Job DescriptionThe
Data Strategy Leader will lead the development and execution of enterprise data strategy across priority data domains, ensuring data initiatives are directly aligned to enterprise priorities, measurable business outcomes, compliance expectations, and emerging AI needs. This leader will translate business goals into actionable data strategies, roadmaps, priorities, and value realization plans that improve data quality, interoperability, accessibility, reuse, and trust across the enterprise.
This role will serve as a strategic partner across business, technology, governance, stewardship, knowledge management, and solution delivery teams to define how enterprise data domains, data products, authoritative sources, and operating models should evolve to support scalable data and AI outcomes. The broader remit emphasizes aligning enterprise data domains, establishing authoritative sources, elevating literacy and governance, and accelerating data and AI outcomes through transparent catalogs, reusable components, and outcome-linked KPIs.
Key ResponsibilitiesEnterprise Data Strategy & Roadmap- Translate enterprise and divisional priorities into a measurable data strategy, including clear objectives, roadmaps, value drivers, KPIs, and execution priorities.
- Align data initiatives with enterprise priorities and outcomes, ensuring investments in data capabilities are tied to measurable business, operational, compliance, and AI-enableable value.
- Prioritize high-impact data use cases and convert business goals into analyses, roadmap decisions, and value realization plans.
Data Domains, Data Products & Authoritative Sources- Collaborate with Information Architecture to define clear enterprise data domains, sub-domains, data products, and accountable ownership structures.
- Partner with data domain leads and stakeholders to define data requirements, current/near/future state needs, product roadmaps, onboarding priorities, data quality rules, governance expectations, and access-control requirements.
Standards, Quality, Interoperability & Lineage- Set expectations and strategic direction for data quality, interoperability, lineage, and reuse across enterprise data initiatives.
- Ensure data strategy informs governance design, stewardship delivery, knowledge management, and product/architecture strategy across the end-to-end CDAO operating model.
- Partner with data governance, stewardship, privacy, compliance, and knowledge management teams to ensure data strategies are trusted, compliant, and scalable.
Data & AI Enablement- Ensure responsible, compliant use of data and AI by embedding strategy, standards, source-of-truth clarity, provenance, quality, and governance expectations into data initiatives.
- Support enterprise efforts to make high-quality data easier to discover, share, and use across the enterprise, including for AI-ready knowledge products and assets.
- Help prioritize use cases that accelerate data and AI outcomes while maintaining clarity, confidence, and compliance.
Vendor, Contract & Sourcing Strategy- Partner with the Contract/Vendor Management Lead to create or align vendor management strategy for strategic data assets, data services, and external data needs.
- Provide strategic input into buy/build recommendations, vendor performance expectations, SLA management, compliance alignment, and ROI measurement.
Leadership & Stakeholder Engagement- Act as a trusted strategic advisor to enterprise, divisional, and domain stakeholders on data strategy priorities, opportunities, tradeoffs, and execution paths.
- Drive alignment across data strategy, governance, stewardship, knowledge management, engineering, solution delivery, activation, and divisional teams.
- Build and mature the Data Strategy capability, including ways of working, priorities, operating rhythm, deliverables, and measurable outcomes. The Data Strategy area is described as having zero current headcount with a planned team buildout and immediate hiring needs.
Required Minimum Qualifications- Bachelor's degree in business, accounting, life sciences, or related field required; advanced degree in business, sciences, or related discipline preferred.
- Minimum of 10 years of relevant experience, including experience in commercial roles or enterprise business environments.
- Significant experience leading enterprise data strategy, data governance, data management, data domains, data products, or related enterprise data transformation work.
- Demonstrated ability to translate business strategy into measurable data roadmaps, KPIs, value realization plans, and execution priorities.
- Strong understanding of data quality, metadata, lineage, interoperability, authoritative sources, data ownership, stewardship, governance, privacy, compliance, and AI-readiness principles.
- AI awareness or practical experience applying AI-related governance principles, including responsible use, data readiness, risk management, and compliance considerations.
- Experience working across federated business and technology environments, including collaboration with domain teams, product teams, engineering teams, governance teams, and senior stakeholders.
- Ability to influence across organizational boundaries and drive alignment among business, technology, compliance, and data teams.
- Strong executive communication skills, with the ability to simplify complex data strategy concepts into clear decisions, priorities, and business outcomes.
Preferred Qualifications- Experience in regulated industries such as life sciences, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, financial services, or other compliance-driven environments.
- Experience with enterprise data domains such as Customer, Product, Reference Data, Real-World Data, IT Data, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Commercial, Medical Affairs, or Corporate/GSF data. The remit identifies these as part of the enterprise domain enablement landscape.
- Familiarity with data governance platforms, enterprise catalogs, semantic models, data quality frameworks, MDM/reference data, and AI/GenAI enablement patterns.
- Experience developing operating models, maturity models, business cases, value scorecards, or data product strategies.
- Experience assessing buy/build decisions, vendor strategies, data sourcing models, and ROI for data investments.
- Ability to connect enterprise data priorities to measurable impact, including improved data quality, accessibility, reuse, interoperability, lineage, compliance, AI-readiness, and stakeholder trust.
Required Skills: Business Analysis, Business Strategies, Data Governance, Data Quality, Data Science, Demand Management, Enterprise Data, Executive Communications, Innovation, Key Performance Indicators (KPI), Knowledge Management, Manufacturing, Product Roadmap, Requirements Management, Sourcing and Procurement, Stakeholder Engagement, Stakeholder Relationship Management, Standards Compliance, Stewardship, Strategic Planning
Preferred Skills: Current Employees apply HERE
Current Contingent Workers apply HERE
US and Puerto Rico Residents Only: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. More information about benefits is available at https://jobs.merck.com/us/en/compensation-and-benefits.
You can apply for this role through https://jobs.merck.com/us/en (or via the Workday Jobs Hub if you are a current employee). The application deadline for this position is stated on this posting.
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.
Employee Status: Regular
Relocation:No relocation
VISA Sponsorship:No
Travel Requirements:10%
Flexible Work Arrangements:Hybrid
Shift:1st - Day
Valid Driving License:No
Hazardous Material(s):N/A
Job Posting End Date:07/30/2026
*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. 
