Merck Posted October 18, 2026

2027 Future Talent Program – Vaccine Manufacturing Automation Co-op

West Point, Pennsylvania, United States of America FULL_TIME
Manufacturing & CMC Vaccines & Infectious Disease 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 co-operative assignments that last up to 6 months and will include one or more projects.  These opportunities in our Manufacturing & Supply Division can provide you with great development and a chance to see if we are the right company for your long-term goals.

This position will report to vaccine automation management and support ongoing operational activities. Given the close interaction with actual Good Manufacturing Practice manufacturing, candidates need to be prepared to comply with Good Manufacturing Practice gowning restrictions for some of their activities (e.g. – remove jewelry, remove make-up, remove false nails, etc.).

Under the guidance of Department Management, the Vaccine Manufacturing Automation Co-op will:

Complete a variety of automation projects in support of vaccine manufacturing at the Company's West Point, PA site.

Work with computer simulation to test proposed changes before implementation in the manufacturing environment.

Author new and update existing GMP documentation.

Expect involvement with daily plant operation, including upgrades and maintenance support for manufacturing equipment and interaction with many other production support groups including technology, quality, planning, and validation

Gain valuable understanding of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), safety, environmental requirements and practical experience in equipment operation.

Required Education & Experience:

Candidates must be pursuing a degree in Engineering, Business and Engineering, or a major within the College of Computing and Informatics.

Candidates must be successful candidates will possess strong interpersonal and writing skills, with attention to detail and the ability to work independently.

Preferred Experience & Skills:

Candidates should have previous experience in the pharmaceutical industry is preferred but not required.

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

SHPE

SWE

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):

No

Job Posting End Date:

12/17/2026 *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:R422480

Job details

Seniority
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Function
Manufacturing & CMC
Therapeutic area
Vaccines & Infectious Disease
Location
West Point, Pennsylvania, 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 415 comparable Intern/Fellow/Postdoc Manufacturing & CMC roles across 59 biopharma companies.

415Comparable roles tracked
375Currently active
59Companies hiring similar roles
26Countries represented

Salary context

87 of 415 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 · Warehouse Associate I (M-F 11am-7:30pm) · AbbVie $16/hr – $29/hr (≈ $33,280–$60,320/yr)
Highest disclosed · Advisor - Agentic Automation, Frontier AI · Lilly $168,000/yr – $268,400/yr
Peer group range $46,800 – $218,200 (median $82,050)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 415 comparable roles

United States248
France50
Germany29
Belgium16
Ireland15
Netherlands8

+ 20 more countries

Seniority mix

415 of 415 peers have a known seniority level

Intern/Fellow/Postdoc250
Associate165

Therapeutic area mix

5 of 415 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.

100%similar
Merck West Point, Pennsylvania, United States of America Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Same function Same therapeutic area Same seniority Same country
100%similar
Boehringer Ingelheim Saint Joseph, Missouri, United States Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Same function Same therapeutic area Same seniority Same country
100%similar
Merck West Point, Pennsylvania, United States of America Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Same function Same therapeutic area Same seniority Same country
90%similar
Pfizer Pearl River, United States Associate
Same function Same therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Same country
85%similar
GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals S.A. Belgium-Wavre, Belgium Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Same function Same therapeutic area Same seniority
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.

Or follow a whole field: get every new Manufacturing & CMC job in the United States, and choose locations and companies.

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.

100%
2027 Future Talent Program – West Point Vaccine Manufacturing Intern
Merck · West Point, Pennsylvania, United States of America · Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
90%
Associate Scientist - Robotics & Automation, Vaccines
Pfizer · Pearl River, United States · Associate
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
60%
Analytical R&D Fellowship – Formulation and Solubility Studies (Hiring Our Heroes Corporate Fellow)
Merck · West Point, Pennsylvania, United States · Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
2027 Packaging Co-Op (July - Dec)
AbbVie · North Chicago, IL · 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.