Merck Posted September 8, 2026

2027 Future Talent Program - Manufacturing Intern

Durham, North Carolina, United States of America FULL_TIME
Manufacturing & CMC Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
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About this opportunity

Job Description

Skills) Job Description In Primary Posting Language (Include Requirements For Education, Experience And Skills)

Our vision is to make a difference in the lives of people globally through our innovative medicines, vaccines, and animal health products. We are committed to being the premier, research-intensive biopharmaceutical company and we provide leading innovations and solutions for today and the future. Our core areas of focus include infectious diseases, oncology, and vaccines including Animal Health, livestock, companion animal, and aquaculture.

The Future Talent Program features internships that last up to 12 weeks and will include one or more projects.  These opportunities in our Manufacturing Division can provide you with great development and a chance to see if we are the right company for your long-term goals.

There are several roles within our Company's Durham site seeking interns to join us in summer 2027 including positions in Technical Operations, Operations/Supply Chain Management, Automation, Environmental Health and Safety (EHS), and Quality. A “Safety First, Quality Always” mindset and drive for continuous improvement and innovation enable the Company to be a trusted and competitive supplier of pharmaceuticals, vaccines, biologics, and animal health products to the world’s patients and customers.

Each intern completes one or more projects over a 10 to 12-week period beginning late May or early June 2027. This experience will provide the opportunity to develop yourself both technically and professionally, engage in the Company’s business and culture, and decide if we are the right company for your long-term career goals.

As an intern at our Durham location, you will have the opportunity to work collaboratively in one of the following areas:

TECHNICAL OPERATIONS INTERN:

Develop, optimize, and implement innovative manufacturing technologies and analytical methods

Use process modeling combined with statistical, data analytics, and data science tools to analyze and identify insights from process information

Support process technology development and transfer to commercial operation groups

Examine an issue from diverse perspectives (safety, compliance, automation, equipment, process, and people) to best understand and resolve the root cause

QUALITY INTERN:

Accountable for delivering on Durham Quality objectives

Support Quality Systems to ensure sitewide compliance

Support the Site Labs

Participate in department projects and ensure the realization of the specified results

Maintain the highest standard

OPERATIONS / SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT INTERN:

Actively participate on or support cross-functional teams to advance project goals and implement continuous improvement projects

Support formal problem solving and real-time troubleshooting efforts of unplanned events to ensure reliable supply of Durham manufactured vaccines

Author and/or update GMP documentation

AUTOMATION INTERN:

Support the design, implementation, and troubleshooting of process automation and control systems

Utilize data from automated equipment to analyze process performance and identify opportunities for continuous improvement

Author or update technical documentation related to automated systems

Education:

Currently pursuing a bachelor’s or master’s degree in engineering, science, or related disciplines

Candidates must have a minimum of one year completed (prior to application) of undergraduate work in an engineering or science related major

Required:

Available for a 10 to 12-week internship beginning in late May or early June 2027

Current student with an expected graduation date between Fall 2027 and Spring 2029

Candidates graduating in Spring 2027 must be pursuing a graduate degree program and plan to return to school in Fall 2027

Preferred:

Ability to work independently and in teams

Effective problem-solving, collaboration, and written and oral communication skills

Previous process development, research, or manufacturing experience

Strong technical competency and a desire to innovate

Experience in computer programming, modeling, data science, and/or data analytics

Candidates should have a minimum GPA of 3.0

Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States. We do not provide employer visa sponsorship for this position.

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

MD2027

SWE

NSBE

SHPE

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:

Yes

Hazardous Material(s):

no

Job Posting End Date:

11/9/2026 *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:R416739

Job details

Seniority
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Function
Manufacturing & CMC
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Durham, North Carolina, 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 300 comparable Intern/Fellow/Postdoc Manufacturing & CMC roles across 49 biopharma companies.

300Comparable roles tracked
275Currently active
49Companies hiring similar roles
19Countries represented

Salary context

70 of 300 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
Lowest disclosed · Production Associate · Merck KGaA $17/hr – $27/hr (≈ $35,360–$56,160/yr)
Highest disclosed · Advisor - Agentic Automation, Frontier AI · Lilly $168,000/yr – $268,400/yr
Peer group range $45,760 – $218,200 (median $82,050)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 300 comparable roles

United States208
Germany19
France17
Belgium11
Switzerland8
Singapore7

+ 13 more countries

Seniority mix

300 of 300 peers have a known seniority level

Associate154
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc146

Therapeutic area mix

5 of 300 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Vaccines & Infectious Disease5

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 Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Same function Same seniority Same country
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60%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
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60%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
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60%similar
GlaxoSmithKline LLC Marietta, United States Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
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60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, 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%
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Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
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Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
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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.