Merck KGaA Posted August 14, 2026

Discovery Day - November 12th & 13th 2026 (all genders)

Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany FULL_TIME
Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research

Merck KGaA 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

Work Your Magic with us!

Ready to explore, break barriers, and discover more? We know you’ve got big plans – so do we! Our colleagues across the globe love innovating with science and technology to enrich people’s lives with our solutions in Healthcare, Life Science, and Electronics. Together, we dream big and are passionate about caring for our rich mix of people, customers, patients, and planet. That's why we are always looking for curious minds that see themselves imagining the unimaginable with us.

Discovery Day 2026

The Discovery Day is designed for students from diverse fields, such as natural sciences, economics, and engineering, who are nearing the end of their master’s studies or PhD. This two-day event (November 12–13, 2026) offers authentic insights from our employees, outstanding networking opportunities, and exposure to potential career paths. It also provides a chance to engage in project work within a dynamic environment.

Your application

To apply for the 2026 Discovery Day, please submit:

A CV in English that highlights your dedication and curiosity for science and technology.

A motivation letter (optional) that indicates your preferred function. If you do not specify a preferred function, the recruitment team reserves the right to assign you to the most suitable track.

Your options are:

Inhouse Consulting

Finance

Human Resources

Life Science (Strategic Product Management, R&D)

Healthcare

Electronics

The application deadline is September 6, 2026

Please note: You may not receive feedback before the official end of the application phase.

We look forward to hearing from you!

What we offer: We are curious minds that come from a broad range of backgrounds, perspectives, and life experiences. We believe that this variety drives excellence and innovation, strengthening our ability to lead in science and technology. We are committed to creating access and opportunities for all to develop and grow at your own pace. Join us in building a culture of inclusion and belonging that impacts millions and empowers everyone to work their magic and champion human progress!

Apply now and become a part of a team that is dedicated to Sparking Discovery and Elevating Humanity!

Job details

Seniority
Not listed
Function
Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 381 comparable Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research roles across 50 biopharma companies.

381Comparable roles tracked
361Currently active
50Companies hiring similar roles
16Countries represented

Salary context

141 of 381 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function. This posting doesn't list a seniority level, so peers aren't narrowed by seniority either -- the range below may span more levels than usual.

This roleSubject Not listed on this posting
Lowest disclosed · Scientist 1, Oncology | Drug Discovery · AbbVie $0/hr – $0/hr (≈ $0–$0/yr)
Highest disclosed · Head, Oncology Drug Discovery – San Diego · Novartis $248,500/yr – $461,500/yr
Peer group range $0 – $355,000 (median $168,090)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 381 comparable roles

United States301
Germany16
India15
United Kingdom11
Canada9
Switzerland6

+ 10 more countries

Seniority mix

295 of 381 peers have a known seniority level

Senior102
Principal57
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc34
Director29
Associate Director23
Associate22
Senior Director13
Executive/VP10
Manager5

Therapeutic area mix

54 of 381 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology30
Cardiovascular / CVRM11
Immunology6
Neuroscience4
Vaccines & Infectious Disease2
Respiratory1

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.

40%similar
Roche Penzberg, Bavaria, Germany Senior
Same function Same country
40%similar
AbbVie Ludwigshafen, RP
Same function Same country
40%similar
Amgen Research (Munich) GmbH Munich (Research), Germany Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Same function Same country
40%similar
Boehringer Ingelheim Biberach, Germany
Same function Same country
40%similar
Boehringer Ingelheim Biberach, Germany
Same function Same country
40%similar
Bayer Wuppertal-Aprath, Germany Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Same function 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.

40%
Senior Science / People Lead in Bioconjugation and Protein Engineering (m/f/d)
Roche · Penzberg, Bavaria, Germany · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
Digital Expert - Drug Discovery Sciences (Biberach, Germany, Baden-Württemberg)
Boehringer Ingelheim · Biberach, Germany · Seniority not listed
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
Senior Scientist (all genders) - Biophysics and Analytics (Wuppertal-Aprath, North Rhine Westfalia, DE)
Bayer · Wuppertal-Aprath, Germany · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
Associate Director (m/f/d), Computational Pathology Biomarker Lead (Oncology/BioPharma)
AstraZeneca · Munich, Germany · Associate Director
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.