Merck & Co, Inc

Dir , Data Governance

Merck & Co, Inc$173K — $272K *
Healthcare
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 10+ years of experience in Governance, Risk, and Compliance, Marketing, Data Strategy, Data Engineering, Product Design & Deployment, Data Science, and AI Enablement.
  • At least 7+ years of experience in Governance, Privacy, Risk Assessment, and Compliance Enablement.
  • Proven capacity to translate policy into operational standards, playbooks, and tools.
  • Experience managing cross-functional reviews involving Privacy, Security, and Legal teams.
  • Strong leadership skills managing multi-disciplinary teams and vendor oversight.
  • Excellent stakeholder management and training program delivery skills.

Responsibilities

  • Set and drive the governance and enablement strategy for Digital Human Health across various channels.
  • Lead a team to create practical operational standards from corporate policies and enterprise governance requirements.
  • Collaborate with leadership and key stakeholders to embed governance by design into DHH operations.
  • Manage risk and deviation processes while ensuring operational delivery decisions remain with business owners.
  • Train the DHH organization on governance guidelines, tools, and compliance standards.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision healthcare insurance for employees and families.
  • Retirement benefits, including a 401(k) plan.
  • Paid holidays, vacation, and sick days.
  • Access to annual bonuses and long-term incentives.
Full Job Description

Job Description

The Director is accountable for setting and driving the Social, Web, Mobile, Primary market research, data, digital data product and Digital data solutions governance & enablement strategy for Digital Human Health (DHH), across markets and franchises. This leader is responsible for embedding scalable governance-by-design controls across the lifecycle of customer facing digital engagement, primary market research, data ingestion and enablement across the medallion architecture, creation of Digital data products and more broadly pharma analytics and creation/enablement of digital solutions.

This role is responsible for leading a team that turns corporate policy and enterprise governance, privacy, risk, and compliance requirements into practical playbooks, tools and DHH operating standards. Socializes through alignment and influence with DHH leadership and key stakeholders across Legal, Compliance, IT RMS, General Counsel, Medical, Human Health leadership and with DHH product, platform, analytics teams, and vendor ecosystems. The leader will also be responsible to train the broader DHH organization to understand the guidelines, rules and playbooks. He/She will also strategize, design and build the right checkpoints to ensure adoption and becomes a trusted partner for DHH leadership to enable compliance by design, in the day to day ways of working across DHH.

He/She, with their team, will manage risk and deviation processes, coordinate cross functional reviews (Privacy, Security, Legal, Ethics, Procurement, Pharmacovigilance, Audit), and provide an escalation path for material risks while leaving operational delivery decisions with business owners.

Success in this role requires deep understanding of data, data driven analytics, Primary market research methodologies, digital marketing and marketing enablement across social, web and mobile channels. It is essential that the individual has extensive knowledge and experience in the application of Privacy (GDPR, HIPPA CCPA etc.), Pharmacovigilance (EMA, FDA), Anti-Trust, FCPA regulations etc. and their application to data, data sciences and market research. Given the evolving technology landscape, this individual is also expected to have learning orientation to learn to leverage technology and AI to enable the required capability builds, SOP creation, governance practices, monitoring and compliance readiness. The Director partners with first-line delivery leaders to enable responsible innovation while maintaining regulatory defensibility, privacy by design, and risk transparency, with clear linkage to second-line oversight functions.

Organizational Scope

The Director will lead a multidisciplinary team across Social, Web, Mobile, Market Research, Digital and Data governance enablement and GRC specialists (direct and matrixed). Scope includes governance enablement for:

  • Primary market research

  • Web, mobile and digital channels (apps, sites, content ecosystems)

  • Social media (listening, influencer engagements, company owned handles/assets)

  • Commercial data analytics- Prescriptive analytics and advanced statistical modeling

  • Data governance and privacy integration - Sensitive data domains, including HCP and patient-level data (identified, de-identified, and pseudonymized), Commercial data ecosystems (1st/2nd/3rd party), data ingestion, linkage, and enrichment

  • Digital data product governance enablement – Digital data products, insights platforms, and Digital data solutions

  • Risk management, audit/inspection readiness, and governance capability building

Leadership Responsibilities

  • Set strategy, priorities, and operating model for DHH Digital, Social, Web, Mobile, Market Research, data, and digital data product governance enablement.

  • Align and influence DHH leadership and key stakeholders to embed governance-by-design into planning and delivery.

