BU Director, Companion Animal

Job Description

Position Overview:

The Business Unit Director is accountable for developing and implementing a sales & marketing strategy to achieve revenue targets and drive growth. This role is also responsible for leading and motivating the sales & marketing teams, promoting a culture of high performance and accountability.

The Business Unit Director reports to the General Manager and is a member of the Country Management Team.

Primary Accountabilities:

§ Long-term strategic planning and annual budgeting

o Contribute to the development of the country's long-term strategy.

o Based on country strategy and analysis of external market conditions and internal strength/weakness, to create a long-term companion animal business winning strategy for covering sales goals, value propositions, promotion, pricing, and channel management.

o Develop the BU annual budget, including sales, OPEX, growth drivers, and so on.

o Provide strategic direction and break down the strategy and annual budget into the team's responsibilities and ensure an effectively integrated and productive team.

o Regularly track, reflect, and adjust strategic and annual operating plans.

§ BU daily operation

o Responsible for BU P&L, lead the whole BU team, to collaborate with all supporting functions, and manage distributors to achieve sales and profit targets with approved OPEX.

o Translate the overall winning strategy into relevant Sales & Marketing & Technical servicing projects and activities, set up and measure KPIs for execution excellence.

o Focus on end-user demand generation in both B-end vet clinics and C-end consumers to drive growth of both vaccines and pharma products.

o Provide accurate end-user sales data, control channel inventory with proper quantity and shelf life, and provide a reliable sales forecast.

o Regularly check, analyze, and take fast corrective actions to ensure the achievement of business objectives consistently and build a long-term sustainable business growth.

§ Portfolio management

o Develop a new product launch plan based on market demand and internal portfolio and lead the implementation with the support of R&D, BD, RA, Manufacturing, and supply Chain.

o Build launch excellence capabilities to lead all relevant functions for market share obtaining.

o Drive sales growth of strategic products, optimize product portfolio.

o Proactively manage product life cycle to increase profitability and competitiveness.

§ Sales Force Effectiveness Management

o Work with the SFE function to make sure a SMART sales goal setting and resource allocation based on market potential, existing market share, and growth potential analysis in the offline and online marketplace.

o Provide true B end-user and Consumer sales data for analysis and conclude the findings into business insight for future directions.

o Set up must-win leading measurements and monitor them frequently to ensure good execution and drive sales results.

o Design SIP scheme with SFE to have an industry-competitive incentive in place.

§ Empowerment and culture

o Based on the company's unified principles and processes, establish objective, fair, and transparent standards and rules for personnel recruitment, reward and punishment, salary adjustment, and promotion;

o Build high-performing teams through effective management, motivation, development, retention, and succession;

o Practice company values and ways of working to create an open, inclusive, and responsible work environment.

§ Stakeholder engagement and cross-functional collaboration

o Regularly communicate with Global/Regional relevant leaders and China GM, reach consensus and obtain proper resources;

o Enhance collaboration between various teams within BU and corporate supporting functions, to improve BU objective achievement efficiency.

o Actively participate in various company-organized projects and activities, and coordinate internal resources to support the work of other business units/departments.

§ Compliance

o Ensure all activities of the sales, technical, and marketing groups comply with relevant Acts, policies, legal requirements, and ethical standards.

Skills, Knowledge, Experience & Qualifications:

§ Minimum of 5-7 years’ relevant management experience with good proficiency in the English Language

§ Relevant tertiary qualification (scientific, marketing, or business qualification preferred)

§ Demonstrated, successful commercial track record in regulated environments

§ Broad commercial experience and proven ability to establish strong, influential relationships with key stakeholders

§ Demonstrated experience managing marketing professionals, with an understanding of sales processes as a key part of the marketing mix

§ Experience in building and maintaining high-performing teams & leading teams through change

§ Strong Product and Technical Knowledge of the AH Industry, including a background in Livestock Animal Husbandry or Vet Science

Must Have Competencies:

Leadership

§ Creates high-performing, cohesive teams

§ Negotiates clear and challenging goals and empowers employees to reach them

§ Leads a team through change to transform a business

§ Promotes a culture in which everyone takes responsibility for their actions

§ Alignment with ELS Leadership Behaviors

People Development

§ Identifies future talent requirements for the business and builds strong plans to bridge capability gaps

§ Makes a significant investment in time to coach others and provides clear development opportunities

§ Builds talent within the team for future succession to leadership roles

Business Acumen

§ Knows how to grow a business, applies commercial management principles to achieve business outcomes

§ Effectively uses financial analysis tools to monitor the return on investment, benchmarking performance against others in the industry

§ Understands wider industry and political issues and priorities

Turns strategy into action

§ Creates winning strategies

§ Translates strategies into implementation plans with clear milestones and timelines

§ Effectively communicates strategic priorities and leads the team through implementation

§ Monitors implementation, taking corrective action to ensure strategies are a commercial success

Collaboration

§ Values input of others, supports shared responsibility for achievement of business objectives

§ Identifies key stakeholders and effectively builds long-term relationships

§ Utilizes networks and relationships to deliver results, clearly defining accountability

§ Actively connects teams across functions and geographic boundaries to increase organizational performance, productivity, and problem-solving

Resilience

§ Demonstrates a high level of persistence to overcome obstacles, remains strongly motivated to achieve business objectives

§ Demonstrates learning from challenges, applying learnings to other situations

Customer Focus

§ Applies customer insight to develop customer and product strategies

§ Actively identifies and develops key customer relationships

Innovation

§ Challenges the status quo and articulates a clear vision for implementing change

§ Fully understands the practical requirements needed to turn innovation into a commercial success

§ Champions ideas to Leaders, clearly outlining the implementation plan

§ Utilizes all available technology to support

Required Skills:

Accountability, Accountability, Account Management, Commercial Contract Negotiations, Customer-Focused, Customer Insights, Customer Needs Analysis, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Utilization, Endevor, Financial Acumen, Financial Analysis, Financial Forecasting, Global Account Management, Innovation, Leadership, Market Analysis, Marketing Strategies, Market Share Analysis, Operational Delivery, Personnel Recruitment, Portfolio Management, Product Lifecycle, Profitability Management, Sales Force Effectiveness, Sales Target Achievement {+ 3 more}

Preferred Skills:

Current Employees apply HERE

Current Contingent Workers apply HERE

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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:

Domestic

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:

07/31/2026

*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.