Job Description

Role Summary

Reporting to the Managing Director for Saudi Arabia, the Oncology Business Unit Director will lead the strategic and operational oversight of OUR COMPANY’S’s Oncology portfolio in Saudi Arabia. This role carries full P&L responsibility and is accountable for driving market access, commercial excellence, and patient-centric initiatives. The position requires strong collaboration with global, regional, and local teams and active participation in the Saudi leadership team.

Major Responsibilities

Business strategy and execution

• Create and manage strong commercial strategy and execution and achieving annual budget targets, in a highly strategic and competitive therapeutic area.
• Accountable for allocated P&L in terms of sales, and financial planning
• Achieve targets by prioritizing strong financial performance and successfully delivering on operational commitments including top line revenue growth, market share improvement and increased profits.
• Develop imaginative, broad-based and non-traditional approaches to develop Oncology business opportunities using a customer driven, end-to-end approach. Flex and adapt rapidly to new situations and continually seek new opportunities.
• Evaluate alternatives, drive change and generate new ideas. Encourage others to generate ideas.
• Lead business initiatives with external stakeholders (Market Access, Business Development, and Policy).
• Develop strategic brand plans and be responsible for category marketing strategy and designing long-term vision for brands

Team Leadership

• Serve as a member of the Saudi Arabia Leadership team, role model OUR COMPANY’S’s Ways of Working.
• Engage, motivate and inspire his/her organization (marketing, sales, cross-functional team members and support functions).
• Set direction for the business and align the team to enthusiastically execute on Oncology strategy.
• Demonstrate ability to lead and influence people and team who are not reporting directly to him/her.

Talent Management and Development

• Attract, retain and develop strong and diverse talents
• Coach and develop team members creating meaningful developmental assignments and opportunities inclusive of succession planning
• Foster a high performance psychologically safe culture within the team, managing high performance and addressing underperformance.

Internal and external representation

• Liaise and build strong rapport with the regional organization by integrating the broader organization’s expertise and know-how into the operations and take guidance effectively from and contribute to corporate knowledge resources.
• Collaborate extensively and successfully with peers, cross-BU resources and regional colleagues.
• Represent OUR COMPANY to external stakeholders promoting OUR COMPANY as a patent centric and preferred partner
• Build OUR COMPANY’S brand image by engaging with key stakeholders

Qualifications & experience

• Bachelor’s degree required, advanced degree in Life Science/ Pharmacy Graduate. MBA is preferred.
• Proven experience in Saudi healthcare ecosystem enabling immediate navigation of MOH, NUPCO, clusters, and Vision 2030 expectations is a priority.
• Oncology experience & credibility with oncologists, societies, and internal medical teams
• Fluency in English and Arabic, spoken and written is a must.
• At least 6 years of people management experience.

Critical Experience

• Leadership of an operating business unit, strong experience managing /driving budget/ resources and profitability.
• Stabilizing the org post-transition, retaining talent, driving execution
• Lifecycle management Significant experience in various stages of the product lifecycle (from launch to retirement).( Managing LOEs, line extensions, SC transitions, portfolio sequencing)
• Experience in negotiation of drug approval process, with strong pricing and market access knowledge.
• Successful and diverse experience in Marketing, Sales and People Management.
• Experience communicating internally and externally as Voice of a Region, Brand or Business Unit.
• Experience of engagement with health authorities.

COMPETENCIES

The successful candidate will have Technical Competencies

• Strategic agility, thinking and planning
• Strong Business and Financial Acumen
• External Market Insights Analysis and Impact
• Customer Relationship Management
• Working with cross functional teams
• Experience of operating in a matrix organization
• Proven ability in coaching and developing others, and ideally leading both sales and marketing teams

Behavioral competencies

The successful candidate will have:

• High Ethics and Integrity - consistent with our company’s policies and values.
• Strong leadership presence
• Excellent communication skills
• Ability to work under stringent timelines in the most effective and efficient manner.
• Strong leadership in managing complex challenges and organizational change.
• Strong focus on diversity & inclusion

Required Skills:

Accountability, Business Decisions, Business Initiatives, Business Strategies, Commercial Excellence, Communication, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Data-Driven Decision Making, Financial Analysis, Management Process, Marketing Strategies, People Management, Product Management, Strategic Planning, Talent Management

Preferred Skills:

Current Employees apply HERE

Current Contingent Workers apply HERE

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:

VISA Sponsorship:

Travel Requirements:

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Not Applicable

Shift:

Valid Driving License:

Hazardous Material(s):

Job Posting End Date:

01/5/2026

*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.