Associate Director, Software Engineering

Merck; New Jersey; On-site; USD 180,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Merck in the United States seeks an Associate Director to lead the transformation of ITSM through AI-powered operations, automation, and process modernization. You will align ServiceNow with Ansible, BigPanda, observability tools, and SDLC workflows to boost service reliability and employee experience.

This role partners with Infrastructure, Engineering, Security, Architecture, and Product teams to drive value realization, governance, KPIs, and autonomous workflows.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
• 12+ years of experience in ITSM, IT Operations, or ServiceNow leadership roles.
• ServiceNow certifications (CSA, CAD, CIS, and AI-related modules).
• Strong expertise in ServiceNow ITSM and process transformation.
• Experience with ITOM, Event Management, AIOps, workflow automation, and enterprise integrations.
• Proven ability to lead large-scale transformation initiatives and deliver measurable business outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Lead strategy, transformation, and continuous improvement of ITSM processes (Incident, Problem, Change, Request, Major Incident).
• Drive adoption of AI-powered solutions to automate service operations and workflows.
• Define and implement end-to-end workflows across ServiceNow, BigPanda, observability platforms, and SDLC tools (Jira, GitHub, Azure DevOps).
• Partner with Infrastructure, Engineering, Security, Architecture, and Product teams to improve resilience and service quality.
• Identify and deliver high-value AI, automation, and AIOps use cases to reduce manual effort and speed issue resolution.
• Establish governance, KPIs, and value realization of metrics for AI-enabled service operations.
• Lead cross-functional initiatives and influence stakeholders to adopt future-state operating models.

Skills

Automation

AI in ITSM

Leadership

Change Management

Cross-functional

Education

Bachelor's/Master's in IT/CS/Engineering

Tools

ServiceNow

Ansible

BigPanda

Jira

GitHub

Azure DevOps

Job description

Job Description

Job Overview

The Associate Director, ServiceNow ITSM Transformation & AI Operations will lead the modernization of our Company's IT Service Management capabilities through AI-driven operations, automation, and process transformation. This role is responsible for advancing an intelligent operating model that connects ServiceNow, Ansible, BigPanda, observability platforms, and software development processes to improve service reliability, operational efficiency, and employee experience.

Primary Responsibilities

• Lead the strategy, transformation, and continuous improvement of ITSM processes, including Incident, Problem, Change, Request, and Major Incident Management.
• Drive adoption of AI-powered and Agentic AI solutions to automate service operations, incident resolution, and workflow orchestration.
• Define and implement end-to-end workflows across ServiceNow, BigPanda, observability platforms, and SDLC tools such as Jira, GitHub, and Azure DevOps.
• Partner with Infrastructure, Engineering, Security, Architecture, and Product teams to improve operational resilience and service quality.
• Identify and deliver high-value AI, automation, and AIOps use cases that reduce manual effort and accelerate issue resolution.
• Establish governance, KPIs, and value realization of metrics for AI-enabled service operations.
• Lead cross-functional initiatives and influence stakeholders to drive adoption of future-state operating models.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
• 12+ years of experience in ITSM, IT Operations, or ServiceNow leadership roles.
• ServiceNow certifications (CSA, CAD, CIS, and AI-related modules)
• Strong expertise in ServiceNow ITSM and process transformation.
• Experience with ITOM, Event Management, AIOps, workflow automation, and enterprise integrations.
• Proven ability to lead large-scale transformation initiatives and deliver measurable business outcomes.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with ServiceNow ITOM, CMDB, Service Mapping, AI Control Tower, and AI Agents.
• Experience integrating with BigPanda or similar AIOps platforms.
• Knowledge of Agentic AI, Generative AI, intelligent automation, and autonomous workflows.
• Experience integrating ServiceNow with DevOps and SDLC platforms.
• Experience in a regulated industry such as pharmaceuticals or healthcare.

Success Measures

• Increased automation and AI adoption across IT Operations.
• Reduced incident volume and mean time to resolution (MTTR).
• Improved service reliability and operational efficiency.
• Successful deployment of Agentic AI use cases and autonomous workflows.
• Measurable business value through process modernization and AI-driven transformation.

This leadership role will be instrumental in transforming our Company's IT Operations into an AI-enabled, increasingly autonomous service management ecosystem.

Required Skills:

• Automation
• Business Informatics
• Business Transformation
• Change Management
• Computer Science
• Data Engineering
• Data Visualization
• Design Applications
• Design for Maintainability
• Emotional Resilience
• Information Technology (IT)
• Information Technology Management
• Orchestration (Computing)
• Red Hat Ansible
• Service Operations
• Software Configurations
• Software Development
• Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
• Solution Architecture
• System Designs
• System Integration
• Systems Automation
• Testing
• Use Cases
• Workflow Automation

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.

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