Director, AI Platform & Agentic Engineering, AI & Genome Sciences

Merck; Cambridge (MA); Hybrid; USD 194,000 - 306,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental & vision insurance

401(k) plan

Paid holidays & vacation

Sick days & family leave

Bonus eligibility

Job summary

Merck & Co., Inc. in Cambridge, MA invites a Director to lead AI Platform & Agentic Engineering, accelerating target discovery with cutting-edge AI/ML methods. You will oversee a platform that connects multimodal data, models, and scalable compute, while collaborating with scientists.

This hands-on leadership role spans software, data engineering, and foundation models; you will mentor engineers and guide researchers in deploying AI approaches across biomedical projects.

Qualifications

• PhD or Master’s with significant industry experience in AI/ML or related field.

Responsibilities

• Build and evolve the AI/ML research environment, tooling, and reusable capabilities for scientists.
• Develop frameworks for AI agents, tool integration, retrieval, orchestration, and human‑in‑the‑loop workflows.
• Provide access to cloud, Databricks, GPU clusters, and HPC environments for AI research.
• Own SDLC for shared AI/ML tools, establish standards for architecture, testing, CI/CD, reproducibility, security, and maintainability.
• Mentor engineers and support scientists to translate new AI approaches into applications.

Skills

Python

AI/ML frameworks

Cloud computing

AWS

Databricks

Spark

Docker

Kubernetes

GitHub

CI/CD

LangGraph

Semantic Kernel

AutoGen

RAG pipelines

Knowledge graphs

Agentic AI

Communication

Education

PhD in Computer Science/Engineering/Data Science/AI/ML or related STEM field

Master's degree with 10+ years of industry experience

Tools

AWS

Databricks

Spark

Docker

Kubernetes

GitHub

CI/CD

Job description

Job Description

AI/ML is central to our mission to accelerate target and biomarker discovery through a deeper understanding of disease biology.

Director, AI Platform & Agentic Engineering

We are seeking a Director, AI Platform & Agentic Engineering to build and lead the technical capabilities that allow scientists to rapidly develop, evaluate, and apply cutting‑edge AI/ML methods. You will work across unique assets, including genome-scale perturbation data, proprietary foundation models, large-scale biological datasets, and experimental partnerships that enable model predictions to be tested in the lab.

This hands‑on technical leadership role spans software and data engineering, scientific computing, foundation models, and agentic AI. You will build an agile research platform connecting multimodal data, knowledge graphs, scalable compute, and reusable AI tools to accelerate experimentation, reproducible research, and scientific discovery.

Primary Responsibilities

• AI Platform & Research Engineering: Build and evolve the AI/ML research environment, developer tooling, and reusable capabilities that connect scientists with data, knowledge, compute, and models.
• Foundation Models & Agentic AI: Enable foundation model training, fine‑tuning, and evaluation, and develop frameworks for AI agents, tool integration, retrieval, orchestration, and human-in-the-loop scientific workflows.
• Scientific Computing: Partner with IT and technology teams to provide flexible access to cloud, Databricks, GPU clusters, and other high-performance computing environments required for cutting‑edge AI research.
• Agile Engineering: Own the SDLC for shared AI/ML tools and applications, establishing pragmatic standards for software architecture, testing, CI/CD, reproducibility, security, and maintainability to enable machine learning and data scientists.
• Technical Leadership: Remain actively engaged in architecture, prototyping, and implementation while mentoring engineers and supporting scientists in rapidly translating new AI approaches into scientific applications.

Required Qualifications

• PhD in a relevant field such as Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Data Science, Physics, Informatics, AI/ML, Mathematics, or a related STEM discipline, with 6+ years of industry experience, or Master's Degree with 10+ years of industry experience.
• Experience building AI/ML infrastructure, scientific software, or high-performance computing environments.
• Experience with cloud and computing technologies such as AWS, Databricks, Spark, Docker, Kubernetes, GitHub, and CI/CD.
• Strong software engineering expertise, particularly in Python, AI/ML frameworks, and modern software architecture.
• Experience developing GenAI and agentic AI systems, including frameworks such as LangGraph, Semantic Kernel, AutoGen, or equivalent.
• Experience with RAG, vector databases, knowledge graphs, and agent orchestration.
• Strong communication skills and ability to work effectively across scientific, engineering, and technology teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Machine Learning, Physics, or a related quantitative field, with significant industry experience.
• Hands‑on experience with foundation model training, fine‑tuning, and evaluation.
• Experience developing computational capabilities for biological or biomedical research.
• Experience creating internal scientific platforms, developer tools, or open‑source software.

Required Skills

Agentic AI, Agile Engineering, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Computing Software, Data Engineering, Data Modeling, Data Science, Data Visualization, Deep Learning, Foundation Models, High Performance Computing (HPC), Kubernetes, Machine Learning (ML), Python (Programming Language), RAG Pipeline, Software Development, Software Engineering, Technical Leadership, Transformers Design

Preferred Skills

Life Science, Omics

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.

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.

Learn more about your rights, including under California, Colorado and other US State Acts

Location

The primary location for this posting is: USA - Massachusetts - Cambridge (320 Bent Street)

Where required by law, the compensation range for this role is provided below.

The salary range for the primary location of this role is: $194,100.00 - $305,600.00

This range reflects the Company's reasonable expectation of the base salary applicable to this role at the time of 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.

We offer a comprehensive package of benefits. Available benefits include medical, dental, vision healthcare and other insurance benefits (for employee and family), retirement benefits, including 401(k), paid holidays, vacation, and compassionate and sick days. More information about benefits is available at https://jobs.merck.com/us/en/compensation-and-benefits.

Additional location(s)

Additional location(s) Compensation Information:

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

Search Firm Representatives Please Read Carefully

Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA, also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, Rahway, NJ, USA, does not accept unsolicited assistance from search firms for employment opportunities. All CVs / resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at our company without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of our company. No fee will be paid in the event a candidate is hired by our company as a result of an agency referral where no pre-existing agreement is in place. Where agency agreements are in place, introductions are position specific. Please, no phone calls or emails.

Employee Status

Regular

Relocation

Domestic/International

VISA Sponsorship

Yes

Travel Requirements

10%

Flexible Work Arrangements

Hybrid

Shift

Not Indicated

Valid Driving License

No

Hazardous Material(s)

n/a

Job Posting End Date

11/30/2026

• 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

R423830