About this opportunity
Original employer descriptionJob Description
Our company's Travel, Meetings, Events & Fleet (TME&F) Organization – Meeting Services Support operates across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and is responsible for delivering standardized, compliant, and efficient global processes that support our company's business divisions and markets. Through a centralized service delivery model, TME&F enables operational excellence, financial stewardship, and consistent stakeholder experience worldwide.
The Senior Specialist, Meeting Services Support serves as a subject-matter expert and provides day-to-day operational support for assigned markets, meeting types, processes, systems, or service areas. The role supports the end-to-end delivery of Meeting Services Support activities, provides technical guidance to teams, coordinates complex case and escalation resolution, and monitors service performance, quality, and operational risks.
The Senior Specialist works closely with Meeting Owners, the Business Practices Office (BPO), Compliance, Finance, relevant TME&F colleagues, BSC teams, Meeting Planning Agencies, and other partners to clarify requirements and support consistent, compliant execution. The role also supports and facilitates assigned operational and governance calls by preparing performance updates, highlighting issues and risks, coordinating discussions, documenting decisions, and following up on agreed actions. In addition, the role supports process transitions, knowledge transfer, hypercare, service stabilization, documentation updates, and continuous improvement initiatives. This position is designed as a senior individual contributor unless formal people-management responsibilities are separately assigned.
Key Responsibilities
End-to-End Operational Support and Subject-Matter Expertise
- Act as the operational subject-matter expert for assigned markets, meeting types, processes, systems, or service areas.
- Provide day-to-day operational support and technical guidance to team members.
- Support the team in coordinating workload priorities during peak periods, month-end, quarter-end, transition, go-live, and hypercare.
- Ensure consistent application of approved procedures, controls, and market requirements.
- Review complex cases and recommend the appropriate path to resolution.
- Support the end-to-end delivery of meeting and event administration, HCP/HCO account maintenance, agreement preparation, purchase order activities, payment and expense support, meeting reconciliation, and event closure within the assigned scope.
- Help identify incomplete information, operational dependencies, system issues, and service risks that may affect timely and accurate delivery.
Complex Case and Escalation Support
- Support and coordinate the resolution of complex operational, compliance-support, vendor, purchase order, payment, expense, reconciliation, or event-closure issues.
- Assess the impact, urgency, dependency, control consideration, and stakeholder involvement for escalated cases.
- Support root-cause analysis for recurring issues, service failures, rework, aging, or inconsistent execution.
- Coordinate corrective actions and track them through completion.
- Act as the first point of operational support for cases escalated by team members/stakeholders.
- Work closely with the team, BPO, Compliance, Meeting Owners, and relevant partners to clarify requirements, gather information, and coordinate agreed actions.
- Maintain visibility of open escalations, responsible owners, target completion dates, and closure status.
- Escalate material, sensitive, recurring, or unresolved policy, control, resource, service, stakeholder, or reputational matters to the Manager and appropriate process owners.
Service Performance and Governance
- Monitor service indicators such as volumes, turnaround, service-level achievement, quality, right-first-time performance, open or aging cases, and event closure.
- Support and facilitate assigned operational and governance calls, and ensure decisions and action items are documented, assigned, and followed through.
- Prepare operational insights, trends, risks, and improvement recommendations for service reviews.
- Prepare governance-call agendas, service performance updates, open escalation summaries, risk and dependency highlights, and previous action-item status.
- Present assigned operational updates, including service levels, quality, Right First Time, aging, backlog, escalations, and improvement actions, in a clear and factual manner.
- Coordinate pre-call alignment with the Manager, BPO, Compliance, and other relevant stakeholders when clarification or support is required.
- Prepare or coordinate governance-call recaps and action trackers, and follow up with action owners through closure.
- Support workload allocation and capacity discussions by providing accurate operational information.
- Promote clear case ownership and consistent communication across the team.
Transition, Training and Continuous Improvement
- Support process mapping, knowledge transfer, shadowing, readiness assessment, go-live support, hypercare, and stabilization for new or expanded scope.
- Support the design and delivery of onboarding, refresher training, and targeted coaching based on recurring issues or process changes.
- Review work instructions, checklists, templates, user guides, and market-specific operational documentation, and coordinate the required approval before publication.
- Support or coordinate continuous-improvement initiatives that strengthen efficiency, scalability, controls, service quality, and stakeholder experience.
- Coordinate process testing, implementation actions, and post-go-live reviews with relevant stakeholders.
- Promote adoption of approved digital tools, reporting solutions, and automation opportunities.
Compliance and Stakeholder Partnership
- Support and represent Meeting Services Support in relevant workshops, issue-resolution discussions, readiness reviews, and process-improvement forums.
- Build effective day-to-day working relationships with Meeting Owners, BPO, Compliance, internal TME&F colleagues, Finance, relevant Procurement teams, Source-to-Settle teams, employee expense teams, and Meeting Planning Agencies.
- Translate operational findings into clear recommendations and agreed actions.
