Associate Director, AI/ML Engineering

Job Description

Our Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning (AI/ML) capabilities are critical accelerators to our mission to delivering towards inventing new medicines that save and improve lives. Core to the Data, AI, and Genome Sciences (DAGS) function is an AI/ML-first approach to improving target and biomarker discovery, validation and selection and elucidating complex disease mechanisms. As Associate Director, AI/ML Engineering, you will build state-of-the-art AI/ML tools and pipelines to accelerate scientific discovery.  You will be part of a cross-functional team of computational biologists, bioinformaticians, data scientists, software engineers, and other AI/ML engineers that strive to identify therapeutic targets.

Primary Responsibilities include:

• Lead the design, development, deployment, monitoring, and maintenance of reusable software components that can be integrated into reliable/scalable AI/ML workflows, tools, and applications

• Collaborate in a highly-matrix environment to identify research questions, scope data requirements, and develop appropriate AI/ML solutions

• Provide tactical and strategic technical support for AI/ML Researchers and Data Scientists

• Stay up-to-date with the latest advancements in AI/ML research and operations to proactively propose innovative approaches aligned with industry standards that enhance our internal capabilities

Required Experience and Skills:

Education requirements:

One of the following credentials:

• PhD in Computer Science, Physics, Electrical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Genetics/Genomics, or a related STEM field with 4+ years post-graduate academic medical or industry experience

• Masters with 7+ years of experience, or

• Bachelors with 11+ years of experience

Experience & Skills:

• Candidates must be an Engineer with a passion to focus relentlessly on the enablement of their teammates with best-in-class tools and pipelines in a fast-paced industry environment

• Candidates must have excellent communication/interpersonal skills and a team-focused collaborative mindset to provide technical support to code-heavy AI/ML Engineers and Data Scientists and to collaborate more broadly in a multi-disciplinary department

• Candidate must be a self-starter and be able to lead projects independently

• Candidates must have experience with Python, Torch, AWS, MLFlow, Docker, GitHub, and GitHub Actions CI/CD workflows

• Candidates must have experience building/deploying/scaling novel AI/ML pipelines, particularly transformer-based Foundation Models and representation learning to support downstream tasks

• Candidates must have experience with the full SDLC of maintaining Python Packages and Docker images following modern DevSecOps best practices

• Willingness to learn from others and to teach others

• Excellent communication skills and ability to work collaboratively in multi-disciplinary team

• Interest in life sciences problems and how agentic Co-scientist environments can accelerate discovery

• Experience with multi-omics and imaging data is nice to have

• Experience with Claude Code, Databricks, and GCP is nice to have

#EligibleforERP

Required Skills:

Agile SDLC, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Biological Sciences, Cross-Functional Collaboration, Database Design, Data Engineering, Data Modeling, Data Science, Data Visualization, Foundation Models, GitHub Actions, Life Science, Machine Learning (ML), Machine Learning Algorithms, Python Software Development, PyTorch, Software Development, Stakeholder Relationship Management, Teamwork, Transformer Model, Willingness to Learn

Preferred Skills:

Amazon Web Services (AWS), Databricks Platform, Google Cloud Platform (GCP) for Machine Learning, Imaging Analysis, Omics

Current Employees apply HERE

Current Contingent Workers apply HERE

US and Puerto Rico Residents Only:

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.

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:

EEOC Know Your Rights

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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.

Learn more about your rights, including under California, Colorado and other US State Acts

The salary range for this role is

$159,600.00 - $251,200.00

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

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:

Domestic

VISA Sponsorship:

Yes

Travel Requirements:

No Travel Required

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Hybrid

Shift:

Not Indicated

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

n/a

Job Posting End Date:

08/7/2026

*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.