  • Build governance capability (frameworks, training, templates, tooling, and metrics) that accelerates delivery while protecting patients, customers, and the company.

  • Provide transparent risk reporting and timely escalation pathways to second-line oversight functions and enterprise governance forums.

  • Responsible for building a high performing team of GRC advisors. Responsible for coaching, mentoring, hiring, disciplining when required, and providing guidance to the team.

Education

  • B.S. or M.S. in Engineering, Sciences, Liberal arts, Law, Medicine, Pharmacy, Business, Analytics or related fields

  • Ph.D. is preferred

Data Governance & Privacy Integration

  • Partner with CD&AO, DHH teams, HH leaders, Global Privacy Office, BIRO/ITRMS, Ethics & Compliance, and Legal to ensure policy alignment and consistent execution.

  • Embed privacy-by-design and data governance controls into DHH Digital and data product workflows, including secondary use, linkage/enrichment, cross-domain integration, and retention requirements.

  • Translate policies into concise playbooks, standards, templates and delivery tools.

  • Ensure defensible documentation for de-identification/pseudonymization methods and periodic reassessment, with clear traceability to intended use.

Digital Data Product Governance Integration

  • Integrate governance checkpoints into SDLC and agile product ways of working, with clear review/approval triggers where required.

  • Ensure end-to-end traceability across data inputs, transformations, model integration (where applicable), outputs, and intended use.

  • Set documentation and quality standards for digital data products and vendor-provided solutions, including controls for data acquisition and fair market value (FMV) approvals.

Risk Enablement & Escalation

  • Maintain and mature the DHH risk register to cover data/digital data products, including consistent assessment criteria and mitigation tracking. Align with enterprise ERM, enforce standardized risk classification and escalation procedures; ensure timely logging, ownership, mitigation and closure.

  • Identify systemic control gaps and drive remediation plans with delivery leaders; monitor effectiveness through defined metrics.

  • Escalate material privacy, security, and cybersecurity risks to second-line functions and enterprise risk governance, with timely executive communication.

Enterprise Governance, Risk & Compliance Alignment

  • Translate enterprise governance requirements into practical, auditable operational controls for DHH.

  • Coordinate with IT GRC, APEX (AI risk), ECO/Legal, Global Privacy Office, BIRO/ITRMS, Procurement, and MCAAS to ensure alignment, clear ownership, and effective escalation.

  • Anticipate emerging regulatory expectations impacting Social, Web, mobile, Market research, Digital and data. Update DHH standards and guidance accordingly.

  • Ensure documentation and evidence expectations support inspection readiness and defensible decisions.

  • Coordinate Privacy, Security and Legal reviews, document decisions with audit trails, and define escalation paths for analytics and insights activities.

  • Partner with Procurement to verify onboarding and due diligence in Aravo, maintain approved vendor list, validate MSAs/compliance before go live, monitor vendor performance and escalate material vendor risks.

Audit & Inspection Readiness

  • Set standardized evidence and documentation expectations across domains to support audits and regulatory inspections.

  • Ensure all required artifacts are complete, traceable, and defensible for intended use and risk posture.

  • Coordinate audit responses across DHH data domains and maintain ongoing readiness.

Governance Culture, Capability and Advocacy

  • Training & culture: design and deliver role based GRC training, track competency and completion, sponsor governance stewards and run regular steward forums.

  • Drive governance adoption by aligning with and influencing DHH leaders and delivery teams; clarify accountabilities, escalation paths, and decision forums.

  • Build practical enablement (role-based training, playbooks, templates, and tooling) that increases consistency and reduces delivery friction.

  • Champion responsible stewardship, balancing innovation, patient/customer trust, and compliance obligations.

  • Own success metrics (adoption, training completion, auditability, time to escalation, risk closure, stakeholder satisfaction) and drive improvements from register insights.

Decision Rights

The Director has authority to:

  • Define minimum governance controls for Social, Web, Mobile, Market research, Content, data, data products, digital data solutions within company policy and standards boundaries in close partnership with other teams that have a role in defining privacy, risk, compliance and governance standards for Human Health (HH).

  • Require minimum documentation and evidence prior to deployment and material change.

  • Escalate material risks for additional review, decisioning, and approval, as required.

  • Mandate remediation or mitigation plans for control gaps and monitor closure.

