Merck & Co, Inc

Associate Director, Data Engineer: DSCS Digital Data Strategy

Merck & Co, Inc$129K — $203K *
Pharmaceuticals & Biotech
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Ph.D. in a related field with 3 years of experience, or M.S. with 5 years, or B.S. with 7 years of relevant experience.
  • Proficient in Python and/or R, with experience in Jupyter, RStudio, or VS Code.
  • Solid SQL skills with experience in relational databases and data warehouses.
  • Familiarity with cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, or GCP.
  • Experience establishing data standards and ontology mappings in a scientific context.

Responsibilities

  • Serve as a domain owner in biologics data engineering, overseeing digital projects and data flows.
  • Design and implement robust data pipelines for experimental and process data.
  • Deliver analysis-ready datasets to support digital initiatives.
  • Define and enforce interoperable data standards and metadata schemas.
  • Align with automation teams to anticipate new data stream requirements.

Benefits

  • Collaborative and inclusive team culture focused on diversity.
  • Opportunities for mentorship and career advancement.
  • Engagement in innovative digital transformation projects within the pharmaceutical sector.
  • Exposure to cutting-edge technologies and methodologies in data engineering.
Full Job Description

Job Description

Location:  West Point, PA; Rahway, NJ; Boston, MA

We are seeking an Associate Director, Data Engineer to join our Digital Insights team within the Development Sciences and Clinical Supply (DSCS) Digital Technologies organization.Digital is the multiplier that will allow DSCS to deliver better experiments faster, efficient filing and launch, more robust supply chains and higher-confidence decisions across the portfolio.

The DSCS Digital Technologies organization is responsible for the invention and application of new digital tools/workflows to support scientists across drug substance development, drug product development and analytical development. We aspire to embed digital technologies into the fabric of DSCS culture to drive transformational impact. The tools that we develop are as diverse as the teams developing them, and in this Associate Director, Data Engineer role, the successful candidate will serve as a domain owner for data engineering in the biologics space — designing, building, and governing data pipelines that capture, curate, and deliver experimental and process data, including chromatography, filtration, and purification, into digital initiatives spanning process characterization, data lineage, and multivariate analytics. This role and the work being done to build this data product will be associated with efforts to establish DSCS Digital Data Strategy.

This engineer will help establish end-to-end data strategy in the biologics space: cataloging all processes, analytics, and systems; enforcing ontology alignment across data sources; aligning proactively with colleagues as new automated workflows create new data streams; and ensuring seamless data handoffs to adjacent domains. The pipelines and data products built here will directly enable colleagues across Digital Insights to deploy modeling, optimization, and decision-support tools that de-risk and accelerate biologics drug substance manufacturing from bench through commercial scale and across multiple manufacturing sites.

This role sits within the Digital Insights team which is working to digitally enable a decision engine for DSCS, by innovating solutions through strong partnership in the domains of Data Science, Data Analysis, Informatics, Multi-Omics, Predictive Science, and Data Engineering.

Responsibilities:

  • Serve as a domain owner in the biologics data engineering space, maintaining full awareness of all digital projects, data sources, systems, and data flows within the domain.
  • Inform work being done to establish DSCS Digital Data Strategy.
  • Design and implement robust, scalable data pipelines that ingest experimental and process data from biologics source systems, including process historians, chromatography systems, electronic lab notebooks, and analytical instruments.
  • Deliver analysis-ready datasets to support digital initiatives, including process characterization models, data lineage tracking, multivariate analytics, and cross-site manufacturing connectivity.
  • Define and enforce data standards, metadata schemas, and ontology mappings that make biologics data interoperable and readily consumable by modeling and optimization workflows.
  • Align proactively with automation colleagues, anticipating when new or modified automated workflows create new data streams that require pipeline development and ontology mapping.
  • Own and govern system of record standards for biologics, ensuring consistent configuration and data entry practices across experiments, molecules, and sites.
  • Catalog all processes, analytical methods, instruments, and digital systems within the biologics domain, creating a comprehensive map of the data landscape.
  • Develop and maintain data visualizations, dashboards, and reports that enable scientists to explore process data across runs, molecules, scales, and manufacturing sites.
  • Influence digital data strategy for biologics by identifying opportunities to improve data capture practices at the source and reduce friction between experimentation and modeling.
  • Mentor and guide supporting data engineers working across modalities, ensuring alignment with domain strategy and ontology governance.
  • Maintain and version all pipeline code in GitHub, following team standards for code review, documentation, and deployment.
  • Build strong partnerships with process development scientists, analytical scientists, and manufacturing teams to gather requirements and shape the digital data strategy for the domain.
  • Demonstrate excellent interpersonal, communication, and collaboration skills.
  • Embrace and model our core values of diversity and inclusion, including fostering a supportive culture where all can thrive.
  • Collaborate effectively in a dynamic, integrated, and multidisciplinary team environment.

