Job Description
Overview
Join Our Hong Kong Team as the Commercial Strategy & Operations Director to be a catalyst for growth—responsible for building organizational capabilities to drive innovation, productivity, and execution excellence. You’ll harness data and analytics to generate powerful market insights to guide strategic and tactical decisions that will drive short-term and long-term business success. This is your opportunity to lead transformative change, build high-performing teams, and shape the future of our company in Hong Kong & Macau.
The Commercial Strategy & Operations Director reports directly to the Managing Director and is an integral part of the local senior leadership team while fostering strong collaboration with our global and regional leadership. Notably, our Hong Kong team reports directly into the Asia Pacific region, enabling a wide range of career development opportunities across other APAC markets and in regional roles.
At Our company in Hong Kong, our mission is to transform breakthrough science into life changing medicines that save and improve lives worldwide. As the #1 vaccines company and #2 pharmaceutical company in Hong Kong and Macau, we pride ourselves on a growing and robust in-line portfolio, a broad and deep pipeline, and an unwavering commitment to scientific excellence, integrity, and ethical standards. Our culture champions a vibrant, inclusive workplace, where collaboration, team spirit, and relentless pursuit of excellence drive our collective success.
Key Responsibilities
The Commercial Strategy & Operations Director will lead a team of 5 people who are responsible for sales force effectiveness, operations, learning and development, and compliance while serving as chief of staff to the Managing Director to lead strategic projects.
Strategic Planning & Partnerships:
Drive strategic impact by understanding key success drivers and leading the annual strategic planning process, including shaping a bold 5-year strategic roadmap with the Managing Director & Leadership Team.
Own performance excellence by establishing leading and lagging metrics, proactively managing risks, and partnering with the Managing Director and Finance Director to optimize resource allocation for maximum business impact.
Be a trusted advisor to business units during planning and forecasting, providing actionable insights through trend analysis, customer intelligence, and market analytics.
Lead high-level governance and decision-making by facilitating market business reviews and monthly operational reviews, identifying risks and opportunities, and enabling critical decisions across all business units.
Accelerate growth by collaborating with Sales & Marketing to identify and execute business development opportunities, including strategic partnerships that shape the future of the organization.
Partner as a chief of staff to Managing Director, leading special strategic projects as needed
Oversee the design and optimization of Sales Incentive Plan (SIP), including Territory Design (TD) / Target Setting (TS) and Sales force effectiveness (SFE), Segmentation and Targeting (S&T)
Maximize commercial impact by evaluating sales team performance against key Sales Force Effectiveness (SFE) metrics providing actionable recommendations to maximize sales team productivity & effectiveness
Shape customer engagement strategies by designing call plans aligned with marketing objectives, and measure and monitor effectiveness
Guide the L&D Manager to partner with Sales & Marketing leaders, aligning training strategies with business objectives and delivering impactful programs that elevate team performance.
Lead digital transformation initiatives by collaborating with our company Digital & Data teams to embed technologies (eg Co-Pilot) into daily work and upskill the organization on digital capabilities to simplify work and unlock faster, smarter decision-making.
BPO:
Champion compliance excellence by understanding our company SOPs and ensuring business processes are efficient, effective, and fully aligned with laws, regulations, and industry standards—including anti-bribery and anti-corruption requirements—while enabling successful commercial engagement with HCPs.
Drive strong governance and risk management by developing and implementing robust internal controls, supporting audits of HCP interactions, identifying compliance risks, and collaborating with Legal, Marketing, and Sales to align compliance with business objectives. Ensure that compliance metrics are discussed and reviewed quarterly with LT and other relevant stakeholders
Foster a culture of integrity and accountability by promoting awareness and adherence to the company’s Values, Standards, Corporate Policies, and SOPs across all levels of the organization.
Skills, knowledge, Experience & Qualifications Required
Minimum of a bachelor’s degree in marketing, business management or related discipline
10-15 years of pharmaceutical company or other industry experience in sales and marketing and/or relevant management consulting experience
Relevant experience in sales force effectiveness is preferred
Strong leadership, analytical skills, savviness in digital, and data driven decision making
Demonstrates initiative, strategic thinking, & creative problem solving
Strong collaboration & influence skills w/ ability to work well across functions and teams
Excellent project management & attention to detail
At least 5 years of people management experience preferred
Strong understanding of Hong Kong healthcare ecosystem preferred
Excellent fluency in English mandatory; Cantonese & Mandarin fluency preferred
Who we are
We are known as Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, New Jersey, USA in the United States and Canada and MSD everywhere else. For more than a century, we have been inventing for life, bringing forward medicines and vaccines for many of the world's most challenging diseases. Today, our company continues to be at the forefront of research to deliver innovative health solutions and advance the prevention and treatment of diseases that threaten people and animals around the world.
What we look for
Imagine getting up in the morning for a job as important as helping to save and improve lives around the world. Here, you have that opportunity. You can put your empathy, creativity, digital mastery, or scientific genius to work in collaboration with a diverse group of colleagues who pursue and bring hope to countless people who are battling some of the most challenging diseases of our time. Our team is constantly evolving, so if you are among the intellectually curious, join us—and start making your impact today.
Required Skills:
Business Strategies, Change Management, Commercial Excellence, Communication, Customer-Focused, Digital Marketing, Direct Marketing, Event Management, Event Planning, Leadership, Market Research, People Leadership, Planning Budgeting And Forecasting (PBF), Product Management, Strategic Planning, Strategic ThinkingPreferred 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:
RegularRelocation:
VISA Sponsorship:
Travel Requirements:
Flexible Work Arrangements:
HybridShift:
Valid Driving License:
Hazardous Material(s):
Job Posting End Date:
11/28/2025*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.