  • Business and product leaders retain ownership of delivery decisions and risk acceptance within company policy and standards; the Director provides governance enablement standards, oversight cadence, and escalation pathways to support consistent, defensible outcomes.

Qualifications

  • 10+ years of experience in Governance, risk and compliance, Marketing, Data strategy, Data Engineering, Product design & deployment, data science and AI enablement, digital channels and market research with at least 7+ years of experience in Governance, Privacy, Risk Assessment and Compliance enablement

  • Proven ability to translate policy into operational standards, playbooks and tooling

  • Experience managing cross functional reviews with Privacy, Security and Legal

  • Strong leadership of multi-disciplinary teams and vendor oversight

  • Familiarity with risk registers, deviation/CAPA processes and vendor due diligence platforms

  • Excellent stakeholder management and training program delivery skills

Required Skills:

Data Governance, Data Ingestion, Data Management, Digital Consumer Engagement, Digital Healthcare, Governance Management, Market Research, Operational Decisions, Pharmacovigilance, Privacy Compliance, Procurement, Quality Management, Risk Governance, Social Media, Social Media Management, Strategic Procurement, Technical Advice, Waterfall Model

Preferred Skills:

Current Employees apply

Current Contingent Workers apply

The salary range for this role is

$173,200.00 - $272,600.00

This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this 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. Mor

About Merck & Co, Inc

Schering-Plough Corporation is a major U.S.-based manufacturer of pharmaceuticals. It operates in three segments: Prescription Pharmaceuticals, Animal Health, and Consumer Health Care. Schering-Plough develops products targeting on allergy, cancer, hepatitis, cardiovascular, central nervous system, respiratory system, and more.  It was founded in 1851 by Ernst Christian Friedrich Schering as Schering AG in Germany. Schering-Plough manufactured several pharmaceutical drugs, the most well-known of which were the allergy drugs Claritin and Clarinex, an anti-cholesterol drug Vytorin, and a brain tumor drug Temodar. It also developed drugs targeting on central nervous system and the respiratory system. Schering Plough also owned and operated the major foot care brand name Dr. Scholl's and the skin care line Coppertone. These also became a part of the new company. Schering-Plough was a full member of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), a membership which is also maintained by the new Merck.

Merck & Co, Inc Careers

Join the visionary team at Merck & Co, Inc, a global leader in healthcare dedicated to advancing the world of medicine. As part of our professional community, you'll find dynamic job opportunities that foster innovation and leadership across various fields. Merck & Co, Inc is not just a company; it's a place where you can make a difference.

Work You’ll Do

At Merck & Co, Inc, we are committed to improving global health through groundbreaking research and innovative healthcare solutions. Our team is at the forefront of developing new therapies and vaccines that significantly impact public health worldwide. By joining us, you will collaborate with some of the brightest minds in the industry, using your skills to contribute to projects that save and improve lives around the globe.

Explore Career Paths

Whether you're seeking an internship, a graduate opportunity, or a professional position, Merck & Co, Inc offers a range of career paths in environments that promote rapid professional growth and development. Explore job opportunities in research, digital transformation, manufacturing, and more, all while benefiting from a culture that supports diversity and inclusion.

Innovate and Lead

Merck & Co, Inc is an ideal environment for those who lead with curiosity and the drive to innovate. Our leadership is committed to fostering a culture where inventive thinking and collaboration are encouraged, making it a perfect place for professionals who seek to make an impact through their work.

Develop Your Skills

With Merck & Co, Inc, you are not just getting a job; you're gaining access to unparalleled career development opportunities. Enhance your skills through diverse training programs, workshops, and continuous learning courses designed to help you grow at every stage of your career.

Benefits and Culture

We understand that our employees are our greatest asset, which is why we offer competitive benefits designed to support the health and well-being of you and your family. From comprehensive health care coverage and retirement plans to flexible working conditions and wellness programs, our benefits package is designed to meet the diverse needs of our team members.

Join Our Team

Ready to advance your career at Merck & Co, Inc? Search open positions that match your skills and interests. We are continuously hiring and looking for passionate, creative, and solution-driven team players. Prepare your resume, sharpen your interview skills, and become part of a company that's dedicated to making a difference.

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Learn more about Merck & Co, Inc
Size
68,000 employees
Market Cap
$282.6 billion
Industry
Net Income
$7 billion
Founded
1668
5 Year Trend
+4.1%
Revenue
$47.9 billion
NASDAQ

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