Sr. Data Scientist

Job Description

An opportunity has arisen for a Sr. Scientist postion for the Data Science and Informatics group in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Organization.  The role will be essential in ensuring our organizations realization of our digital transformation, and to provide centralized support and data science expertise to teams across the Pharmacuetical Sciences organiztion of Merck Research Labs. Our projects focus on key development and application of machine learning (ML) to multiple teams: bleeding edge research and experimentation, common tool and platform development, and establishing best practices to ensure the scientific community at MRL is well-positioned to rapidly meet the challenges of modern R&D, and make an impact on an entire scientific culture at Merck.

As our project scope is vast, we incubate a number of ML and AI projects, as well as collaborating on larger projects across MRL, in many areas including advanced predictive modelling, computer vision, signal processing, probabilistic reasoning, and more. Our group excels in the ‘how’ of data science – how to write repeatable code, how to train a model continuously with uncertainty quantification, and how to package and deploy it into a production system. You will be responsible for setting the scientific strategy for many of these ‘how’s, tactically engaging with key groups of business and IT to determine the mechanics of training and deploying models, and working with our platform teams to build or adopt repeatable tools and packages.

In this role you will work with a diverse group of scientists and engineers to broadly shape and lead how we build, train, interpret, package, investigate, and deploy novel machine learning models and other data science artifacts at MRL. You will apply state of the art data science technology platforms to build and deploy operational solutions that span the scientific, executional, compliance, and operations spaces.  Your responsibilities include developing models for equipment, material, modality/formulation, and product and formulation specific analytics.  Responsibilities also including automation of analysis, data acquisition, workflow builds and deployment of hands-free methods.  To enable ML and AI, you will also lead machine vision for scene understanding and anomaly detection.  Solutions for resource optimization, scheduling, and forecasting, maintenance, alarms diagnosis, asset management, and develop models to explore what if scenarios are all in scope of this role. 

Reporting into the Pharmaceutical Operations and Clinical Supplies Organization (POCS) the successful candidate will bring energy, knowledge, innovation to carry out the following:

• Develop novel algorithms in statistical and computational ML, including deep learning, at different scales suitable and explainable for problems and data of varying size and quality (e.g., missing data).
• Understand deeply the strength and weakness of both conventional and new ML algorithms from different research communities, and then innovate the methods for rigorously formulated problems
• Lead interactions with the scientific and operations functions (e.g., spectral analysis or supply chain management) to identify, catalogue, develop and characterize ML use cases and value-generating data science opportunities for the respective business areas.
• Evaluate, prioritize, and plan the staged execution of data science projects. 
• Independently and in teams build, test, and deploy end to end data science solutions. 
• Serve as a subject matter expert on data science, ML, and statistical analysis.
• Build, develop, and grow the data science capabilities for both our data science staff and our functional area scientific staff via training, coaching, and mentoring.
• Help operationalize numerous models across the organization, provide guidance and training to DS and engineers alike
• Set the standard with IT for applied machine learning at MRL.

In order to excel in this role, you will more than likely have:

• A PhD with a minimum of 0-5 years’ experience, 12 years’ (for MSc) or 14 years’ (for BSc) in ML focused academia or industry
• Education and or related experience in statistical and computational ML (Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Material Sciences, Pharmaceutical Sciences).
• Demonstrated experience with the mechanics of training and deploying ML models
• Strong and broad knowledge of ML and statistics, with the ability to deep dive as well as converse at high technical level with architects and senior scientists. Computer Vision and/or other deep learning experience a must.
• Strong coding skills (python and/or R, including pytorch or tensorflow) for good aspects of data engineering, ML, and statistical modeling and analysis
• Experience bridging the gap between domain subject and data science groups, with understanding of priority and business targets.
• Exposure with pharmaceutical formulation development, and characterization is a plus, but not a must.

As a company, we are committed to ‘Inventing for Life’ in all that we do. We keep the patient at the very heart of all that we do and strive to find solutions and treatments for some of the world’s most challenging healthcare needs.  We are proud to be a company that embraces the value of bringing diverse, talented, and committed people together.

If you like a rich set of varied responsibilities, with tremendous exposure and impact within a large organization, this is a role for you!  If you are ready to:

Invent solutions to meet unmet healthcare needs, please apply today.