Strategic Accounts Director

Why Merit?

At Merit Medical, our mission is to create innovative medical devices that improve lives. Our goal is to hire and develop people who want to build something special through hard work, team effort, and commitment. Together, we are making a difference in the lives of patients around the world.

SUMMARY OF DUTIES
We are looking for a commercially driven and strategically minded leader who can leverage their business acumen, market expertise and leadership skills to drive sustainable revenue growth across Germany and Switzerland through Strategic Accounts, GPOs, procurement organisations, healthcare systems and key customer partnerships.

This role represents a critical leadership position within the EMEA Strategic Account organisation and requires strong business, commercial and financial acumen, exceptional stakeholder management skills and the ability to influence without direct authority across a matrix organisation.

The role requires a strong understanding of the German and Swiss hospital, procurement and reimbursement environments, including purchasing consolidation, hospital reform, digital procurement, outpatient care and supply-chain requirements.

The successful candidate will collaborate closely with Country Leadership, Regional Sales Managers, Pricing, Tenders, Finance, Commercial Analytics, Marketing and EMEA Commercial Strategy functions to ensure that Merit Medical continues to strengthen its position within the evolving German and Swiss healthcare systems.

Strategic Leadership and Market Development

- Develop and execute a multi-year Strategic Account strategy for Germany and Switzerland, aligning market priorities with EMEA Commercial Strategy and delivering sustainable revenue, margin and market share growth.
- Influence Country Leadership, including the Country RVP, Regional Business Managers and EMEA stakeholders, to align commercial priorities and organisational resources around the most strategically important customers, products and opportunities.
- Prioritise strategically important customer segments, including purchasing organisations, private hospital groups, university hospitals, maximum-care providers, hospital networks and other top-tier accounts.
- Monitor healthcare-system evolution, procurement consolidation, reimbursement trends, policy changes, competitor activity and customer restructuring to anticipate risks and inform commercial strategy.
- Translate EMEA strategy into relevant local initiatives for Germany and Switzerland, while contributing market insight and best practice back into the EMEA Strategic Account organisation.
- Contribute to the evolution of the EMEA Strategic Account operating model, supporting future capability, resourcing and market-expansion initiatives.

Customer and Executive Engagement

- Develop, maintain and expand senior executive relationships with strategic customers, including GPO leadership, procurement executives, CPOs, CFOs, hospital management, private healthcare executives and other healthcare-system decision makers.
- Act as Merit Medical executive representative for strategic customers, leading complex commercial discussions, strategic reviews, negotiations and long-term partnership development.
- Influence customer strategy by aligning Merit’s value proposition, portfolio and commercial solutions with customer objectives and wider healthcare-system priorities.
- Position Merit as a value-creating partner in areas including supply continuity, portfolio optimisation, process efficiency, cost management, clinical value and sustainable customer outcomes.
- Represent Merit at industry events, customer leadership forums, procurement meetings, strategic supplier reviews and relevant stakeholder engagements.
- Lead complex strategic negotiations that consider price, volume, margin, contracts, rebates, administration fees, logistics, reimbursement and long-term customer commitments.

Healthcare Policy

- Maintain a strong understanding of the German and Swiss hospital landscapes, including ownership models, purchasing organisations, hospital networks, relevant procurement structures and care-delivery changes.
- Assess how German hospital reform, service groups, DRG and hybrid-DRG developments, Swiss reimbursement arrangements, TARDOC and outpatient-care trends may affect customer decisions, account strategies and commercial models.
- Identify risks and opportunities created by the movement of appropriate procedures from inpatient to outpatient settings and translate these developments into customer, portfolio, pricing and account strategies.
- Work with relevant Market Access, Finance, Marketing and Commercial Strategy stakeholders to translate reimbursement and policy developments into actionable commercial recommendations.
- Monitor relevant developments from industry associations, including BVMED and Swiss Medtech, in areas such as regulation, reimbursement, procurement, digitalisation, sustainability, supply continuity and healthcare-system transformation.

