Merck Posted October 30, 2026

2027 Future Talent Program - Data, AI, and Genome Sciences - Intern

Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America FULL_TIME
Data & Digital Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
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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

The Future Talent Program within our Research & Development Division Data, AI, and Genome Sciences (DAGS) Department is offering internships that last 10-12 weeks. We have 1 open position on the AI/ML Data Science, In Silico Perturbation Team. Candidates can apply for the opportunity to be involved in one or more of the projects listed below. The projects are designed to enable students to further develop their skills and to evaluate if we are the right company for their long-term goals. We are seeking highly motivated students with computational skillsets.

Location: Cambridge, MA

Term: Full-time, 10-12 weeks

AI/ML Data Science:

Develop statistical and computational methods/pipelines to utilize, analyze, interpret, and validate perturb-seq datasets.

Develop approaches to assess, interpret, and validate in silico perturbation predictions from single-cell foundation models.

Required Education and Skills:

Must be currently enrolled in a PhD degree in Computer Science, Statistics, Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, or related technical field.

Must be available to work full-time for 10-12 weeks beginning in May or June of 2027.

Demonstrated experience with single-cell omics data (e.g., scRNA-seq, perturb-seq).

Excellent software design and development skills and strong proficiency in Python.

Excellent communication skills and ability to work collaboratively in a multi-disciplinary team.

Preferred Skills and Experience:

Motivated to impact biological projects with independent project leadership experience.

Experience with biological foundation models (e.g., single-cell foundation models).

Experience with advanced statistics and/or Bayesian methods.

Proficiency in modern ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch) and experience implementing scalable solutions for complex tasks.

Publications in journals or conferences.

Please note that this position may be closed before the posted end date or may remain open longer, at the discretion of the company.

Salary range:

The salary range for this role is $39,908 - $111,111

FTP2027

RL2027

Required Skills:

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

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:

Intern/Co-op (Fixed Term)

Relocation:

No relocation

VISA Sponsorship:

No

Travel Requirements:

No Travel Required

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Hybrid

Shift:

1st - Day

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

NA

Job Posting End Date:

11/27/2026 *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:R423333

Job details

Seniority
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Function
Data & Digital
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

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

We currently track 76 comparable Intern/Fellow/Postdoc Data & Digital roles across 20 biopharma companies.

76Comparable roles tracked
66Currently active
20Companies hiring similar roles
17Countries represented

Salary context

11 of 76 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 $39,908/yr – $111,111/yr
Highest disclosed · Advisor - AI/ML Generative Foundation Models for Biotherapeutics · Lilly $168,000/yr – $268,400/yr
Peer group range $75,510 – $218,200 (median $83,200)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 76 comparable roles

United States26
France12
Germany8
India6
Switzerland5
China5

+ 11 more countries

Seniority mix

76 of 76 peers have a known seniority level

Intern/Fellow/Postdoc56
Associate20

Therapeutic area mix

0 of 76 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

No peers with a known therapeutic area yet.

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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.

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Notify me about similar jobs

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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.

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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.