Senior Specialist , Data Stewardship

Job Description

The DHH Commercial Data Solutions team is seeking a Senior Specialist, Business Rule Management and Data Quality Strategy to help advance scalable business rules and data quality capabilities within DHH, with an initial focus on Oncology and future expansion across therapeutic areas. This role will support the design, governance, automation, and operationalization of business rule management and data quality practices that improve transparency, consistency, and trust in data used for analytics, operations, launches, and business decision-making.

The Senior Specialist will partner closely with business stakeholders, data product teams, technology teams, and governance partners to define, document, implement, monitor, and continuously improve business rules and data quality standards. The successful candidate will bring a combination of data knowledge, technical fluency, process orientation, and stakeholder management skills to translate business needs into practical, scalable, and technology-enabled solutions. This role will help strengthen data trust, improve consistency in how business rules are defined and managed, and enable more scalable data quality practices across DHH.

Primary Responsibilities

• Support the strategy, governance, and lifecycle framework for business rule management and data quality management within DHH, with an initial focus on Oncology.

• Partner with cross-functional business, data, technology, and governance stakeholders to translate business needs into defined data rules, quality checks, governance processes, and implementation requirements.

• Create and maintain business rule documentation, including ownership, traceability, versioning, approval workflows, and change management practices.

• Contribute to data quality standards, profiling approaches, issue management processes, root cause analysis, remediation tracking, scorecards, and KPIs.

• Identify opportunities to simplify, automate, and scale business rule and data quality processes through improved workflows, tooling, AI-enabled capabilities, and reusable operating models.

• Collaborate with data engineering and platform teams to support accurate implementation of business rules and data quality checks within database structures, Databricks, SQL-based processes, and related data platforms.

• Support change management and adoption activities for upcoming Oncology launches, evolving business needs, and expansion of the model to additional therapeutic areas.

• Communicate data, rule, and quality concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders, including senior business partners.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in data management, information systems, computer science, business, life sciences, or a related discipline; or equivalent practical experience.

• Relevant experience working with healthcare, life sciences, commercial, clinical, or regulated data environments.

• Experience in business rule management, data quality, data governance, data management, business analysis, or related data strategy work.

• Ability to translate business requirements into data rules, quality checks, governance processes, or automated data management workflows.

• Technical understanding of database structures and data platforms, with practical experience using SQL.

• Experience working with cross-functional teams and influencing stakeholders without direct authority

• Effective written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain technical and data concepts to non-technical audiences.

• Strong analytical thinking, problem-solving, organization, and attention to detail.

• Experience using JIRA or similar tools to manage requirements, workflows, issues, or delivery activities.

Preferred Qualifications

• Oncology data experience, including familiarity with launch, commercial, clinical, or patient-related data use cases.

• Experience with Databricks or similar cloud-based data platforms.

• Experience designing or scaling business rule repositories, data quality frameworks, stewardship models, scorecards, or governance operating models.

• Familiarity with automation, AI-enabled data management capabilities, metadata management, data catalog tools, or data lineage concepts.

• Experience partnering with data engineering, analytics, product, or platform teams to implement rule-based or quality-driven data solutions.

• Ability to communicate strategy, progress, risks, and recommendations in a clear and executive-ready manner.

Key Competencies

• Data-driven decision-making.

• Business and technical translation.

• Process design and continuous improvement.

• Stakeholder collaboration and influence.

• Governance mindset and attention to detail.

• Comfort working in ambiguity and evolving priorities.

Required Skills:

Biological Sciences, Business Analysis, Business Rules Modeling, Computer Science, Data Governance, Data Lineage, Data Management, Data Modeling, Data Stewardship, Issue Management, Life Science, Metadata Management, Quality Management, Requirements Management, Stakeholder Management

Preferred Skills:

Current Employees apply HERE

Current Contingent Workers apply HERE

US and Puerto Rico Residents Only:

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As 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.  As a federal contractor, we comply with all affirmative action requirements for protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.  For more information about personal rights under the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment laws, visit:

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We are proud to be a company that embraces the value of bringing together, talented, and committed people with diverse experiences, perspectives, skills and backgrounds. The fastest way to breakthrough innovation is when people with diverse ideas, broad experiences, backgrounds, and skills come together in an inclusive environment. We encourage our colleagues to respectfully challenge one another’s thinking and approach problems collectively.

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The salary range for this role is

$117,000.00 - $184,200.00

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.

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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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:

08/4/2026

*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.