Team Leadership and Cross-Functional Influence

- Lead, coach and develop the DECH Strategic Account team, including Strategic Account Managers, Coordinators and other assigned resources.
- Set clear priorities, KBOs, performance expectations and individual development plans aligned with business needs and EMEA Strategic Account objectives.
- Build a high-performance culture based on accountability, ownership, collaboration, customer focus and proactive problem-solving.
- Influence senior leaders and cross-functional stakeholders to ensure that strategic customer priorities are reflected in commercial plans and resource decisions.
- Allocate Strategic Account resources according to revenue potential, margin risk, customer importance, product-growth potential, market dynamics and strategic opportunity.

Revenue Management and Commercial Excellence

- Lead Revenue Management initiatives across strategic customers, ensuring effective management of price, volume, margin, contract performance and customer commitment.
- Partner closely with Pricing, Finance, Tenders and Commercial Analytics to improve pricing discipline, contract governance, margin protection and commercial decision-making.
- Lead the strategic management of framework agreements, volume agreements, rebate arrangements, GPO administration fees and long-term customer commitments.
- Monitor contract performance, purchasing behaviour, pricing compliance, portfolio penetration, cross-selling potential and customer delivery against agreed commitments.
- Use customer insights, CRM data, contract-performance metrics and market intelligence to identify commercial risks, unlock opportunities and improve performance.
- Champion the use of CRM, analytics platforms, AI-enabled tools and digital collaboration technologies to improve stakeholder mapping, account visibility, opportunity management and strategic decision-making.

Preferred Skills and Experience

- Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Economics, Healthcare, Life Sciences or a related discipline, or equivalent relevant professional experience.
- Significant experience managing Strategic Accounts, GPOs, National Accounts, Market Access or comparable commercial-strategic responsibilities within the Medical Device, Healthcare or Life Sciences industry.
- Demonstrated ability to influence senior internal stakeholders, including Country Leadership, Sales Leadership and EMEA commercial functions.
- Strong experience developing and managing executive and C-suite customer relationships.
- Proven people-leadership experience, including setting objectives, coaching team members and supporting professional development.
- Proven ability to lead multifunctional teams and influence effectively without direct authority.
- Strong commercial, financial and analytical acumen.
- Experience in pricing strategy, complex contract negotiations, GPO agreements and Revenue Management principles.
- Experience developing business cases and evaluating commercial opportunities, resource needs and investment decisions.
- Strong understanding of healthcare systems, procurement models, hospital structures and market dynamics within Germany and Switzerland.
- Strong digital mindset with experience using CRM, analytics platforms, dashboards and commercial decision-support tools.
- Excellent written and verbal communication, presentation, facilitation and stakeholder-management skills.
- Professional presence, sound judgement, integrity, resilience and a strong focus on sustainable customer and commercial outcomes.
- Fluent German and English required. French-language capability is advantageous for the Swiss market.

Team & Culture

You will join a high-performing EMEA Strategic Account organisation focused on driving sustainable growth through healthcare system leadership, customer excellence, commercial discipline and revenue management.

This role offers a unique opportunity to influence market strategy, shape customer partnerships, develop strategic talent and contribute to the future evolution of the EMEA Strategic Account function.

We are Global

Founded in 1987, Merit Medical Systems, Inc. is a leading manufacturer and marketer of proprietary disposable medical devices used in interventional, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, particularly in cardiology, radiology, oncology, critical care and endoscopy. Merit serves client hospitals worldwide with an international sales force and clinical support team totalling in excess of 500 individuals. Merit employs approximately 6,300 people worldwide .

Merit Medical EMEA currently has over 300 employees, spread over more than 20 countries in the EMEA region.

Merit Maastricht (The Netherlands) is the European Headquarters and Distribution Center of Excellence. Much of Merit Medical’s world-class customer service happens here along with our excellent physician training courses. More than 100 employees work at this growing Merit campus and enjoy many benefits, such as flexible working hours and competitive salaries as well as learning opportunities and internships.

Culture

A supportive and collaborative environment make Merit Medical a friendly, enjoyable place to work. We are proud of our energetic and dynamic culture. Diversity & Inclusion is evident here with a 50/50 ratio of male and female employees and more than 30 nationalities. We value every employee as an individual.

To see more on our culture, go to www.merit.com/careers .