stakeholders).  Please understand that, as permitted by applicable law, if you have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 and an essential function of your job is to call on external stakeholders who require vaccination to enter their premises or engage in face-to-face meetings, then your employment may pose an undue burden to business operations, in which case you may not be offered employment, or your employment could be terminated. Please also note that, where permitted by applicable law, the Company reserves the right to require COVID-19 vaccinations for positions, such as in Global Employee Health, where the Company determines in its discretion that the nature of the role presents an increased risk of disease transmission.

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U.S. Hybrid Work Model

Effective September 5, 2023, employees in office-based positions in the U.S. will be working a Hybrid work consisting of three total days on-site per week, generally Tuesday, Wednesday and either Monday or Thursday, although the specific days may vary by site or organization, with Friday designated as a remote-working day, unless business critical tasks require an on-site presence.  This Hybrid work model does not apply to, and daily in-person attendance is required for, field-based positions; facility-based, manufacturing-based, or research-based positions where the work to be performed is located at a Company site; positions covered by a collective-bargaining agreement (unless the agreement provides for hybrid work); or any other position for which the Company has determined the job requirements cannot be reasonably met working remotely. Please note, this Hybrid work model guidance also does not apply to roles that have been designated as “remote”.

Under New York State, Colorado State, Washington State, and California State law, the Company is required to provide a reasonable estimate of the salary range for this job. Final determinations with respect to salary will take into account a number of factors, which may include, but not be limited to the primary work location and the chosen candidate’s relevant skills, experience, and education.

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Available benefits include bonus eligibility, long term incentive if applicable, health care and other insurance benefits (for employee and family), retirement benefits, paid holidays, vacation, and sick days. A summary of benefits is listed here.

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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. 

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