Director, Digital Plant Lead

Merck; Rahway (NJ); On-site; USD 173,000 - 273,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus

Long-term incentive

Medical, dental, vision insurance

Job summary

Merck is seeking a Director, Digital Plant Lead to define business requirements for digital manufacturing and supply chain capabilities, coordinating with site leaders and IT to harmonize system implementations across multiple sites. The role will drive cross-site and cross-divisional alignment on MES and ERP, and ensure data governance aligned with FAIR principles.

You will design business processes for master data generation and management, collaborate with Change Management and DSCS SMEs, and

Qualifications

• 8+ years in a digital manufacturing support, plant automation or related technical field.
• Pharmaceutical manufacturing or supply chain experience; multiple modalities preferred.
• Ability to translate complex requirements into actionable system specifications.
• Experience supporting MES, ERP or related enterprise systems.
• Ability to build trust and influence diverse stakeholders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; capable of explaining technical concepts to executives.
• Independent decision-making with proactive project leadership.

Responsibilities

• Translate business process needs into system requirements for MES and ERP.
• Provide virtual plant design expertise across enterprise systems.
• Align enterprise system implementation across sites and divisions.
• Drive harmonization of business processes across Research Laboratories network.
• Define KPIs to monitor system adoption and value.
• Collaborate with system architects and end-users for scalable implementations.
• Document system requirements and architecture; support training plans.

Skills

Business Process Design

Business Transformation

Change Agility

Digital Transformation

Digital Transformation Initiatives

Engineering Principle

Enterprise Systems

Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

Education

PhD with 4+ years in Engineering, Automation, Computer Science, or comparable

Bachelor’s degree with 8+ years in Engineering, Automation, Computer Science, or comparable

Job description

Job Description

Digital is the multiplier that will allow Development Sciences and Clinical Supply (DSCS) to deliver better experiments faster, efficient filing and launch, more robust supply chains and higher-confidence decisions across the portfolio. The DSCS Digital Technologies (DDT) organization is tasked with the mission to pioneer and deploy innovative digital technologies that drive the acquisition, automation and utilization of data to enhance insights, efficiency, and quality of DSCS processes and methods.

Director, Digital Plant Lead Will

• Define business requirements for the successful design and implementation of digital manufacturing and supply chain capabilities, in collaboration with site leaders and Research Laboratories IT.
• Proactively identify opportunities to harmonize system implementation across sites to maximize interoperability and streamline the flow of information and materials across sites.
• Drive cross-site and cross-divisional alignment on systems implementation, including MES and ERP.
• In collaboration with CMC Data Governance, ensure a consistent approach to enterprise data creation and management that is aligned with FAIR principles across the Research laboratories network.
• Support the design and implementation of digital tools that streamline master data management within manufacturing and inventory management systems, including but not limited to MES and ERP.
• Work strategically with Change Management and DSCS functional area SMEs to design business processes that effectively leverage digital capabilities for master and transactional data generation and management, minimizing work that occurs outside of enterprise systems.
• Contribute to the advancement of the DSCS Digital Technologies Strategic Roadmap, aligning system implementation with business process execution and data management requirements to create a digitally enabled network across our Research laboratories.

Primary Activities

• Requirements Translation: Translate business process needs into system implementation requirements for digital manufacturing and supply chain capabiliites, including MES and ERP.
• Digital plant design: Provide expertise in virtual plant design across enterprise systems, leveraging industry best practices and learnings from across the company manufacturing and supply chain network.
• System integration: Align enterprise system implementation across sites and divisions, facilitating interoperability and enabling the seamless flow of information and materials between facilities.
• Business process transformation: Drive business process harmonization across the Research Laboratories network, ensuring that business processes are executed in the appropriate enterprise systems to ensure contemporaneous and comprehensive knowledge capture.
• Performance monitoring: Define and track KPIs to monitor enterprise system adoption and value realized through digital transformation within our Research laboratories.
• Systems architecture: Work closely with system architects and end-users to ensure scalable, secure, and efficient implementation of enterprise systems.
• Documentation & Enablement: Document system requirements, business processes and system architecture. Support the development of training plans as new enterprise systems are rolled out to end-users within our Research Laboratories.

Required Skills And Qualifications

• Experience: 8+ years in a digital manufacturing support, plant automation or a related technical field.
• Pharmaceutical manufacturing or supply chain experience. Understanding of manufacturing across modalities (ie small molecule, large molecule, vaccine) is preferred.
• Business requirements translation: Proven track record of gathering complex requirements from non-technical stakeholders and translating them into actionable user requirements and specifications for system design and implementation.
• System implantation: Prior experience supporting introduction or substantial upgrade of enterprise systems such as MES, ERP or related enterprise system strongly preferred.
• Collaboration & Influence: Demonstrated ability to develop strong, trust-based relationships to drive change and execute priorities with a diverse group of technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills; demonstrated ability to communicate technical concepts clearly to non-technical stakeholders, including senior executives.
• Independence: Independent decision-making abilities with a proactive approach to leading projects and delivering results.

Education and Skills

• Education: PhD with 4+ years of experience or Bachelor’s degree with 8+ years of experience in Engineering, Automation, Computer Science, or comparable technical field.

Additional location(s) Compensation Information

The salary range for the additional location (US) of this role is:

{USD 173`200 - USD 272`600}

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.

Required Skills

• Business Process Design
• Business Transformation
• Change Agility
• Digital Transformation
• Digital Transformation Initiatives
• Engineering Principle
• Enterprise Systems
• Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

Employee Status

Regular

Relocation

No relocation

VISA Sponsorship

No

Travel Requirements

25%

Flexible Work Arrangements

Not Applicable

Shift

Not Indicated

Valid Driving License

No

Hazardous Material(s)

N/A

Job Posting End Date

11/10/2026

• 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

R423740