- Work closely with Compliance and BPO to clarify meeting-related requirements, supporting documentation, approvals, and appropriate operational treatment.
- Provide clear and timely updates on request status, dependencies, service timelines, operational issues, escalation status, and agreed actions.
- Support stakeholders in understanding MSS requirements, roles and responsibilities, and approved service timelines.
- Escalate sensitive stakeholder concerns, relationship risks, repeated service issues, or matters requiring management intervention to the Manager.
- Support the Manager with service planning, priority setting, risk visibility, and stakeholder updates.
Key Working Relationships
- Meeting Owners, business leaders, coordinators, Product Managers, and functional stakeholders across supported markets.
- Associate Specialists, Specialists, peer Senior Specialists, and the Meeting Services Support Manager.
- TME&F colleagues across Business Partner, Process Excellence, Strategy, Program, and regional operations teams.
- Compliance, Legal, Finance, Procurement, Source-to-Settle, Internal Controls, and employee expense teams.
- Meeting Planning Agencies and other approved external service providers, where applicable.
Performance Expectations
Service Level and Timeliness
- Coordinate operational priorities to support achievement of approved service-level timelines.
- Monitor aging, backlog, peak-period demand, and unresolved dependencies, and initiate timely recovery actions.
- Ensure escalations and action items have clear ownership, due dates, and follow-through.
Quality and Accuracy
- Monitor quality, accuracy, Right First Time, and recurring error trends for the assigned portfolio.
- Lead root-cause analysis and corrective actions where quality or service performance is below expectation.
- Promote consistent application of controls, documentation standards, and quality checks across the team.
Functional Leadership and Transformation
- Provide technical coaching and calibration to Associate Specialists and Specialists.
- Lead knowledge-transfer, readiness, go-live, hypercare, and stabilization activities within assigned scope.
- Use operational data and stakeholder feedback to drive simplification, standardization, digital enablement, and continuous improvement.
Success Measures
- Consistent service performance and effective management of operational risks and escalations.
- Timely resolution of complex and aging cases.
- Strong quality, control adherence, and right-first-time outcomes.
- Successful knowledge transfer, readiness, go-live, and stabilization of new scope.
- Delivery of measurable process, service, documentation, or stakeholder-experience improvements.
- Development of team capability through effective technical coaching and knowledge sharing.
Education and Experience
- Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Accounting, Finance, Economics, Science, or a related discipline.
- Typically 5 or more years of relevant experience in meeting operations, finance operations, accounts payable, purchase-to-pay, expense management, event administration, or a comparable controlled environment.
- Demonstrated experience leading complex cases, projects, transitions, process workstreams, or operational improvement initiatives.
- Experience providing technical coaching, functional guidance, or coordination to other team members.
- Relevant language capability may be required for the supported portfolio and will be stated in the job posting.
Required Skills and Capabilities
- Strong subject-matter knowledge of meeting operations, financial processes, controls, and documentation requirements.
- Ability to analyze complex issues while maintaining an end-to-end process view.
- Strong judgment within approved policies and clear awareness of when and where to escalate.
- Strong stakeholder-management, facilitation, influencing, and written communication skills.
- Advanced capability in Microsoft 365 applications, including Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, SharePoint, and relevant reporting tools.
- Strong practical experience with systems such as Veeva, SAP, Ariba, Concur, ServiceNow, Cvent, Salesforce, or equivalent platforms.
- Ability to lead process mapping, knowledge transfer, training, root-cause analysis, and continuous-improvement activities.
- Ability to operate effectively in a changing, fast-paced, high-volume, and geographically dispersed environment.
Preferred Qualifications
- Lean Six Sigma, project management, change management, or similar improvement credentials.
- Experience with Power BI, Power Apps, Excel macros, UiPath, or other digital and automation solutions.
- Experience in global operations, internal controls, audit, compliance-support, or a multinational environment.
- Broad knowledge of meeting types, congresses, sponsorships, travel, expenses, payments, and relevant operational policies.
- Experience supporting new-market transitions or significant scope expansion.
Note: Responsibilities may be adjusted based on supported market requirements, meeting types, applicable policies, and business needs. The role must perform all activities in accordance with company policies, controls, privacy requirements, and approved procedures.
Required Skills:
Ability to Coordinate, Ability to Coordinate, Action Item Management, Adaptability, Bookkeeping, Business Process Standardization, Corporate Cards, Credit Management, Customer Service, Driver Management, Financial Operations, Internal Controls, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), Interpersonal Relationships, Leadership Theories, Management Review, Management Support, Meeting Facilitation, Operations Management, Operations Support, Payment Handling, Policy Compliance, Preparation of Financial Reports, Procedure Adherence, Process Alignment {+ 9 more}
Preferred Skills:
Current Employees apply HERE
Current Contingent Workers apply HERE
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:
VISA Sponsorship:
Travel Requirements:
Flexible Work Arrangements:
Hybrid
Shift:
Valid Driving License:
Hazardous Material(s):
Job Posting End Date:
10/31/2026
*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.
