Merck Posted September 20, 2026

2027 Future Talent Program - Discovery Sample Management Analytical Chemistry - Intern

Rahway, New Jersey, United States of America FULL_TIME
Manufacturing & CMC 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 features internships that last up to 12 weeks and will include one or more projects. These opportunities in our Research and Development Division can provide you with great development and a chance to see if we are the right company for your long-term goals.

The Discovery Sample Management Department within the Company's Research Laboratories in Rahway, NJ is seeking a highly motivated undergraduate summer intern to contribute to and learn from a dynamic scientific environment that supports drug discovery and development. This internship is designed to provide meaningful hands-on experience with advanced instrumentation and analytical techniques that are critical to modern pharmaceutical research, including process characterization, molecular and materials analysis, and the determination of drug substance physical properties.

Through direct engagement with scientific teams, the intern will develop a strong foundation in analytical and physical chemistry method development, strengthening problem-solving skills while contributing as part of an integrated, multidisciplinary team supporting small- and large-molecule pipeline. The experience will also provide exposure to specialized groups in sample management, high-throughput analysis, molecular characterization, and state-of-the-art mass spectrometry, offering a broad perspective on the technologies and expertise that drive innovation across the organization.

In addition, the intern will participate in departmental and team meetings, gaining valuable insight into the end-to-end drug discovery process and a deeper understanding of how scientific collaboration accelerates the development of new medicines. The overall goal of this internship is to cultivate technical knowledge, scientific curiosity, and professional growth while providing a comprehensive introduction to pharmaceutical research in an industry-leading environment.

Education:

Required: Candidates must be currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, biochemistry, or pharmaceutical science.

Required Experience and Skills:

Candidates must be available to work on-site full-time (38.75Hrs.), for up to (12) consecutive weeks beginning in May or June of 2027.

Primary location: Rahway, New Jersey

Candidates must have completed at least (2) years of studies toward bachelor’s degree by June 2027.

Preferred Experience and Skills:

Candidates should have basic laboratory skills and research experience preferred, including experience with high-performance liquid

Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry  (HPLC, HPLC-MS, GC, GC-MS , SFC, etc..) using various detection instrumentation.

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 $39,108 through $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:

Not Applicable

Shift:

1st - Day

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

N/A

Job Posting End Date:

10/16/2026 *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:R414704

Job details

Seniority
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
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 240 comparable Intern/Fellow/Postdoc Manufacturing & CMC roles across 46 biopharma companies.

240Comparable roles tracked
230Currently active
46Companies hiring similar roles
17Countries represented

Salary context

59 of 240 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 Not listed on this posting
Lowest disclosed · Distribution Associate 2 · Merck KGaA $25/hr – $28/hr (≈ $52,000–$58,240/yr)
Highest disclosed · Advisor - Agentic Automation, Frontier AI · Lilly $168,000/yr – $268,400/yr
Peer group range $55,120 – $218,200 (median $82,050)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 240 comparable roles

United States165
Belgium13
Germany13
Switzerland8
Singapore8
France8

+ 11 more countries

Seniority mix

240 of 240 peers have a known seniority level

Associate131
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc109

Therapeutic area mix

5 of 240 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Vaccines & Infectious Disease5

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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.

60%similar
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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.

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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.