Executive Director, US Sales, Livestock

Job Description

Lead all sales activities in support of achieving the goals of the US Livestock Business. These activities include sales force direction and development, setting of the sales organizations priorities, development of operational budget; close collaboration with livestock marketing lead and to ensure field input to inform the portfolio strategy development process; key customer interface; KOL interface; Participate in the development, implementation, and control of annual and long-range sales planning and the design of sales incentive plans aligned to the organizations priorities.

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop, implement and execute short, medium and long-term product sales strategies to achieve established sales goals.
• Work with livestock leadership, marketing and finance to establish annual budgets. Allocate and direct utilization of resources to ensure funds are invested appropriately to meet company sales goals.
• Build, develop and maintain strong business relationship with key opinion leaders, customer leadership and industry influencers to understand and communicate market trends and competitive activities and to develop business opportunities to increase product placement and occupancy.
• Collaborate with livestock marketing lead and brand managers to develop successful strategies to enable the Field Sales force to achieve the targeted sales number.
• Collaborate with livestock leadership to ensure an uninterrupted supply of products are available to the customer, keeping leadership informed of market trends or events impacting product demand which could create an excess or lack of inventory.
• Lead, manage, and develop direct and indirect team members to increase talent, sales expertise, and drive performance; participate in the recruitment and selection of industry-leading talent to build a high-performing team; proactively shape culture to develop highly aligned, motivated sales team.
• Collaborate with Animal Health Learning and Development team to assist in the design, implementation and execution of sales training to increase effectiveness of the field sale force.
• Collaborate with team members to develop and implement technology-based tools to increase sales force effectiveness by providing access to critical information related to customer sales trends, incentive program activity and achievement of customer purchasing targets.
• Participate as a member of the US livestock leadership team.

Scope and Context:

This position has the overall responsibility for leading the sales teams for all livestock species and all livestock portfolios.

Animal Health Commercial Competencies:

Leadership Behaviors:

• Demonstrate Ethics & Integrity.
• Drive Results.
• Focus on Customers & Patients.
• Make Rapid Disciplined Decisions.
• Act with Courage & Candor.
• Build Talent.
• Foster Collaboration.

Professional Competencies:

• Business & Financial Acumen.
• Working Across Boundaries.
• Strategic Thinking.
• Project Management.
• Productive Communication.
• Problem Solving.

Core Commercial Functional Competencies:

• Customer and Market Insights.
• Strategic Business Management.
• Product Knowledge & Portfolio Management.
• Account Management.
• Customer Engagement.
• Market Access.
• Regulatory & Compliance Knowledge.
• Lifecycle Management.

Education:

• Required: Bachelor's Degree.
• Preferred: Master's Degree/MBA.

Required Experience & Skills:

• Minimum of 15 years of sales, marketing and/or Animal Health Operations, including in-depth knowledge of the market, livestock animal products and competitive environment.
• Must have knowledge of biological/vaccine market.
• Minimum of 10 years of people management experience preferred.
• Strong strategic leadership ability.
• Strong financial acumen and budget planning skills.
• Ability to manage budget and resources effectively.
• Proven track record of managing, leading, coaching, and developing a high-performing team.
• Ability to effectively influence key stakeholders and customer leadership, and drive business decisions, and sales strategies.
• Demonstration of excellent business acumen, relationship management, negotiation and account management skills.
• Strong collaboration skills and ability to successfully partner cross functionally with all business units, regulatory, legal, and R & D colleagues.
• Expertise in pricing analysis and strategy, new product launches and customer communications planning and sales strategy.
• Advanced written and verbal communication skills.
• Demonstrated computer proficiency including MS Office, iPad and web applications.
• 50% travel required.

Merck & Co., Inc. is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. We provide equal opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.