Associate Director, Translational PK/PD

Merck; Boston (MA); Hybrid; USD 157,000 - 247,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401(k)

Paid holidays

Vacation

Sick days

Hybrid work arrangements

Job summary

Merck is seeking a Translational PK/PD Associate Director within our PDMB Translational PK/PD organization in the US. This role focuses on biologics, protein therapeutics, and peptides, applying expert PK/PD modeling to guide drug discovery decisions.

The successful candidate will integrate in vitro and in vivo data to build PKPD and QSP models, design studies, and lead automated workflows. Collaboration across disciplines and mentoring junior colleagues are essential.

Qualifications

• Pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics expertise.
• Experience with translational PK/PD modeling in industry.
• Ability to design analyses and guide drug discovery strategy.

Responsibilities

• Serve as expert PK/PD modeler in cross-functional teams to inform drug discovery and dose projection.
• Integrate in vitro and in vivo data to build PKPD, PBPK, QSP models for translation.
• Collaborate to design experiments and modeling plans to guide translational strategy.
• Guide automated workflows for modeling platforms informing human PK/PD.
• Provide scientific and modeling guidance to junior colleagues.

Skills

PKPD modeling

Mathematical modeling

Experimental design

Statistics

Interdisciplinary collaboration

Education

Master's (8+ years) / PharmD (6+ years) / PhD (4+ years) in relevant field

Tools

MATLAB

OSPS Suite

Monolix

R

Job description

Job Description

The department of Pharmacokinetics, Dynamics, Metabolism & Bioanalytics (PDMB) is seeking a curious and collaborative Scientific Associate Director for our growing Translational PK/PD organization. The Translational PK/PD Associate Director is an expert mathematical modeler and scientist who independently designs and executes analyses with minimal supervision, guiding drug discovery strategy with a focus on biologics, protein therapeutics, and peptides.

The department of Pharmacokinetics, Dynamics, Metabolism & Bioanalytics (PDMB) is seeking a curious and collaborative Scientific Associate Director for our growing Translational PK/PD organization. The Translational PK/PD Associate Director is an expert mathematical modeler and scientist who independently designs and executes analyses with minimal supervision, guiding drug discovery strategy with a focus on biologics, protein therapeutics, and peptides.

The Translational PK/PD Scientific Associate Director Will

• Serve as expert PK/PD modeler in cross-functional teams, to make model-informed decisions about drug discovery, modality selection, and dose prediction across therapeutic areas;


• Integrate in vitro and in vivo data to build PKPD, PBPK, quantitative systems pharmacology (QSP), or other mechanistic modeling platforms of drug disposition and pharmacology, to support forward/reverse translation for both established and novel therapeutic targets;


• Collaborate across our PDMB and broader Discovery / Translational organization to design experimental studies and modeling plans, to identify and optimize drug candidates and guide broader translational strategy across programs;


• Guide the design of automated workflows for implementing modeling platforms, to inform human PK/PD and dose projections;


• Provide scientific and modeling guidance to junior colleagues.

In addition to the responsibilities described above, the Associate Director will demonstrate excellent leadership and communication skills, building effective partnerships across departments to guide model-informed drug discovery.

NOTE: This role is available in South San Francisco, CA, West Point, PA or Boston, MA based on candidate preference.

Qualifications

Education

• Master's (with 8+ years), PharmD (with 6+ years) or Ph.D. (with 4+ years) in pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics, mathematics, applied mathematics, systems biology, computational biology, chemical/biomedical engineering, statistics/biostatistics or related discipline and experience with increasing responsibility and independence in drug discovery / development, within industry, academia, regulatory or non-profit settings

Required Experience And Skills

• Experience performing hands-on translational PKPD modeling using standard modeling software (e.g., Matlab, OSP Suite, Monolix, R), for discovery / development of biologics, protein therapeutics, and/or peptides


• Expert skills in experimental design, mathematical problem solving, critical data analysis/interpretation, and statistics

Preferred Experience And Skills

• Demonstrated experience working in interdisciplinary teams and in collaborative problem scoping/planning


• Expertise in developing novel translational modeling strategies or automated workflows that rely on PBPK, QSP, or related mechanistic modeling

Required Skills

Biologics, Biostatistics, Data Analysis, Data Modeling, Data Science, Drug Discovery Process, Interdisciplinary Collaboration, MATLAB, Peptides, Pharmacodynamics, Pharmacokinetics, Pharmacotherapeutics, PKPD Modeling, Proteins, Statistical Analysis, Translational Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics (PKPD)

Requirements

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.

The salary range for this role is $156,900.00 - $247,000.00

This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. An employee’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, government requirements, and business or organizational needs.

The successful candidate will be eligible for annual bonus and long-term incentive, if applicable.

• medical


• dental


• vision healthcare and other insurance benefits (for employee and family)


• retirement benefits, including 401(k)


• paid holidays


• vacation


• compassionate and sick days

More information about benefits is available at https://jobs.merck.com/us/en/compensation-and-benefits.

We will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment in compliance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.

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

Regular

Relocation

Domestic/International

VISA Sponsorship

Yes

Travel Requirements

10%

Flexible Work Arrangements

Hybrid

Shift

1st - Day

Valid Driving License

No

Hazardous Material(s)

N/A

Job Posting End Date

09/30/2026

A job posting is effective until 11:59:59PM on the day BEFORE the 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

R411922