Sr. Director, Materials Science

At our company, we are driven by a shared purpose—to invent for life. The Senior Director of Materials Science plays a critical role in advancing that mission by providing strategic and technical leadership for materials characterization methodologies, phase screening platforms, and extraneous matter investigations. This role enables deep understanding of drug substances and drug products and supports the successful advancement of small molecules, biologics, and vaccines from discovery through development and commercial launch.

About the role

Reporting to the Associate Vice President of Analytical Enabling Capabilities, the Senior Director will lead a multidisciplinary team of 30-35 talented people managers, scientists, and technical experts at our Rahway, NJ site. You will partner closely with leaders across Discovery, Preclinical Development, Manufacturing, Quality, and Regulatory to ensure our science delivers with excellence across the development continuum. This role focuses on building modality-agnostic scientific excellence in materials science across drug substance and drug product and developing fungible expertise that can flex with our company's evolving portfolio.

Responsibilities

• Scientific Excellence & Innovation Leadership
  • Set a forward-looking strategy for materials science that anticipates the needs of an evolving pipeline and emerging modalities.
  • Ensure the delivery of scientifically sound data, insights, and methods that enable decisive scientific and regulatory advancement.
  • Foster a culture of scientific curiosity and innovation, encouraging teams to explore novel analytical technologies and workflows that accelerate deep product understanding and development.
• Quality, Integrity & Regulatory Excellence
  • Uphold the highest standards of quality and data integrity, ensuring our analytical approaches meet global regulatory expectations.
  • Lead the delivery of robust CMC content for IND/CTA/NDA submissions and partner with regulatory colleagues to confidently address health authority inquiries.
• Operational Excellence & Compliance Culture
  • Champion a strong compliance mindset and ensure systems, processes, and teams operate consistently with cGMP/GLPs (as needed), SOPs, good documentation practices, safety standards, and corporate expectations.
  • Drive operational excellence by simplifying workflows, eliminating barriers, and enabling teams to work with speed, clarity, and purpose.
• Strategic Partnership & Enterprise Leadership
  • Build strong, trusting relationships with partners across discovery, development, and manufacturing to align priorities, support program needs, and deliver on mission-critical timelines.
  • Promote transparency, collaboration, and a shared sense of ownership for pipeline success.
• Building & Developing a High-Performing Organization
  • Inspire, empower, and develop a team, ensuring people have the resources, skills, and support needed to excel.
  • Set clear expectations, elevate performance standards, and build a culture where continuous learning, accountability, and inclusion thrive.
  • Recruit and nurture talent to ensure the organization is equipped for future scientific challenges and opportunities.
• Communication & Leadership Presence
  • Communicate strategy, priorities, and scientific outcomes with clarity and authenticity to senior leaders, collaborators, and teams.
  • Promote a culture of open dialogue, shared learning, and partnership across all levels.

Requirements

• Education: PhD in a relevant scientific discipline with 10+ years’ experience; or MS in a relevant scientific discipline with 12+ years’ experience.
• 10+ years of development experience.
• 6+ years of direct leadership experience.
• Experience in drug substance and/or drug product development.
• Technical expertise in physical and/or materials characterization.
• Demonstrated ability in leading multidisciplinary teams and mentoring and developing talent.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, and collaboration skills with proven ability to drive alignment with stakeholders.
• Strength in delivering results on firm deadlines in support of drug development.

Preferred Qualifications

• Breadth of experience from discovery through commercial launch.

Skills

• Required: Analytical Method Development, Analytical Thinking, Cross-Cultural Teams, Data Integrity, Drug Development, Materials Engineering, Materials Science, Materials Technology, Molecular Structure, Multidisciplinary Teamwork, Operational Excellence, Organizational Compliance, People Leadership, Technical Leadership.
• Preferred: Experience with emerging modalities or advanced analytical technologies.

Pay

The salary range for this role is $173,200.00 - $272,600.00. 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.

Benefits

We offer a comprehensive package of benefits, including:

• 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.

Schedule

• Travel Requirements: 10%
• Shift: 1st - Day
• Relocation: Domestic/International available
• VISA Sponsorship: Yes