Principal Scientist, DMPK

Our company is a global health care leader with a diversified portfolio of prescription medicines, vaccines, and animal health products. The difference between potential and achievement lies in the spark that fuels innovation and inventiveness; this is the space where our company has codified its legacy for over a century. Our success is backed by ethical integrity, forward momentum, and an inspiring mission to achieve new milestones in global healthcare. We are inspired by the belief that a research-driven enterprise dedicated to scientific excellence can create medicines that save and improve lives. Every employee builds on our proud legacy of scientific breakthroughs, impacting patients worldwide through integrity, creativity, humility, and scientific acumen.

About the role

The Pharmacokinetics, Dynamics, Metabolism and Bioanalytics (PDMB) group is seeking a dynamic, strategic-thinking, and collaborative Principal Scientist (director-level equivalent) to contribute to our drug discovery and early clinical development efforts. This position, based in Boston, MA, will lead drug metabolism and pharmacokinetic (DMPK) efforts across multiple modalities such as peptides and protein therapeutics as a project-team representative. You will regularly interact with multidisciplinary discovery teams and partners within our Research & Development Division, focusing on immunology and oncology portfolios, with potential contributions to cardiovascular/metabolic, neuroscience, and infectious disease efforts.

Responsibilities

• Serve as project-team representative and subject matter expert on multiple modality DMPK activities within the oncology and immunology therapeutic areas.
• Characterize and optimize the in vitro and in vivo ADME and pharmacokinetic properties of peptide and protein therapeutics.
• Design, implement, and analyze in vitro and in vivo studies to understand the impact of drug disposition on disease biology, pharmacological response (PK/PD), and safety.
• Contribute to global DMPK strategy through close collaboration with Discovery and Early Development project teams in Boston (MA), South San Francisco (CA), and West Point (PA), focusing on building highly efficient strategies to identify and optimize drug candidates.
• Represent PDMB on cross-functional teams through strategic design of discovery testing funnels, generation and interpretation of PK and PK/PD data sets, and effective communication at internal meetings and external conferences.

Requirements

• Ph.D. (with 6+ years relevant experience) or Master’s (minimum of 10 years relevant experience) degree in biochemistry, chemistry, pharmacology, pharmaceutical sciences, biomedical engineering, or related field.
• Relevant experience to include a record of increasing responsibility and independence in a similar industrial/academic setting.

Skills

• Required:
  • Demonstrated experience leading peptide and/or protein therapeutic (biologics) DMPK discovery efforts as an independent project-team representative within a highly collaborative environment.
  • Ability to design, optimize, and interpret DMPK-related optimization strategies (discovery testing funnels) as part of a broader research operating plan.
  • Technical ability to analyze, interpret, and provide context around data describing the ADME, pharmacokinetic, and pharmacodynamic properties, including use of software such as Phoenix WinNonlin.
  • Experience contributing to development and execution of translational pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic/efficacy relationships and other quantitative pharmacology applications in a discovery setting.
  • Strong leadership, interpersonal, communication, problem-solving, and collaborative qualities to deliver high-quality results in a fast-paced environment.
• Preferred:
  • Hands-on experience performing translational pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic/efficacy and physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) software modeling (e.g., Phoenix WinNonlin, Berkeley Madonna, MATLAB).
  • Proven track record supporting immunology or oncology-based programs with experience spanning from early discovery through IND-enabling efforts.
  • Familiarity with structure-activity relationships aimed at improving pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties.
  • Experience working within a research-driven pharmaceutical company.

Pay

The salary range for this role is $176,200.00 - $277,300.00. An employee’s position within the salary range will be based on 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.

Benefits

• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and other insurance benefits (for employee and family).
• Retirement benefits, including 401(k).
• Paid holidays, vacation, compassionate, and sick days.

More information about benefits is available at https://jobs.merck.com/us/en/compensation-and-benefits.

VISA sponsorship is available for this role. Travel requirements are 10%.