Education Minimum Requirement:

  • Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, Biochemical Engineering, Biochemistry, Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, Chemistry, Biology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, or a closely-related field with at least 3 years of industrial/pharmaceutical or relevant experience.
  • M.S. in Chemical Engineering, Biochemical Engineering, Biochemistry, Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, Chemistry, Biology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, or a closely-related field with at least 5 years of industrial/pharmaceutical or relevant experience.
  • B.S. in Chemical Engineering, Biochemical Engineering, Biochemistry, Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, Chemistry, Biology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, or a closely-related field with at least 7 years of industrial/pharmaceutical or relevant experience.

 

Required Experience and Skills:

  • Proficient in Python and/or R programming. Comfortable working in development environments such as Jupyter, Posit/RStudio, or VS Code.
  • Solid SQL skills with hands-on experience writing and optimizing queries against relational databases and data warehouses.
  • Experience with ETL/ELT processes and building data pipelines in a scientific or pharmaceutical context.
  • Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) for data storage, processing, and integration.
  • Working knowledge of how process models, multivariate analyses, and statistical tools consume and depend on experimental data — sufficient to anticipate modeler needs and deliver appropriately structured datasets.
  • Experience defining or enforcing data standards, metadata schemas, or ontology mappings in a scientific or pharmaceutical context.
  • Familiarity with version control systems (Git/GitHub) and collaborative software development practices.
  • Demonstrated ability to lead technical initiatives, mentor junior engineers, and influence data strategy across multiple stakeholders.
  • Ability to deliver complex solutions under compressed timelines in a dynamic environment.

 

Preferred Experience and Skills:

  • Prior hands-on experience in biologics process development — including chromatography, filtration, purification, or formulation — with a demonstrated transition into a data engineering, data science, or computational role.
  • Experience with data pipeline and analytics platforms such as Databricks, including notebook-based development, workflow orchestration, and Delta Lake.
  • Experience with data visualization tools (Streamlit, Shiny, PowerBI, Spotfire, or Tableau) for building scientist-facing dashboards and exploratory data applications.
  • Familiarity with ontology frameworks or standardized data models (e.g., Allotrope Simple Model, ISA-88, OPC-UA) and experience mapping instrument data to structured schemas.
  • Understanding of Design of Experiments (DoE) methodologies and process characterization study designs — sufficient to structure data for statistical analysis of critical process parameters (CPPs) and critical quality attributes (CQAs).
  • Experience with data lineage concepts and building traceability across experimental systems, materials, and manufacturing steps.
  • Knowledge of regulatory expectations relevant to biologics process development, process characterization, and process validation (e.g., ICH Q8-Q12, process validation lifecycle, comparability studies).
  • Experience working alongside or supporting lab automation teams, including integrating data from newly automated laboratory workflows.
  • Experience with cross-site data integration, including harmonizing data from multiple manufacturing facilities with different systems and conventions.
  • Evidence of cross-functional collaborations spanning laboratory, manufacturing, modeling, and digital teams.

Required Skills:

Biochemistry, Biopharmaceutical Industry, Change Catalyst, Chemical Engineering, Chromatography, Computer Science, Data Science, Data Visualization, Design Changes, Digital Strategy, Multivariate Data Analysis, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Production Optimization, Strategic Planning

Preferred Skills:

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Our company is committed to inclusion, ensuring that candidates can engage in a hiring process that exhibits their true capabilities. Please click here if you need an accommodation during the application or hiring process.

About Merck & Co, Inc

Schering-Plough Corporation is a major U.S.-based manufacturer of pharmaceuticals. It operates in three segments: Prescription Pharmaceuticals, Animal Health, and Consumer Health Care. Schering-Plough develops products targeting on allergy, cancer, hepatitis, cardiovascular, central nervous system, respiratory system, and more.  It was founded in 1851 by Ernst Christian Friedrich Schering as Schering AG in Germany. Schering-Plough manufactured several pharmaceutical drugs, the most well-known of which were the allergy drugs Claritin and Clarinex, an anti-cholesterol drug Vytorin, and a brain tumor drug Temodar. It also developed drugs targeting on central nervous system and the respiratory system. Schering Plough also owned and operated the major foot care brand name Dr. Scholl's and the skin care line Coppertone. These also became a part of the new company. Schering-Plough was a full member of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), a membership which is also maintained by the new Merck.

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Join the visionary team at Merck & Co, Inc, a global leader in healthcare dedicated to advancing the world of medicine. As part of our professional community, you'll find dynamic job opportunities that foster innovation and leadership across various fields. Merck & Co, Inc is not just a company; it's a place where you can make a difference.

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At Merck & Co, Inc, we are committed to improving global health through groundbreaking research and innovative healthcare solutions. Our team is at the forefront of developing new therapies and vaccines that significantly impact public health worldwide. By joining us, you will collaborate with some of the brightest minds in the industry, using your skills to contribute to projects that save and improve lives around the globe.

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Learn more about Merck & Co, Inc
Size
68,000 employees
Market Cap
$282.6 billion
Industry
Net Income
$7 billion
Founded
1668
5 Year Trend
+4.1%
Revenue
$47.9 billion
NASDAQ

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