2026 Future Talent Program - Global Science, Engineering and Commercialization Co-Op

Merck; West Point (PA); Hybrid; USD 40,000 - 106,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work arrangement

Equal opportunity employer

Job summary

Merck invites students to join its Future Talent Co-op in the Manufacturing Division, offering up to six months of hands-on projects across process development, tech transfer, and commercial manufacturing support. The role emphasizes safety, quality, and continuous improvement in a global science and engineering context.

The program provides exposure to late-stage development, commercialization, and expansion work, with opportunities to collaborate with scientists, engineers, and

Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a bachelor’s or master’s degree in engineering, science, or related disciplines.
• Strong academic record and work achievement.
• Strong communication skills, personal character, and ethics.

Responsibilities

• Contributes to the performance and results of a department.
• Designing and executing process development and characterization studies.
• Authoring technical protocols for studies, including design of experiments (DoE).
• Managing sample submission and tracking; employing statistical tools to analyze results.
• Authoring technical reports for regulatory filings and supporting projects.

Skills

Programming

Data analytics

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in engineering/science

Job description

Job Description

Job Description

The Future Talent Program features Cooperative (Co-op) education opportunities that last up to 6 months and will include one or more projects.These opportunities in our Manufacturing Division can provide you with great development and a chance to see if we are the right company for your long-term goals.

Our vision is to make a difference in the lives of people globally through our innovative medicines, vaccines, and animal health products. We are committed to being the premier, research-intensive biopharmaceutical company and we provide leading innovations and solutions for today and the future. Our core areas of focus in the Human Health space include diabetes, infectious diseases, oncology, and vaccines, while our focus within Animal Health spans livestock, companion animal, and aquaculture.

This experience will provide you with the opportunity to develop yourself both technically and professionally. This co-op will work in a Global Science, Engineering and Commercialization role providing global technical support to vaccine and biologics manufacturing areas while actively supporting, participating in and embracing an empowered team culture. You will get an opportunity to work alongside scientists and engineers in late stage process development, commercialization, tech transfer and expansion, and commercial manufacturing support. A “Safety First, Quality Always” mindset and drive for continuous improvement and innovation enable the Company to be a trusted and competitive supplier of pharmaceuticals, vaccines, biologics, and animal health products to the world’s patients and customers.

About Us

Global Science, Engineering and Commercialization is responsible for end to end technology support for vaccines and biologics, advancing our growing pipeline of large molecule products while supporting the existing commercial manufacture and expansion. This includes the planning and execution of process development studies to support design & characterization of commercial-scale processes. The organization is also responsible for technology transfer to commercial manufacturing sites. We support process validation, regulatory approval, and initial launch of our new products.

As a co-op in GSEC, you will have the opportunity to work collaboratively in one of the following areas:

Global Vaccine and Biologics Commercialization:

• Biologics Drug Substance Process Development & Commercialization is focused on commercialization of biologic and vaccine drug substances
• Sterile Drug Product Commercialization is focused on commercialization of sterile drug products, including biologics, vaccines, and sterile small molecules
• Bring chemically or biologically derived research and discoveries to production by applying engineering, chemistry, and pharmaceutics skills to characterize and scale-up bench or pilot-scale processes.
• Develop, optimize, and implement innovative manufacturing technologies and analytical methods.
• Use process modeling combined with statistical, data analytics, and data science tools to analyze and identify insights from process information.
• Support process technology development and transfer to commercial operation groups.

Technical Product Leadership is focused on end to end support of vaccine and biologic products including internal and external nodes, late stage pipeline and commercial products.

• Collaborate with operations and quality groups on the execution of strategic projects to ensure a high level of process performance and enhance World Class Supply for commercial products.
• Examine an issue from diverse perspectives (safety, compliance, automation, equipment, process, and people) to best understand and resolve the root cause.
• Support the transfer of products within the Company’s internal and external manufacturing network and ensure proper knowledge management.

Responsibilities may include the following depending on the organization and role you are offered:

• Contributes to the performance and results of a department.
• Applies technical skills to align activities with department objectives.
• Designing and executing process development and characterization studies.
• Authoring technical protocols for studies, including ensuring appropriate design of experiments (DoE), sample size selection, and acceptance criteria.
• Managing sample submission and tracking. Employing statistical tools and methods to analyze results
• Authoring technical reports that can be used as source documentation for regulatory filings
• Participation in development and commercial teams (working group/product council)
• Presenting study results and conclusions at team (working group/product council) and department meetings
• Ensuring technical information is clearly understood and integrated into decision making
• Supporting computational modeling work
• Authoring or performing second-person review (SPR) for high-quality regulatory submissions
• Works as a team member on manufacturing investigations, validation activities and/or process improvement projects.
• Has ability to examine an issue from diverse perspectives (safety, compliance, automation, equipment, process, and people) in order to best understand and resolve the root cause.
• Assures consistent application of standardized work, engineering and process tools and procedures.
• Authors and updates technical and manufacturing documents necessary for investigations, process design/definition, engineering studies, process demonstrations, change control and validation.
• Supports departmental plans and priorities based on team/department scorecard to address local business, service and operational challenges.
• Identifies and resolves technical and operational problems using MPS and lean/six sigma tools.
• Effectively collaborates with peers on site and above site as required.
• Effectively communicates both verbally and written.
• Makes decisions – guided by policies, procedures and department objectives.
• Consults on an as-needed basis with next-level manager on more complex decisions.
• Ensuring safety when performing experiments in the lab and documentation compliance when performing technical writing
• Contributing to a culture of high performance, out of the box thinking, innovation and learning, empowerment, diversity and inclusion

Required Education and Experience:

• Currently pursuing a bachelor’s or master’s degree in engineering, science, or related disciplines. No prior experience is required.
• Candidates must have superior technical competency as demonstrated by excellent academic record and work achievement.
• Candidates must have strong communication skills, personal character, and ethics.

Preferred Experience and Skills:

• Demonstrated skills in computer programming and/or data science & data analytics.
• Ability to work independently and in teams
• Effective problem-solving, collaboration, project management, and written and oral communication skills
• Previous process development, research, or manufacturing experience
• Strong technical competency and a desire to innovate
• Previous process development, research, or manufacturing experience is a plus.

Please note that this position may be closed before the posted end date or may remain open longer, at the discretion of the company.

Salary range:
The salary range for this role is $39,600.00-$105,500.00 USD

FTP2026

MD2026

Required Skills:

Preferred Skills:

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

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

Employee Status: Intern/Co-op (Fixed Term)

Relocation: No

VISA Sponsorship: No

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: 09/11/2026

*A job posting is effective until 11:59:59PM on the day BEFOREthe listed job posting end date. Please ensure you apply to a job posting no later than the day BEFORE the job posting end date.

Requisition ID: R395112