Director, Launch Lead, Animal Health

Position Summary

The Director, Launch Lead is a key member of the Global Launch Excellence and Portfolio Management team within Global Commercial Operations. The team enables end-to-end launch excellence and portfolio management across Livestock and Companion Animal species.

Reporting to the Executive Director, Launch Excellence & Portfolio Management, this role leads the integrated planning, coordination, and performance management of priority our Company 's Animal Health product launches. The Director will mobilize a cross-functional Launch Squad, align global and regional stakeholders around a single launch plan, anticipate and resolve risks, and provide leadership with a clear view of launch readiness and performance from pre-NPDP approval through one to two years after initial market launch.

Core Launch Squad members typically include:

• Research & Development: R&D Project Lead.
• Regulatory: Global Regulatory Affairs Lead.
• Packaging & Artwork: Packaging & Artwork Lead.
• Manufacturing and Supply: BTS/PTS Lead and Value Chain Project Lead.
• Marketing and Commercial Readiness: Global Franchise, Regional, and Market Leads.

Key Responsibilities

• End-to-End Launch Strategy and Planning: Develop and maintain the product-specific strategic launch plan using the Launch Excellence blueprint. Translate the product strategy into integrated cross-functional milestones, deliverables, decision points, and market-readiness requirements from pre-NPDP approval through post-launch performance.

• Governance, Transparency, and Performance Management: Establish a single, transparent view of launch readiness and post-launch performance. Monitor milestones and KPIs, surface interdependencies and risks, drive timely resolution, and escalate material issues through the appropriate governance bodies. Oversee Launch Control Tower tracking and provide concise, decision-focused updates to Global Species Leads, functional leaders, and the Animal Health Leadership Team.

• Cross-Functional Leadership and Stakeholder Management: Lead the Launch Squad and engage subject-matter experts as needed to ensure alignment, accountability, and effective decision-making. Build trusted relationships across functions and regions, establish productive operating rhythms, and serve as a strategic advisor to the leadership on launch priorities, trade-offs, and issue resolution.

More Specific Responsibilities:

• Apply the Launch Excellence toolkit and maintain the Pre-Launch Blueprint as the single source of truth for launch status, decisions, risks, and dependencies.
• Plan and facilitate launch governance forums, including Launch Squad meetings, ambition-setting sessions, and leadership reviews.
• Drive accountability across Launch Squad leads and their teams to deliver agreed business outcomes on time and with executional excellence.
• Coordinate global, regional, and market inputs to ensure launch plans are integrated, realistic, and responsive to changing conditions.
• Lead launch risk identification, mitigation planning, issue resolution, and escalation to protect launch timing, value, and strategic objectives.
• Build and maintain strong relationships across Animal Health, including senior leaders and members of the Animal Health Leadership Team.
• Continuously strengthen launch excellence capabilities, tools, governance, and ways of working based on launch experience and organizational needs.
• Provide direction to project managers and other contributors supporting Launch Squads to ensure consistent planning, transparency, and coordination.

Required Skills and Experience:

• Enterprise Leadership: Demonstrated ability to lead through influence in a complex, global, and matrixed organization, including effective engagement with senior executives.
• Strategic and Commercial Acumen: Ability to connect product strategy, science, regulatory requirements, supply considerations, and commercial priorities to shape executable launch plans.
• Launch Excellence: Significant experience supporting or leading product launches, with strong knowledge of launch planning, readiness, governance, and post-launch performance management.
• Program and Project Management: Proven success managing complex, cross-functional programs, milestones, dependencies, risks, and decisions to deliver outcomes on time.
• Stakeholder Management: Excellent relationship-building, facilitation, negotiation, and communication skills, with the ability to create alignment and accountability across diverse stakeholders.
• Problem Solving and Adaptability: Strong analytical judgment and comfort operating with ambiguity, changing priorities, and incomplete information.
• Communication: Advanced written, verbal, and presentation skills, with the ability to translate complex information into clear, decision-focused messages.

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrates ethics and integrity.
• Drives delivery and business value.
• Acts with courage and candor.
• Fosters collaboration and works across boundaries.
• Makes rapid, disciplined decisions.
• Applies strategic thinking and operational excellence.
• Communicates productively and manages change effectively.
• Builds strong business partnerships and peer engagement.
• Executes relentlessly against agreed priorities.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in business, science, engineering, veterinary medicine, or a related field required.
• Advanced degree, such as an MBA, master’s, doctorate, or relevant professional certification, preferred.
• At least 10 years of relevant business experience, including experience in Animal Health, pharmaceuticals, life sciences, or another highly regulated industry.
• Demonstrated success leading strategic operational plans and complex, cross-functional programs or portfolios.
• Experience leading globally dispersed teams through influence and without direct authority.
• Strong understanding of the end-to-end product lifecycle and the commercial, technical, regulatory, and supply considerations that shape successful launches.
• Ability to travel as required to support global launch activities and stakeholder engagement.

Animal Health 
Our Animal Health Division is a trusted global leader in veterinary medicine, dedicated to preserving and improving health, well-being, and performance of animals and the people who care for them. We are a global team of professionals working together to make a positive difference in animal care and the world’s food supply and have a deep sense of responsibility towards our customers, consumers, animals, society, and our planet. 
Through our commitment to The Science of Healthier Animals®, we offer veterinarians, farmers, pet owners and governments one of the widest ranges of veterinary pharmaceuticals, vaccines and health management solutions and services. We invest in dynamic and comprehensive R&D resources and a modern, global supply chain. We are present in more than 50 countries, while our products are available in some 150 markets.

Required Skills:

Agile Methodology, Brand Messaging, Business Acumen, Decision Making, Digital Marketing, Direct Marketing, Financial Acumen, Global Coordination, Market Research, Pricing Strategies, Stakeholder Management, Strategic Alignment, Strategic Leadership, Strategic Planning, Value Propositions

Preferred Skills:

Current Employees apply HERE

Current Contingent Workers apply HERE

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.

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:

We are proud to be a company that embraces the value of bringing together, talented, and committed people with diverse experiences, perspectives, skills and backgrounds. The fastest way to breakthrough innovation is when people with diverse ideas, broad experiences, backgrounds, and skills come together in an inclusive environment. We encourage our colleagues to respectfully challenge one another’s thinking and approach problems collectively.

The primary location for this posting is:

USA - New Jersey - Rahway

Where required by law, the compensation range for this role is provided below.

The salary range for the primary location of this role is:

$190,800.00 - $300,300.00

This range reflects the Company's reasonable expectation of the base salary applicable to this role at the time of posting. An employee’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, government requirements, and business or organizational needs. 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 .

Additional location(s): Please note the salary range above applies to the Primary Location of the position. Where a role has other listed locations, different compensation guidelines may apply. You may find the salary ranges for additional locations below. If the salary range is not listed for the location you are applying to, our Talent Acquisition team will provide further information to you relevant to your location.

Additional location(s) Compensation Information:

Boxmeer - 98,800 to 164,800

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

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.