Merck Posted September 8, 2026

2027 Future Talent Program - Global Development Quality (GDQ) - Intern

West Point, Pennsylvania, United States of America FULL_TIME
Quality Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Notify me about similar jobs

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.

Our company is a global health care leader with a diversified portfolio of prescription medicines, vaccines and animal health products. The difference between potential and achievement lies in the spark that fuels innovation and inventiveness; this is the space where our company has codified its legacy for over a century. Our company's success is backed by ethical integrity, forward momentum, and an inspiring mission to achieve new milestones in global healthcare.

Our company is on a quest for cures and is committed to being the world’s premier, most research-intensive biopharmaceutical company. Today, our focus is directly fixed on this goal. Our Research and Development Division is a true scientific research facility of tomorrow and will take our company’s leading discovery capabilities and world-class small molecule and biologics research and development (R&D) expertise to create breakthrough science that radically changes the way we approach serious diseases.

Within our Research Labs division, the Quality Assurance group is seeking two interns who will work collaboratively in a team environment to help advance Quality throughout the drug development life cycle.

GDQ Internship Opportunity (2 positions):

The role of Global Development Quality (GDQ) within our Research and Development Division QA is to ensure that clinical supplies are safe and manufactured with appropriate quality in compliance with regulatory requirements. The GDQ team does this by ensuring that there is a strong foundation of quality systems, qualification and validation of our facilities, equipment, and computer/automation systems, and tools to operate against. The team also manages product, document, and system life cycles.

GDQ provides quality oversight of manufacturing, packaging and labeling, testing, and release of materials from early- to late-stage clinical trials conducted across the globe for small- and large-molecule (biologics and vaccines) development compounds, API/drug substance, drug product, and finished good within our internal and external networks.

The intern positions will support the organization by leading small projects and/or assisting with important project-specific tasks.  These deliverables will help advance our operating model and enable new technology implementation with the goal of increasing our efficiency, agility and flexibility to ensure success in the dynamic development environment.

These tasks may include but are not limited to:

Development of collaboration tools to improve communication & coordination

Development of data visualization tools and solutions

Document review & management, including technical editing

Project management, including meeting coordination & facilitation

Quality-focused support of clinical manufacturing operations.

Locations: 1 position at West Point, PA and 1 position at Rahway, NJ

The interns in QA will also have the opportunity to network with the QA Leadership Team, which will provide a broad perspective on quality throughout the drug development continuum.  They will also:

Gain an understanding of the phases of drug development.

Gain an understanding of the importance of quality in ensuring the rights and well-being of patients and the welfare of animals; helping to meet the intent of global regulatory requirements through robust processes and procedures; and ensuring subject, company, and regulator ​confidence and public trust in our company.​

Interact with our company employees who have broad experience across the pharmaceutical industry.

We are seeking intern candidates with strong academic performance, communication skills, teamwork, and the ability to work in a multi-functional environment.

Required Experience and Skills: 

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

Candidates must be a current student pursuing a BS or MS degree in a science or engineering discipline.

Candidates must have strong organizational skills

Candidates must have demonstrated ability to take initiative and own deliverables

Candidates must have demonstrated interpersonal skills including flexibility, collaboration and inclusion skills, and ability to work in a team environment

Candidates must have demonstrated the capability to develop innovative solutions to challenges

Candidates must have strong written and verbal communication skills

Preferred Experience and Skills:

Proficiency with Microsoft Office tools (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams) ​

Experience with data analysis and visualization tools such as Excel, Power BI, Spotfire

Capabilities for managing multiple tasks simultaneously, including leading small projects

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

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):

N/A

Job Posting End Date:

10/9/2026 *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:R413669

Job details

Seniority
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Function
Quality
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
West Point, Pennsylvania, United States of America
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

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

We currently track 41 comparable Intern/Fellow/Postdoc Quality roles across 19 biopharma companies.

41Comparable roles tracked
36Currently active
19Companies hiring similar roles
10Countries represented

Salary context

10 of 41 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
Highest disclosed · Associate Dir. Cross TA Risk Management · Johnson & Johnson $122,000/yr – $212,750/yr
Peer group range $75,510 – $167,375 (median $79,860)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 41 comparable roles

United States24
Belgium4
China3
Netherlands3
Switzerland2
India1

+ 4 more countries

Seniority mix

41 of 41 peers have a known seniority level

Associate27
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc14

Therapeutic area mix

0 of 41 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.

60%similar
Roche Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Boehringer Ingelheim Columbus, Ohio, United States Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Bayer Kansas City, United States Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Merck North Wales, Pennsylvania, United States of America Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Merck Rahway, New Jersey, United States of America Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Merck Rahway, New Jersey, United States of America Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
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%
2027 Summer Intern - Quality, Regulatory, and External Affairs (QR&E)
Roche · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
2027 Future Talent Program - Process & Quality Management - Intern
Merck · North Wales, Pennsylvania, United States of America · Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
2027 Future Talent Program - Value and Implementation (V&I) Healthcare Quality Improvement (HQI) - Intern
Merck · North Wales, Pennsylvania, United States of America · Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Undergrad Co-op - Quality, Manufacturing, Operations and/or Engineering
Amgen Manufacturing Limited LLC · Juncos, United States · Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
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.