Merck KGaA Posted August 14, 2026

Senior Scientist - Oligo Bioinformatics

Billerica, Massachusetts, United States FULL_TIME
Biostatistics & Data Science Senior

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!  Start your next chapter and join EMD Serono.

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.

United As One for Patients, our purpose in Healthcare is to help create, improve and prolong lives. We develop medicines, intelligent devices and innovative technologies in therapeutic areas such as Oncology, Neurology and Fertility. Our teams work together across 6 continents with passion and relentless curiosity in order to help patients at every stage of life. Joining our Healthcare team is becoming part of a diverse, inclusive and flexible working culture, presenting great opportunities for personal development and career advancement across the globe.

This role does not offer sponsorship for work authorization. External applicants must be eligible to work in the US.

Your Role:

Are you passionate about translating complex genomic data into life-changing RNA therapeutics? Our Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Group (DDTech) at EMD Serono in Billerica, MA, is expanding, and we are looking for a Senior Scientist in Oligo Bioinformatics to lead the computational design and optimization of our next-generation siRNA and ASO pipelines.

In this role, you will sit at the crucial intersection of computational biology, chemistry, and drug discovery, directly shaping therapeutic programs from target identification through lead optimization. If you thrive in a fast-paced, highly collaborative environment where your algorithms directly inform lab experiments, we want to hear from you.

Responsibilities:

Utilize Bioinformatics platforms to design, evaluate and optimize siRNA and ASO sequences for targeted gene silencing

Analyze gene expression data to identify suitable targets for siRNA/ASO development

Work closely with chemists and biologists to integrate bioinformatics approaches into experimental workflow

Perform transcriptome wide off-target prediction and annotation

Develop pipelines that determine mapping coordinates and homology of oligonucleotides to genomes and transcriptomes

Analyze High through put screening datasets and identify SAR

Who You Are:

Minimum Qualifications:

PhD in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering or other Science or Engineering discipline

3+ years of dedicated experience within the Oligonucleotide field

Preferred Qualifications:

Proficient in Bioinformatics tools and software (e.g. BLAST, Ensemb. RNA fold, siRNA design tools)

Experience with common human genetics resources and techniques

E xperience with analyzing large genomic and transcriptomic datasets including RNA seq, Single cell RNA seq, splice isoforms and variant database

H ighly collaborative and strong problem-solving ability

S trong organizational skills and ability to manage multiple experiments or project priorities in a fast-paced research environment

E xcellent written and verbal communication skills and strong scientific curiosity and innovation mindset

A bility to work effectively in a collaborative, cross-functional team environment

 

Pay Range for this position: $112,800 - $169,200

The offer range represents the anticipated low and high end of the base pay compensation for this position. The actual compensation offered will be determined by factors such as location, level of experience, education, skills, and other job-related factors. Position may be eligible for sales or performance-based bonuses. Benefits offered by the Company include health insurance, paid time off (PTO), retirement contributions, and other perquisites. For more information click  here

RSREMD

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
Senior
Function
Biostatistics & Data Science
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Billerica, Massachusetts, United States
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Biostatistics & Data Science role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 73 comparable Senior Biostatistics & Data Science roles across 21 biopharma companies.

73Comparable roles tracked
68Currently active
21Companies hiring similar roles
14Countries represented

Salary context

25 of 73 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 $112,800/yr – $169,200/yr
Lowest disclosed · Sr. Computational Statistician (R2 – R3) · Lilly $46,842/yr – $117,289/yr
Highest disclosed · Principal Scientist, Biostatistics · Merck $190,800/yr – $300,300/yr
Peer group range $82,066 – $245,550 (median $180,500)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 73 comparable roles

United States40
India7
Japan5
United Kingdom5
Germany3
China2

+ 8 more countries

Seniority mix

73 of 73 peers have a known seniority level

Senior28
Principal27
Associate Director18

Therapeutic area mix

3 of 73 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology2
Rare 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 Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Merck North Wales, Pennsylvania, United States of America Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
AbbVie Worcester, MA Senior
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%
Sr. Advisor - Statistics (RWE)
Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Sr. Computational Statistician
Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Senior Scientist I - Bioinformatics, Biotherapeutics and Genetic Medicine
AbbVie · Worcester, MA · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Sr Specialist, Data Science
Merck · North Wales, Pennsylvania, United States of America · Senior
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.