Job Description

Our Business Development & Licensing organization is a global team comprising professionals who specialize in areas such as search & evaluation, transactions, competitive intelligence, commercial business development, financial evaluation & analysis, alliance management, ventures, and more. Working together, our team cultivates external partnerships that grow our portfolio in meaningful ways.

The Director, Business Development & Licensing – Enabling Technologies Search and Evaluation, will be a key contributor to our company efforts to expand core capabilities in our discovery and development organizations. You will partner with our company scientists and functional area leadership to identify technology areas of strategic importance, establish strong relationships with external scientific organizations, work cross-functionally to influence and codevelop scientifically meaningful partnerships, and present those opportunities to senior leadership for advancement.

This individual will support a broad range of technology areas in discovery and development with the expectation that their responsibility will expand as they become proficient in the job role. This individual may also support precision medicine needs including new biomarker technologies, digital pathology, and companion diagnostics in oncology and other therapeutic areas.

Primary Activities:

• Identify, evaluate, and execute business development opportunities with a focus on cutting-edge science across a wide range of functional areas to enhance and/or expand our company pipeline.

• Manage a portfolio of complex business development projects, serving as the primary scientific contact for potential licensing, acquisition, collaborations, co-development agreements, and strategic alliances in support of the relevant opportunity space.

• Act as our company point of contact for external parties seeking business opportunities with our company, demonstrating our ethics and values in every interaction.

• Lead deep scientific due diligence, ensuring the integration of internal subject matter expert input and the quality of formal due diligence output.

• Work closely with transaction leads, legal, commercial, and financial analysis teams to ensure relevant deals of highest priority are being advanced and executed on appropriate timelines.

• Present compelling scientific business opportunities to senior leadership in governance review meetings.

• Contribute to the business development strategy of partner scientific areas in conjunction with functional area and clinical development leadership. For example, the Enabling Technologies team supports areas that include Discovery Chemistry, Discovery Biologics, Vaccines, Pharmacology, Quantitative Biosciences, Companion Diagnostic/Diagnostic, and Developmental Sciences and Clinical Supply.

• Co-chair licensing committee meetings and communicate business development opportunities to internal subject matter experts.

• Collaborate with functional areas, including discovery, preclinical, clinical, and commercial teams, as well as commercial business development colleagues, to ensure alignment between activities and business development needs relating to the functional area needs.

• Provide thorough and timely assessments and updates to appropriate management levels to ensure efficient communication and seamless cross functional collaboration.

• Work closely with search and evaluation colleagues in our company business development team to ensure comprehensive worldwide coverage of the relevant opportunity space and to direct opportunities appropriately.

• Proactively identify and solve complex problems that impact the direction of the business.

• Serve as a spokesperson for our company by communicating the licensing strategy both internally and externally, and present on behalf of our company at industry networking events, scientific conferences, and other venues.

• Individual contributor role.

Education:

• PhD or MD in a relevant scientific discipline or PharmD with 3 plus years postdoctoral experience

Required:

• At least 7 plus years relevant experience in the biopharma industry with good understanding of the drug discovery and development process and broad knowledge of the biotech and healthcare sector.

• Preferred: experience in identifying, evaluating, and executing business development deals and partnerships that have resulted in substantial impact.

• Thorough understanding of industry trends and competitive landscape with strong business acumen and ability to translate scientific and technical information to frame attractive business opportunities.

• Strong leadership skills and proven ability to influence others to reach common goals as well as act independently.

• Strong interpersonal, analytical, critical-thinking, presentation, verbal, and written communication skills that enable working successfully with varied audiences, including colleagues, scientific and technical leaders, financial institutions, pharmaceutical and business partners, collaborators, and senior executives.

• Highly developed organizational skills, operational skills, and ability to memorialize interactions with potential partners.

• Must be comfortable in high visibility situations, able to demonstrate executive presence, and able to gain the trust and respect of research and development colleagues.

• Ability to multi-task while ensuring consistent attention to and prioritization of the most critical and visible projects.

• Self-motivated, attention to detail, and proven ability to work well on teams.

Our ability to excel depends on the integrity, knowledge, imagination, skill, and diversity of our team. We prioritize an inclusive culture of respect, encouragement, and teamwork. Members of our global team have the opportunity to collaborate with talented and dedicated colleagues, while developing their own careers.

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​

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.

Learn more about your rights, including under California, Colorado and other US State Acts

Required Skills:

Acquisitions Divestitures, Biomarkers, Biopharmaceuticals, Biopharmaceutics, Business Acumen, Business Development, Business Operations, Business Opportunities, Clinical Diagnostics, Companion Diagnostics (CDx), Development Strategy, Diagnostics, Drug Discovery Development, Executive Presence, Immunoassays, Precision Medicine (PM), Project Prioritization, Self Motivation, Strategic Licensing

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:

EEOC Know Your Rights

EEOC GINA Supplement​

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.

Learn more about your rights, including under California, Colorado and other US State Acts

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, Monday - 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”.

The salary range for this role is

$169,700.00 - $267,200.00

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:

Domestic

VISA Sponsorship:

No

Travel Requirements:

10%

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Hybrid

Shift:

Not Indicated

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

n/a

Job Posting End Date:

11/19/2025

*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.