Merck Posted August 19, 2026

Associate Scientist, Oral Formulation Sciences (Onsite)

Rahway, New Jersey, United States of America FULL_TIME
Manufacturing & CMC Associate

Merck is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

Job Description

Our company's Pharmaceutical Sciences organization translates molecules to medicines, working from the discovery interface through registration stability manufacturing by designing, developing and scaling-up the formulation, device, and manufacturing process.  Driving drug product design from the bench top to the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) manufacturing facilities, our Scientists use cutting edge science to transform drug delivery and manufacturing technology to positively impact patients.

The successful candidate will be a passionate Scientist with strong academic fundamentals and a drive to develop new medicines to improve human health.  In this role, the individual will be responsible for supporting the formulation development of new chemical entities as part of a matrix team from initial first in human formulations (suspensions, solutions, capsules, tablets) through final market formulation definition and manufacturing process robustness assessment.

Additional responsibilities are as follows:

Develops and applies basic principles and scientific concepts to execute work in a laboratory or pilot plant environment to advance new solid oral drug products.

Capability to support manufacturing operations in non-GMP and GMP environments.

Executes routine experiments and data interpretation with appropriate technical guidance.

Ability to operate and  trouble-shoot equipment and processes.

Capable of learning practical laboratory/pilot plant skills and fundamental scientific principles to utilize as part of their daily responsibilities.

Can understand overall project timelines to manage prioritization of individual contributor deliverables with appropriate supervision.

Works well with others in collaborative team environments.

Builds awareness of relevant new and current technologies to grow as a pharmaceutical scientist.

Education Minimum Requirement:

B.S. or M.S. degree  in Chemical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Pharmaceutical Sciences or related discipline (expected no later than June 2027).

Required Experience and Skills:   

Ability to learn and apply new scientific principles to execution of daily responsibilities

Demonstrated ability to collate and conduct basic data analysis

Prior experience with Microsoft Office

Strong verbal and written communication skills

Preferred Experience and Skills:  

Prior experience in a laboratory environment

Prior experience with statistical software (JMP, Minitab) and numerical analysis software (Matlab)

Strong mechanical aptitude

Passion to learn and develop as a pharmaceutical scientist

#eligibleforERP

#PSCS

Required Skills:

Analytical Thinking, Biochemical Analysis, Biomedical Engineering, Biopharmaceutical Industry, Chemical Engineering, Clinical Manufacturing, Data Analysis, Dosage Forms, Evaluating New Technologies, GMP Compliance, Manufacturing Support, Numerical Analysis Software, Pharmaceutical Production, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Product Development, Scientific Methods

Preferred Skills:

Current Employees apply HERE

Current Contingent Workers apply HERE

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.

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

The salary range for this role is

$71,900.00 - $113,200.00

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.

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 .

You can apply for this role through https://jobs.merck.com/us/en (or via the Workday Jobs Hub if you are a current employee). The application deadline for this position is stated on this posting.

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

VISA Sponsorship:

Yes

Travel Requirements:

10%

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Not Applicable

Shift:

Not Indicated

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

n/a

Job Posting End Date:

08/24/2026 *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:R403275

Job details

Seniority
Associate
Function
Manufacturing & CMC
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Rahway, New Jersey, United States of America
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Manufacturing & CMC role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 355 comparable Associate Manufacturing & CMC roles across 66 biopharma companies.

355Comparable roles tracked
323Currently active
66Companies hiring similar roles
32Countries represented

Salary context

91 of 355 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.

This roleSubject $71,900/yr – $113,200/yr
Lowest disclosed · Associate Operator - 2nd Shift · Mylan Technologies, Inc. $30,000/yr – $49,000/yr
Peer group range $39,500 – $186,200 (median $147,400)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 355 comparable roles

United States198
India48
Ireland20
Netherlands11
Switzerland11
Singapore7

+ 26 more countries

Seniority mix

355 of 355 peers have a known seniority level

Manager233
Associate106
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc16

Therapeutic area mix

1 of 355 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Vaccines & Infectious Disease1

Similar opportunities

The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.

60%similar
Lilly Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America Associate
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Associate
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Associate
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Associate
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Sanofi Vaccines US Inc. Waltham, United States Associate
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) Tarrytown, United States Associate
Same function Same seniority Same country

Notify me about similar jobs

Get an email when we spot other openings like this one – same job function, comparable seniority, roles you'd actually want to see.

How we calculate "similar"

No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.

Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.

60%
Advisor, Downstream Process Development – Viral Vectors
Lilly · Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America · Associate
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Advisor - Molecular Biology, Analytical Development - BR&D
Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Associate
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Associate Operator - 2nd Shift
Mylan Technologies, Inc. · St. Albans, United States · Associate
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Fill/Finish Associate (Internal Fill/Finish MFG)
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) · Renss, United States · Associate
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.