Senior Specialist: Data Engineer for Upstream Biologics

Job Description

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

We are a global biopharmaceutical leader with a portfolio of prescription medicines, oncology, vaccines and animal health products. We are driven by our purpose to develop and deliver innovative products that save and improve lives. With 69,000 employees operating in more than 140 countries, we offer state-of-the-art laboratories, plants and offices that are designed to inspire our employees as we learn, develop and grow in our careers.  We are proud of our over 125 years of service to humanity and continue to be one of the world’s biggest investors in Research & Development.

We are seeking a Senior Specialist, 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 the teams developing them, and in this Senior Specialist, Data Engineer role, the successful candidate will design, build, and maintain data pipelines that capture, curate, and deliver experimental and process data from Upstream Biologics Process Development teams – including cell culture, bioreactor operations, media and feed optimization, and high throughput process development – into downstream digital initiatives. The engineer will contribute directly to ontology alignment efforts, support the integration of new data streams, and deliver analysis-ready datasets to support process characterization models, scale-up predictions, and multivariate analytics that de-risk and accelerate biologics manufacturing from bench through commercial scale.

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:

• Build and maintain robust, scalable data pipelines that ingest experimental and process data from upstream biologics source systems

• Deliver analysis-ready datasets to support upstream digital initiatives, including process characterization models, scale-up predictions, multivariate analytics, and high throughput process development workflows.

• Map instrument outputs and experimental results ensuring ontology alignment and interoperability across upstream data sources.

• Develop and maintain data visualizations, dashboards, and reports that enable upstream scientists to explore process data across runs, molecules, and scales.

• Support system of record standards by ensuring consistent data entry practices.

• Identify and flag data quality issues, gaps in metadata, and inconsistencies across source systems, contributing to continuous improvement of upstream data capture practices.

• Collaborate with upstream process development scientists, analytical scientists, and engineers to understand evolving data needs and translate them into pipeline requirements.

• Coordinate with adjacent domain engineers to ensure seamless data handoffs at domain boundaries.

• Maintain and version all pipeline code in GitHub, following team standards for code review, documentation, and deployment.

• Demonstrate excellent interpersonal, communication, and collaboration skills

• Embrace and model our core values of 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 Computer Science, Data Science, Molecular Modeling, Engineering, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, or a closely-related field

• M.S. in Computer Science, Data Science, Molecular Modeling, Engineering, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, or a closely-related field with at least 2 years of industrial/pharmaceutical or relevant experience

• B.S. in in Computer Science, Data Science, Molecular Modeling, Engineering, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, or a closely-related field with at least 4 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 version control systems (Git/GitHub) and collaborative software development practices.

• Ability to work in a team environment with cross-functional interactions

• Motivated to learn new skills, willingness to take on new challenges, and scientific curiosity

Preferred Experience and Skills:

• Experience with upstream biologics unit operations, particularly cell culture (fed-batch, perfusion), bioreactor operation and scale-up, media and feed optimization, or harvest and clarification.

• 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).

• Evidence of cross-functional collaborations spanning laboratory, manufacturing, modeling, and digital teams.

Required Skills:

Preferred Skills:

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

EEOC GINA Supplement​

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

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:

Relocation:

VISA Sponsorship:

Travel Requirements:

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Shift:

Valid Driving License:

Hazardous Material(s):

Job Posting End Date:

*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.