Distinguished Scientist/ Therapeutic Area Head, Translational Medicine – Neuroscience

Job Description

The Distinguished Scientist/ Therapeutic Area Head, Translational Medicine – Neuroscience is responsible for leading Translational Medicine (TMed) for the Neuroscience Therapeutic Area and strategy, bridging Discovery Research through Late-Stage Clinical Development. The Therapeutic Area (TA) Lead will provide strategic oversight for the early clinical space, determining and implementing the initial clinical strategy through proof-of-concept/pharmacology/principle and driving the transition from early to late-stage governance; and will be responsible for the clinical pharmacology support of the Common Technical Document (CTD) and label, including relevant compound/program life-cycle management.

The successful candidate will have an essential strategic and tactical role in overseeing the scientific direction of clinical programs involving translational research and early clinical development for the Neuroscience Therapeutic Area. They are expected to operate in a highly collaborative and matrixed environment, partnering with peers across the company network agnostic of geographic location in the US and globally. The position will also require strong strategic leadership to deepen and expand an already extensive network of key cross- functional partners both within TMed, Discovery, and Global Clinical Development.

The candidate will be expected to understand the our company's portfolio and collaborate with Discovery Research, bringing a clinical perspective to the disease biology, identifying target engagement (TE) approaches, leveraging biomarkers (soluble and imaging), supporting programmatic dose selection, and representing TMed at governance for the Neuroscience portfolio (discovery therapeutic area review, early and late-stage clinical governance), and fully supportive of external-based therapeutic opportunities.

The role will require deep scientific and therapeutic-area expertise in Translational Neuroscience, thorough familiarity, and experience with the principles of drug development to ensure compound transition along the pipeline, management experience, and importantly the ability to work with ambiguity and embrace uncertainty. The role will demand critical, timely, independent decision making and requires a high degree of autonomy.

The role reports to the Senior Vice President/Global Head of Translational Medicine (TMed), and sits on the TMed leadership team. The leader must have scientific excellence in Translational Neuroscience with a rich understanding of drug development, leadership, recruitment capabilities, management skills to direct a group of individuals, and excellent communication and collaboration skills to deliver on the Neuroscience portfolio strategy.
 

Key Responsibilities:

• Serve on TMed core leadership team (LT)

• Serves as the deep subject matter expertise in Translational Neuroscience Medicine

• Neuroscience Discovery Review core member

• Represent TMed at core governance (early and late stage)

• Provide core TMed input at external licensing committee for Neuroscience.

• Provide clinical updates at early (Discovery – Translational) governance

• Present and contribute at governance committees (early and late) as required

• Present Translational Neuroscience strategy at governance portfolio reviews

• Oversee and provide strategic and tactical oversight to early development teams in Neuroscience

• Coordinate dose selection and endorsement at late-stage governance Dose Day

• Establish and own Neuroscience strategy with other TA Heads (Discovery/Late-Stage)

• Lead key technical reviews for Neuroscience assets

• Conduct DRC reviews (protocols, strategy, other)

• Sign off on clinical pharmacology CTD submissions and NDAs

• Regular updates with key cross-functional partners (Discovery/Late-Stage/Regulatory), as well as other disciplines

• Establish novel endpoints for early clinical assessment leveraging experimental medicine paradigms

• Enable clinical leads and TMed co-chairs on early development teams to establish and deliver programmatic strategy

• Responsible for attracting, hiring, developing and retaining talent within the discipline

• Contribute to shaping TMed department strategy

Required Education:

• MD or MD/PhD

Required Experience and Skills:

• 10+ years of academic and/or industry (pharma, biomedical research) experience and expert scientific and translational knowledge in Neuroscience or Critical Care medicine

• Possess a strong scientific profile with a track record of publication in top-tier, peer reviewed journals are a prerequisite for this role, to establish internal credibility with a highly sophisticated scientific team.

• Understanding of systematic discovery approaches (e.g., functional genomics, computational biology, chemical biology).

• Rich understanding of both physiology and pathophysiology in Neuroscience.

• Demonstrated leadership in early clinical drug development, including clinical pharmacology principles, biomarker strategies for target engagement, experimental medicine platforms, early clinical trial design and conduct, and operational understanding for implementation.

• Strength in delivering results on firm deadlines in support of the pipeline.

• Ability to develop, analyze, and communicate scientific information.

• Experience in attracting, developing, and retaining talent.

• Proven ability to build and lead high-performance cross-functional project teams.

• Strong interpersonal, communication and collaboration skills, and executive presence to successfully engage senior leaders in governance meetings as well as the ability to function in a team environment.

• Strong decision-making skills, weighing advantages, disadvantages, and business impact for rapid decisions.

• Ability to work successfully with ambiguity and embrace uncertainty.

• Demonstrated ability to collaborate and network effectively within a matrixed organization.

Required Skills:

Clinical Development, Clinical Governance, Clinical Investigations, Clinical Judgment, Clinical Medicine, Clinical Pharmacology, Clinical Research, Clinical Trial Planning, Clinical Trials, Collaborative Communications, Drug Development, Innovation, Leadership, Neuroscience, People Management, Results-Oriented, Scientific Consulting, Strategic Leadership, Translational Research

Preferred Skills:

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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

$304,800.00 - $479,800.00

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

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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

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Travel Requirements:

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Hybrid

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Job Posting End Date:

11/24/2025

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