Clinical Liaison, Oncology - Remote

Job Description

The Clinical Liaison, Oncology reports to the Executive Clinical Research Director in Oncology and is a strategic, field-facing role within Global Clinical Trial Operations (GCTO) that bridges clinical execution and scientific engagement to accelerate patient recruitment and optimize trial delivery.

This role requires deep clinical operations expertise, oncology scientific knowledge, and proficiency in Good Clinical Practice (GCP), demonstrating specialist expertise within a defined discipline. The Clinical Liaison serves as a recruitment subject matter expert (SME) and scientific partner, driving trial awareness, engagement, and enrollment through credible medical dialogue.

This role requires good knowledge of how the clinical operations discipline contributes to the business unit and a solid understanding of the external landscape impacting oncology trial execution (e.g., site capabilities and enrollment dynamics). The individual will shape and influence recruitment and site engagement strategy across multiple oncology studies, partnering cross-functionally with Therapeutic Area Heads, Clinical Development, and Medical Affairs to ensure alignment between scientific narrative and operational delivery. While rooted in GCTO, the role materially influences alignment, and future study planning. Making this cross‑study and cross‑functional impact. The Clinical Liaison generations insights which translate investigator and site insights into scalable models or future trial planning considerations.

Extent of Travel: Up to 50%

Key Responsibilities

1. Scientific Engagement & Investigator Partnership

• Lead scientific interactions with investigators and site staff to communicate scientific rationale, mechanism of action, and relevant clinical data in a compliant framework.

• Build confidence in investigational assets and drive trial awareness and enthusiasm through credible scientific exchange.

• Serve as a trusted scientific partner to oncology sites throughout the trial lifecycle.

2. Recruitment & Site Engagement Strategy (Multi-Study) & Enrollment Acceleration

• Shape, influence, and continuously refine patient recruitment, retention, and site engagement strategies across multiple oncology trials to accelerate enrollment.

• Partner with sites and internal study teams across multiple oncology trials to identify eligible patient populations, surface and address enrollment barriers, and influence tailored site engagement and recruitment approaches.

• Monitor enrollment performance and site engagement effectiveness across the oncology portfolio; apply complex judgment and advanced analytical thought to prioritize risks/opportunities and influence targeted, cross-functional interventions to optimize outcomes.

3. Oncology Recruitment SME & Best Practice Deployment

• Act as an internal oncology recruitment SME across the study portfolio; develop, standardize, and disseminate best practices, playbooks, tools, and innovative approaches to scale impact across multiple trials.

• Provide recruitment and site engagement insights to inform protocol feasibility, country/site strategy, and site selection decisions across assigned oncology studies.

4. Cross-Functional Collaboration (Matrix Leadership)

• Collaborate closely with Therapeutic Area Heads (Oncology), Clinical Development, Medical Affairs, and study teams/partners to shape alignment across scientific messaging, site engagement strategy, and operational execution across multiple oncology studies.

• Influence within a matrixed environment through advanced communication and negotiation with senior stakeholders to align on portfolio-level site engagement and recruitment priorities, sequencing, and resource trade-offs.

5. Compliance, Quality & Inspection Readiness

• Ensure all site interactions and recruitment strategies adhere to GCP and applicable local/global policies, maintaining ethical, patient-centric, inspection-ready trial conduct.

• Support audit readiness activities, issue response, and timely completion of CAPA expectations as applicable.

6. Trial Performance Optimization (Data-Informed Execution)

• Track and analyze enrollment metrics, site performance, and engagement effectiveness across multiple oncology studies; identify cross-study trends and influence data-driven improvements.

• Collaborate with site engagement, feasibility, and patient recruitment teams to address enrollment challenges across the portfolio, coordinate interventions across study teams, and scale successful solutions where appropriate.

• Addresses questions from investigators and provides information regarding participation in Company-sponsored clinical studies.

Role Scope & Decision-Making

• Shapes and influences recruitment discipline strategy and site engagement approach across multiple oncology studies; guides execution decisions through site-level engagement, barrier resolution, and performance-based interventions.

• Role impact is to improve recruitment and site engagement outcomes across the oncology portfolio that are critical to study timelines, delivery, and overall trial performance.

• Colleague will mentor and guide junior colleagues and provide advisory support to teams and stakeholders to strengthen recruitment and site engagement capabilities and drive consistent adoption of best practices across multiple oncology studies.

Key Interfaces

• Internal: Therapeutic Area Heads (Oncology), Clinical Development, Medical Affairs, GCTO study teams, feasibility/site engagement/patient recruitment partners, and quality/compliance partners (as needed).

• External: Investigators, KOLs, and site staff involved in oncology trial delivery.

Education:

• Scientific Degree, BS/MS

• Advanced degree preferred: MD, PharmD, PhD, or equivalent scientific/clinical background.

Experience:

• 7 years of relevant experience.

• Oncology clinical research, clinical trial operations and/or medical affairs.

• Demonstrated experience in investigator engagement, clinical trial recruitment and enrolment strategies.

• Cross functional collaboration in matrix environment.

• Strong leadership skills that allow the position to work and lead effectively in a virtual, culturally diverse environment.

Engagement and Communication

• Ability to lead high-impact scientific discussions with investigators.

• Strong presentation and influencing skills.

• Credibility in medical-to-medical interactions Position requires excellent oral and written skills in English.

Skills and Competencies

• Scientific and Clinical Expertise and Strong Understanding of Oncology disease landscape, Clinical Trial Design and Execution, Mechanisms of action and clinical data interpretation.

• Proven track record in strong prioritization and decision-making skills.

Required Skills:

Preferred Skills:

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The salary range for this role is

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.

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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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