Senior Specialist, Engineering- Validation
About this opportunity
Job Description
Primary Responsibilities
Providing a leadership and technical supportive role in the areas of Steam Sterilization, Dry Heat Depyrogenation, Steam Decontamination, Vaporized Hydrogen Peroxide Decontamination, Controlled Temperature Unit Temperature Mapping and Warehouse Temperature Mapping Performance Qualification Validation activities (but not limited to); Scheduling and executing PQ Validation activities
Scheduling and managing PQ protocol close-outs
Performing technical investigations and analyses
Driving to and recommending corrective actions and seeing them through to successful/sustainable implementation
Reviewing procedural revisions to be compliant with regulatory expectations
Data analysis and Second Person Review
Troubleshooting activities associated with all aspects of PQ execution
Final report and procedure writing and review
Change control evaluation / implementation
QMS evaluation / alignment
SME presentation to regulatory inspectors
Directly interfacing with Project / IPT customers to manage pinches / challenges
Maintain team accomplishment metrics and present as needed
Manage of team of Contractors and / or P1 and P2 employees (including but not limited too) Justifying appropriate team headcount
Authoring job postings / conducting interviews / evaluating candidates as needed
Assigning / Assisting with prioritization of work responsibilities
Evaluating performance and providing regular feedback
Sponsoring employee growth and developmental opportunities through routine 1:1 developmental coaching
Participating in Year End assessment activities as applicable
Sponsoring the team to achieve Safety and Quality compliance excellence
Multiple opportunities will be provided to stream-line team performance and effectiveness
Multiple opportunities will be provided to grow as both a SME and people manager
Education Minimum Requirement:
Bachelor or Master degree in, biology, biochemistry, biochemical engineering, biological systems engineering, biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, computer science, integrated science or related life science or engineering discipline
Required Experience and Skills
Minimum five (5) years of pharmaceutical manufacturing industry
Working in a cGMP environment
Effective problem-solving skills and a hands-on approach to problem solving, with a bias toward going to see problems for oneself in the field
Excellent technical, organizational, interpersonal, collaborative, and verbal/written communication
Ability to examine an issue from diverse perspectives (safety, compliance, maintenance, automation, equipment, process, and people) in order to best understand and resolve it
Enthusiasm, confidence and initiative-taking ability needed for continuous learning and its applications
Willingness to work as a contributing member of a dynamic team of individuals
Experience acting as a team leader
Knowledge and/or experience in: CTU/WH qualification / validation; Dry Heat Depyrogenation qualification / validation; Steam Sterilization / Sanitization qualification / validation; VHP Decontamination qualification / validation
Required Skills:
Biochemistry, Biopharmaceutical Industry, Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, Steam Sterilization, Sterilization, Sterilization Validation, Temperature Mapping, Validation
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
$117,000.00 - $184,200.00
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:
No
Travel Requirements:
No Travel Required
Flexible Work Arrangements:
Not Applicable
Shift:
1st - Day
Valid Driving License:
No
Hazardous Material(s):
n/a
Job Posting End Date:
08/25/2026 *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:R411172
Job details
How this role compares
Computed from every other active Manufacturing & CMC role in our database, not just this employer's listings.
We currently track 373 comparable Senior Manufacturing & CMC roles across 53 biopharma companies.
Salary context
174 of 373 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.
Where these roles are based
Top locations among the 373 comparable roles
+ 14 more countries
Seniority mix
373 of 373 peers have a known seniority level
Therapeutic area mix
0 of 373 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden
No peers with a known therapeutic area yet.
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.
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.
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.