Associate Director, Small Molecule Tech Ops & Transfer

Merck; Elkton (VA); On-site; USD 134,000 - 224,000; Full time

Job summary

Merck at the Elkton site in Virginia seeks an Associate Director, Technical Operations for Small Molecule Drug Product. You will lead startup, technology transfer, and ongoing commercial manufacture of oral solid dosage forms.

You will drive process scale-up, validation, and continuous improvement while ensuring safe, compliant, and reliable production. Collaboration with cross-functional teams and external partners is essential.

Qualifications

• Degree in Chemical Engineering, Pharmaceutics, or related field.
• 10+ years in process engineering and scale-up in pharma.
• Experience with cGMP manufacturing and regulatory expectations.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership for startup, tech transfer, validation, and commercial manufacture of oral solid doses.
• Lead process scale-up, technology transfer, and validation activities across projects.
• Drive continuous improvements in process performance, yield, and impurity control.
• Support regulatory readiness, inspections, and data integrity.

Skills

Technical leadership

Process engineering

Scale-up

Validation

cGMP

Regulatory readiness

Cross-functional leadership

Project management

Quality systems

Education

Chemical Engineering degree

Tools

DeltaV

Electronic batch records

Job description

Merck at the Elkton site in Virginia seeks an Associate Director, Technical Operations for Small Molecule Drug Product. You will lead startup, technology transfer, and ongoing commercial manufacture of oral solid dosage forms.

You will drive process scale-up, validation, and continuous improvement while ensuring safe, compliant, and reliable production. Collaboration with cross-functional teams and external partners is essential.