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Strategic Marketing Lead - Paediatric Vaccines
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Job Description Strategic Marketing Lead: Paediatric Vaccines
Reporting to:
Vaccines & Public Health Marketing Director
Location:
United Kingdom (minimum 2 days/week Moorgate, London office, full-time)
Role Purpose
An enterprise-minded leader who defines and delivers the long-term portfolio, brand and customer strategy for our organization's Paediatric Vaccines business in the UK covering RSV, MMRV, varicella, and MMR. The role shapes future growth opportunities, influences commercial decision-making, and ensures alignment between global priorities and UK market needs.
Accountable for the strategic leadership and commercial performance of the Paediatric Vaccines portfolio, the Strategic Marketing Lead drives portfolio growth, lifecycle optimization, forecasting excellence, investment prioritization, market shaping, and future business opportunities.
Acting as a key strategic partner across Marketing, Medical Affairs, Commercial Access and Pricing, Corporate Affairs, Commercial Excellence, and Field Teams, the role translates insights, customer needs, and healthcare system dynamics into clear strategic direction that delivers both business outcomes and public health impact.
Key Responsibilities
- Define and own the long-term portfolio, brand, and customer strategy, ensuring alignment between global priorities, UK market dynamics, and business objectives.
- Lead strategic planning processes, setting portfolio priorities, growth ambitions, and success measures that drive sustainable business performance.
- Develop and maintain strategic relationships with key external stakeholders through local and international congress to inform business priorities, generate actionable insights, and influence portfolio strategy, market-shaping opportunities, and customer-focused decision-making.
- Translate customer insights, market intelligence, competitive developments, healthcare policy changes, and performance data into actionable strategic recommendations.
- Develop and maintain portfolio strategies that optimize product launches, lifecycle management, customer engagement, and long-term portfolio growth.
- Lead portfolio investment planning and resource prioritization, ensuring investment decisions are aligned with strategic objectives and deliver measurable business impact.
- Accountable for forecasting assumptions, demand planning oversight, management of brand budget, and strategic input into financial planning processes, including budget and long-range planning cycles.
- Monitor portfolio performance and identify opportunities to optimize growth, customer impact, and return on investment.
- Conduct strategic scenario planning and environmental assessments to anticipate future opportunities, risks, and changes within the healthcare landscape.
- Lead strategic preparation for future market opportunities, procurement processes, and evolving healthcare policy environments, partnering with cross-functional teams to shape business outcomes.
- Provide strategic leadership across cross-functional teams, establishing clear direction, alignment, and accountability to ensure successful delivery of business objectives.
- Drive effective governance, business reviews, and performance monitoring, ensuring timely decision-making, risk management, and execution against agreed priorities.
- Represent the UK business within global and regional forums, contributing local insights and influencing future strategic direction through effective partnership and collaboration.
- Partner closely with Marketing, Medical Affairs, Market Access, Corporate Affairs, Commercial Excellence, and Field Teams to develop integrated customer-focused strategies and maximize portfolio performance.
- Provide strategic commercial input to external engagement activities and support initiatives that address healthcare system priorities and improve customer outcomes.
- Commercial Signatory qualification would be advantageous but is not an essential initial requirement for the role. The role holder should have strong working knowledge of company policies, governance requirements, and the ABPI Code of Practice, and be able to support the compliant development and review of promotional activities and materials.
- Champion excellence in strategic marketing, fostering a customer-centric, insight-driven, and performance-focused culture while supporting capability development across the organization.
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Skills and Competencies Required
- Deep expertise in strategic marketing, portfolio management, lifecycle optimization, and business planning.
- Strong commercial acumen, including forecasting, financial planning, and investment decision-making.
- Ability to synthesize complex market, customer, and policy insights into clear strategic direction and business recommendations.
- Strong strategic thinking, prioritization, and scenario-planning capability.
- Exceptional cross-functional leadership and stakeholder influencing skills.
- Ability to operate effectively within a complex matrix organization and lead through influence.
- Strong communication, executive presentation, and decision-making capability.
- Demonstrated ability to balance short-term delivery with long-term strategic objectives.
Essential Experience & Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Life Sciences, or a related discipline; advanced degree desirable.
- Significant pharmaceutical, vaccine, or public health marketing experience.
- Proven track record of developing and delivering successful portfolio, franchise, or brand strategies.
- Experience leading complex cross-functional teams and influencing senior stakeholders across a matrix environment.
- Demonstrated success in strategic planning, forecasting, financial management, and commercial delivery.
- Strong understanding of NHS structures, healthcare policy, and market access dynamics.
- Comprehensive knowledge and practical application of the ABPI Code of Practice.
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Required Skills
- Brand Management
- Business Decisions
- Content Creation
- Customer Engagement
- Digital Consumer Engagement
- Digital Marketing
- Financial Planning
- Market Research
- Market Segmentation
- Omnichannel Marketing
- Portfolio Management
- Product Launches
- Product Management
- Strategic Market Analysis
- Strategic Thinking
Preferred Skills
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
- No
VISA Sponsorship
- No
Travel Requirements
- 10%
Flexible Work Arrangements
- Not Applicable
Shift
- Not Indicated
Valid Driving License
- No
Hazardous Material(s)
- N/A
Job Posting End Date
- 07/18/2026
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.
Our company is a global health care leader with a diversified portfolio of prescription medicines, vaccines, and animal health products. The difference between potential and achievement lies in the spark that fuels innovation and inventiveness; this is the space where we have codified our legacy for over a century. Our success is backed by ethical integrity, forward momentum, and an inspiring mission to achieve new milestones in global healthcare.
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