Job Description

The Strategy Realization Lead Switzerland (Sr Specialist) supports the Managing Director Switzerland and the Swiss Leadership Team in translating strategy into execution and measurable outcomes. This role serves as a trusted advisor and execution partner, driving alignment across the organization, enabling effective leadership governance and ensuring delivery of strategic priorities with measurable impact. The position combines strategic insight, operational rigor and cross-functional coordination, with strong exposure to senior stakeholders in Switzerland and above-market.

The position is full-time, part-time of 80% may be possible.

Core Responsibilities:

Leadership Team Enablement

• Act as a trusted advisor to the Managing Director and Leadership Team
• Prepare and deliver strategic updates, performance insights and business priorities for leadership reviews (local, regional, global)
• Engage with internal and external stakeholders, including regional and above-market teams, to ensure alignment of priorities and messaging
• Enable alignment and informed decision-making across senior stakeholders
• Ensure the Managing Director and Leadership Team are well prepared for all internal and external engagements by coordinating with relevant subject matter experts across the organization

Leadership Governance & Delivering Impact

• Plan, coordinate and manage Leadership Team (LT), Extended LT (ELT) and company-wide forums
• Optimize leadership meetings (e.g. offsites, Company Summit, and more) by ensuring clear alignment with strategic priorities, effective agenda setting and strong follow-up on key actions
• Identify and implement improvements to processes, governance and ways of working
• Drive development of high-quality content and materials for town halls, country visits and other key engagements involving the Managing Director and/or Leadership Team
• Ensure clear and consistent communication of priorities, decisions and progress across the organization
• Partner closely with the Communications team to ensure all internal and external messaging reflects the Managing Director’s and company’s perspectives and is tailored to the target audience

Strategy Development, Alignment & Realization

• Contribute to the development and consolidation of the Human Health Switzerland strategy
• Translate strategic priorities into clear objectives, actionable plans and deliverables
• Partner with the Leadership Team to define and track OKRs, ensuring focus and alignment
• Provide data-driven insights and actionable recommendations to support decision-making
• Drive execution of strategic priorities, ensuring delivery against objectives and maintaining transparency on progress and outcomes across key initiatives
• Own and drive selected strategic projects and/or cross-functional initiatives end-to-end, ensuring delivery against defined outcomes.
• Establish and maintain performance tracking frameworks (e.g., OKRs, dashboards), ensuring transparency and accountability on progress across key initiatives.

Required Skills:

Animal Health Sales, Cross-Functional Teamwork, Customer Relationship Building, Data-Driven Decision Making, Digital Analytics, Digital Marketing Tools, Direct Marketing, Market Development, Marketing Plan Development, Market Research, Pharmaceutical Sales Marketing, Pricing Strategies, Product Management, Product Marketing Sales

Preferred Skills:

Current Employees apply HERE

Current Contingent Workers apply HERE

Secondary Language(s) Job Description:

Your Profile:

Required Skills / Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree required (Business, Life Sciences, or related field).
• Proven track record in project management and execution, with the ability to translate high-level strategic vision into clear, actionable plans. Experience in strategy, consulting, business operations roles is a plus.
• Networking & Influencing Skills: proven ability to identify and engage the right stakeholders, build trusted relationships at the local/regional/global level and drive alignment and execution through non-hierarchical influence and strategic networking.
• Ability to summarize and communicate needs and recommendations to management at all levels verbally and in writing.
• Ability to operate through ambiguity, creating clarity and direction for stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to handle sensitive information with integrity, exercising sound judgment and maintaining the highest standards of confidentiality and professionalism.
• Strong oral and written communication skills in English; plus German and/or French.

THE COMPANY

Our Company is a leading biopharmaceutical company employing over 1,000 people in Switzerland at three sites. The company’s headquarters are in Lucerne. At the site in Zurich, the company operates a global innovation and development hub. In addition, we manufacture medicines for global clinical trials and operate a forensic laboratory in Schachen (Canton Lucerne). We conduct around 40 clinical trials annually in Switzerland. The main therapeutic areas include oncology, infectious diseases, cardiovascular and cardiometabolic diseases. We also have a broad portfolio of vaccines for the prevention of diseases in children, adolescents, and adults and we are one of the leading companies in veterinary medicine. Furthermore, we take our responsibility to the local community seriously and have been involved for many years in initiatives such as the «Trendtage Gesundheit Luzern» and the «Alliance Health Competence».

We are proud to be certified as a “Top Employer Switzerland” and “Top Employer Europe” showing the company’s commitment to our employees and the community around us

One Roof is our new Swiss headquarters in Lucerne designed to bring teams together and make collaboration easier. Across 15,000 m² of modern office space, we unite colleagues from national, regional and global functions within different functions under one roof to strengthen cross‑functional cooperation and a ONE Team culture. The site is centrally located, a short walk from Lucerne train station, supporting sustainable commuting.

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 relocation

VISA Sponsorship:

No

Travel Requirements:

10%

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Hybrid

Shift:

Not Indicated

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

N/A

Job Posting End Date:

08/21/2026

*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.