Director, Digital Health Technology Services, GDMS Data Integration and Automation - Hybrid

Location: USA - Pennsylvania - North Wales (Upper Gwynedd)

The Director, Digital Health Technology (DHT) Services provides multi-team, multi-region leadership and portfolio-level oversight of DHT delivery. This Director approves high-impact designs, balances demand vs. capacity across programs and suppliers, scales automation and best practices, builds long-term capability, represents DHT in governance forums, manages Service Provider performance and escalations, and ensures succession planning within the DHT pillar.

Responsibilities

• DHT System delivery & study execution
• Accountable for portfolio and programs SDLC delivery anticipating regulatory/compliance risks and driving product, process, and service improvements while ensuring consistency, scalability, and compliance (GxP, Part 11, Departmental SOPs).
• Oversee full lifecycle management across TA portfolio, including pre-production readiness, post-production monitoring, change control, and timely decommissioning/archival with audit-ready documentation.
• Hold Service Providers accountable for quality and innovation to achieve strategic milestones and objectives; ensure service levels are met or exceeded.
• Build collaborative relationships and take a leadership role to align Service Providers and internal stakeholders on fit-for-purpose solutions tied to study and portfolio milestones, contributing to departmental strategy execution.
• Provide oversight for end-to-end delivery of complex data-management activities across multiple studies and systems, anticipating regulatory/compliance issues and solving unique challenges with broad business impact.
• Contribute to and shape departmental strategy by initiating and leading high-impact projects and initiatives.

Data integration, quality & system operations

• Oversight of end-to-end data integrity and compliance across all studies and systems, proactively identifying internal/external risks and recommending improvements.
• Monitor data integrations and quality, ensuring robust interoperability (APIs, files, schedules), resiliency, and error handling; anticipate systemic issues; support defect triage and drive timely resolution.
• Provide technical leadership, guidance, and reviews; advise on design trade-offs and complex data mapping/reporting/archiving.

Governance, compliance & continuous improvement

• Contribute to departmental strategy by establishing and scaling TA-level standards, templates, and design patterns for DHT setup, flows, and reporting that improve products, processes, and services.
• Represent DHT in governance and leadership and industry forums, anticipate emerging business and regulatory issues, and recommend strategic actions.
• Drive process optimization and technology enablement; identify and implement improvements (templates, test automation, dashboards); scale best practices and tools.
• Partner with DI&A and data standards teams on roadmaps and alignment to enterprise data strategy.
• Lead adoption and change across Service Providers and internal stakeholders to standardize DHT systems, acting as facilitator and mentor to empower others.
• Anticipate and prepare for regulatory inspections and audits, leading readiness with expert guidance.
• Define OKRs/KPIs; report organizational performance, risks, and investment needs; recommend data-driven actions to leadership.
• Ensure maintenance of SOPs, reference documents, and execution resources relevant to DHT setup and operations.
• Lead capability building: define curricula, mentorship models, and competency frameworks; champion knowledge sharing and communities of practice; provide input into succession planning.
• Provide leadership for training and education for stakeholders, develop training materials, and support onboarding and recognition programs.

People Management

• Align teams around a clear direction; set clear objectives aligned to organizational goals; assign work and set priorities accounting for work-life balance sustainability.
• Conduct regular check-ins and annual reviews; coach for performance; provide recognition.
• Develop career plans; create growth opportunities and promotion cases; ensure appropriate training and mentoring.
• Lead recruiting and hiring and oversee performance management activities, including management of sensitive employee-relations matters in partnership with HR.
• Coordinate on-shore/off-shore and contingent resources; ensure role clarity and effective handoffs.
• Manage an operating budget and optimize spend against priorities.
• Inspires and ensures that team leaders are effectively supporting and empowering their team members.

Technical skills

• Advanced expertise with electronic Clinical Outcome Assessment (eCOA) or Digital Health Technology (DHT) platforms used in clinical trials
• Expert-level knowledge of the clinical development process, DHT, electronic data capture, preferably through submission; thorough knowledge of clinical data management.
• Advanced understanding of UAT processes, system validation, and regulatory compliance requirements for clinical data systems
• Demonstrated ability to set TA-wide requirements for DHT configuration, integration, validation, and observability.

