Associate Director, Global Engineering Projects

Merck; Wilson (NC); On-site; USD 142,000 - 224,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision benefits

401(k)/retirement benefits

Paid holidays and vacation

Job summary

Merck in Wilson, NC, seeks an Associate Director – Global Engineering Solutions to lead large capital projects across manufacturing, laboratory, and infrastructure lines of business. You will manage multi-disciplinary teams, shape project execution plans, and ensure safety, quality, and regulatory compliance throughout project lifecycles.

The role focuses on delivering critical assets on time and within budget, coordinating with site engineering, operations, quality, and external partners, with

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Engineering.

Responsibilities

• Manage large capital projects independently or manage a series of smaller capital and/or expense projects within a portfolio, delivering critical assets safely, on time, within approved scope, and within prescribed budget.
• Lead integrated project teams across GES, Site Engineering, Operations, Quality, EHS, Maintenance, Technology, Procurement, Finance, and external delivery partners, building effective working relationships to align assigned projects with site expectations, business priorities, and applicable project delivery standards.
• Lead development and execution of project execution plans for assigned projects including scope, delivery strategy, procurement, construction, commissioning/startup, risk management, communications, and closeout.
• Ensure assigned project scopes deliver effective business solutions aligned with business priorities, manufacturing needs, compliance expectations, safety requirements, applicable standards, and approved capital objectives.
• Manage project design development through scope definition, design coordination, constructability review, value management, and disciplined evaluations of project decisions and trade-offs.
• Develop/support project specific procurement and contracting strategies in partnership with Procurement, Legal, site stakeholders, and GES leadership to support schedule, risk allocation, and business requirements.
• Manage project budgeting, forecasting, financial reporting, cost control, contingency, and change control processes, including appropriate evaluation, documentation, communication, and obtaining appropriate approvals for changes affecting scope, cost, schedule, quality, or approved business objectives.
• Manage project schedules, including planning, sequencing, milestone tracking, critical path management, shutdown/tie-in coordination, and recovery planning.
• Provide oversight for assigned projects, including field coordination, contractor performance, construction safety interface, execution quality, issue resolution, and alignment with site requirements.
• Prepare and coordinate project governance, funding, stage-gate, and decision materials for assigned projects for review by appropriate site, GES, and capital governance stakeholders, using applicable company processes, templates, and guidance.
• Manage project communications, reporting, and escalation of key issues to support timely decisions by project teams, site stakeholders, and senior leaders.
• Identify, manage, mitigate, and escalation project risks affecting safety, quality, compliance, cost, schedule, startup readiness, and business continuity.
• Coordinate project execution within active manufacturing environments, partnering with site teams on field verification, permitting, shutdown and tie-in planning, utility impacts, operational constraints, and business continuity.
• Manage or support commissioning, qualification, validation interface, turnover documentation, contract administration, closeout, lessons learned, and transition of completed assets to site operations.
• Provide project delivery guidance, coaching, and day-to-day project leadership to project team members and less experienced engineers or project managers, as appropriate, while respecting functional and direct-line management accountabilities.

Skills

Adaptability

Automation Systems

Capital Project Management

Change Management

Clinical Manufacturing

Corporate Governance

Data Analysis

Decision Making

Drug Product Manufacturing

Governance Management

Interpersonal Relationships

Lean Manufacturing

Manufacturing Scale-Up

Regulatory Compliance

Root Cause Analysis (RCA)

Strategic Thinking

Technical Transfer

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Engineering

Job description

Merck in Wilson, NC, seeks an Associate Director – Global Engineering Solutions to lead large capital projects across manufacturing, laboratory, and infrastructure lines of business. You will manage multi-disciplinary teams, shape project execution plans, and ensure safety, quality, and regulatory compliance throughout project lifecycles.

The role focuses on delivering critical assets on time and within budget, coordinating with site engineering, operations, quality, and external partners, with