Soft skills

• Distill complex issues into decision-ready narratives; frame options, risks, and recommendations to influence senior decisions.
• Strong influence skills and able to drive adoption of standardized methods/ways of working; mobilize cross-functional champions and measure uptake.
• Align senior stakeholders on objectives, interfaces, and responsibilities; enforce clean handoffs and resolve conflicts.
• Coordinate decisions across regions/time zones; use asynchronous mechanisms to maintain momentum.
• Apply strong project management skills to drive on-time, high-quality delivery; lead technical team meetings, coordinate resources, and communicate status, risks, and mitigations to senior leadership.
• Ability to evaluate platforms, build vs. buy, PoCs, performance/cost trade-offs at scale.
• Ability to engage Service Providers, leadership, and industry forums; represent the team professionally and credibly under pressure; maintain resilience and composure
• Ability to define and execute organizational strategy for operations across regions
• Demonstrated success managing large, diverse, and geographically distributed teams
• Strong understanding of operational, financial, and compliance dimensions of global data delivery
• Capable of leading transformation initiatives and fostering innovation across complex organizations
• Excellent communicator with the ability to translate technical and operational priorities into clear, actionable direction
• Lead through influence across functions/geographies; mentor global cohorts; provide structured feedback.

Enterprise Leadership Skills

Strategic Planning | Plan strategically by gathering information and identifying key issues, dependencies, and relationships critical to achieving long-range goals; commit to a course of action after developing and evaluating alternatives based on facts, available resources, constraints, and organizational values.

Networking & Partnerships | Cultivate networks and partnerships by initiating and maintaining strategic relationships with stakeholders and potential partners inside and outside the organization who provide the information, ideas, expertise, and influence needed to deepen understanding of business issues and achieve business goals.

Change Catalyst | Lead change by driving the organizational and cultural shifts needed to achieve strategic priorities; catalyze new approaches to improve results by evolving culture, systems, and services; help others overcome resistance and adopt change.

Qualifications & experience

Bachelor's Degree, preferably in life sciences, computer science, engineering or related discipline with a minimum of 10 years’ experience in DHT domain or equivalent relevant industry experience including a minimum of 3+ years people management experience.

Demonstrated deep Subject Matter Expertise.

OR

• Advanced Degree (Masters or Doctorate), preferably in life sciences, computer science, engineering or related discipline with a minimum of 8 years’ experience in DHT domain or equivalent relevant industry experience, including:
• Minimum of 3+ years people management experience.
• Demonstrated deep Subject Matter Expertise.
• clinicaltrialjobs

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#GDMS

Required Skills

Business Decisions, Clinical Data Management, Data Validation, Digital Technology, Good Clinical Data Management Practice (GCDMP), People Leadership, People Management, Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), Strategic Alignment, Strategic Planning, User Acceptance Testing (UAT)

Preferred Skills

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The primary location for this posting is

• USA - Pennsylvania - North Wales (Upper Gwynedd)
• Where required by law, the compensation range for this role is provided below.
• The salary range for the primary location of this role is:

$173,200.00 - $272,600.00

This range reflects the Company's reasonable expectation of the base salary applicable to this role at the time of 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.

Additional location(s): Please note the salary range above applies to the Primary Location of the position. Where a role has other listed locations, different compensation guidelines may apply. You may find the salary ranges for additional locations below. If the salary range is not listed for the location you are applying to, our Talent Acquisition team will provide further information to you relevant to your location.

Additional location(s) Compensation Information

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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Employee Status

Regular

Relocation

No relocation

VISA Sponsorship

Travel Requirements

10%

Flexible Work Arrangements

Hybrid

Shift

1st - Day

Valid Driving License

No

Hazardous Material(s)

N/A

Job Posting End Date

10/23/2026

*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.

Additional Locations: USA - New Jersey - Rahway