Merck Posted September 17, 2026

Associate Principal Scientist, Statistical Programming, Late-Stage Oncology (Hybrid)

North Wales, Pennsylvania, United States of America FULL_TIME
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

In BARDS (Biostatistics and Research Decision Sciences), a distinguished department within our Company's renowned Research and Development division, quantitative scientists, in partnership with other subject matter experts, apply state-of-the art scientific methodologies and tools to enable the discovery, development, regulatory approval, manufacturing, and marketing of medical drugs and vaccines for the benefit of patients and global human health.

This position leads the statistical programming activities for multiple and/or large/complex late-stage drug/vaccine clinical development projects. Accountability predominantly includes the development and execution of statistical analysis and reporting deliverables (e.g. safety and efficacy analysis datasets, tables, listings, figures), the span of which range from individual clinical trials to world-wide regulatory application submissions and post marketing support.

The incumbant is responsible for the design and maintenance of statistical datasets that support multiple stakeholder groups which include clinical development, outcomes research and safety evaluation.

The position is a key collaborator with statistics and other project stakeholders in ensuring that project plans are executed efficiently with timely and high-quality deliverables.

For assigned projects the position serves as the statistical programming point of contact and knowledge holder through the entire product lifecycle.

Primary Activities:

Effective analysis and report programming development and validation utilizing global and TA standards and following departmental SOPs and good programming practices

Maintain and manage a project plan including resource forecasting

Coordinate the activities of a global programming team that includes outsource provider staff

Membership on departmental strategic initiative teams

Skills

Education and Minimum Requirement:

BA/BS in Computer Science, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, Life Sciences, Engineering or related field plus a minimum of 9 years SAS programming experience in a clinical trial environment

MS in Computer Science, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, Life Sciences, Engineering or related field plus a minimum of 7 years SAS programming experience in a clinical trial environment

Department Required Skills and Experience:

Effective interpersonal skills and ability to negotiate and collaborate effectively

Effective written, oral, and presentation skills

Effective knowledge and experience in developing analysis and reporting deliverables for R&D projects (data, analyses, tables, graphics, listings)

Leads large and/or complex projects, effectively balances competing priorities, and collaborates closely with key stakeholders to achieve project objectives

Position Specific Required Skills and Experience:

Significant expertise in SAS and clinical trial programming including data steps, procedures, SAS/MACRO, SAS/GRAPH; systems and database expertise

Designs and develops complex programming algorithms

Ability to comprehend analysis plans which may describe methodology to be programmed; an understanding of statistical terminology and concepts

Familiarity with clinical data management concepts

Experience in CDISC and ADaM standards

US and/or worldwide drug or vaccine regulatory application submission experience including the development of electronic submission deliverables

Experience ensuring process compliance and deliverable quality

Strategic thinking - ability to turn strategy into tactical activities; design of statistical databases with the end in mind that optimize analysis and reporting and leverage departmental standards and industry best-practices

Ability to anticipate stakeholder requirements

Preferred Skills and Experience:

Experience with GenAI tools (e.g., Python, R, R Shiny, Claude, etc.)

Demonstrated success in the assurance of deliverable quality and process compliance. Strong working knowledge of reporting processes (SOPs) and software development life cycle (SDLC)

Experience assuring programming consistency across protocols and projects, directing the program development effort of other programmers; experience as a programming mentor

Ability and interest to work across cultures and geographies

Ability to complete statistical programming deliverables through the use of global outsource partner programming staff

Experience developing and managing a project plan using Microsoft Project or similar package

Active in professional societies

Experience in process improvement

BARDS2020

eligibleforERP

SPjobs

VETJOBS

EBRG

Required Skills:

Base SAS, Clinical Development, Data Management, Data Modeling, FDA Submissions, Influencing Skills, Oncology, Presentation Delivery, Process Improvements, Project Management, Project Planning, Resource Planning, Stakeholder Management, Statistical Programming, Strategic Planning, Strategic Thinking

Preferred Skills:

Artificial Intelligence (AI), Generative AI, Python (Programming Language), R Programming

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

The salary range for this role is

$142,400.00 - $224,100.00

This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. An employee’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, government requirements, and business or organizational needs.

The successful candidate will be eligible for annual bonus and long-term incentive, if applicable.

We offer a comprehensive package of benefits.  Available benefits include medical, dental, vision healthcare and other insurance benefits (for employee and family), retirement benefits, including 401(k), paid holidays, vacation, and compassionate and sick days. More information about benefits is available at https://jobs.merck.com/us/en/compensation-and-benefits .

You can apply for this role through https://jobs.merck.com/us/en (or via the Workday Jobs Hub if you are a current employee). The application deadline for this position is stated on this posting.

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:

Regular

Relocation:

Domestic

VISA Sponsorship:

Yes

Travel Requirements:

10%

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Hybrid

Shift:

Not Indicated

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

n/a

Job Posting End Date:

10/10/2026 *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:R416087

Job details

Seniority
Principal
Function
Biostatistics & Data Science
Therapeutic area
Oncology
Location
North Wales, Pennsylvania, United States of America
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

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

We currently track 99 comparable Principal Biostatistics & Data Science roles across 28 biopharma companies.

99Comparable roles tracked
94Currently active
28Companies hiring similar roles
12Countries represented

Salary context

45 of 99 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 $142,400/yr – $224,100/yr
Lowest disclosed · Principal Computational Statistician · Lilly $66,000/yr – $193,600/yr
Peer group range $129,800 – $288,000 (median $180,500)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 99 comparable roles

United States59
India7
United Kingdom6
China6
Belgium5
Japan4

+ 6 more countries

Seniority mix

99 of 99 peers have a known seniority level

Senior45
Principal32
Director22

Therapeutic area mix

12 of 99 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology7
Immunology3
Rare Disease2

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
Johnson & Johnson Spring House, United States Principal
Same function Same therapeutic area Same seniority Same country
90%similar
Johnson & Johnson Spring House, United States Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Same country
90%similar
Merck KGaA Billerica, Massachusetts, United States Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Same country
90%similar
Johnson & Johnson Spring House, United States Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Same country
90%similar
Merck North Wales, Pennsylvania, United States of America Senior
Same function Same therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Same country
75%similar
Merck KGaA Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Adjacent seniority

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.

100%
Principal Data Scientist - Oncology
Johnson & Johnson · Spring House, United States · Principal
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
90%
Director, Data, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence – Oncology / Prostate Cancer
Johnson & Johnson · Spring House, United States · Director
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
75%
Director Biostatistics (Oncology) (Mainz, RP, DE, 55116)
BioNTech · Mainz, Germany · Director
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
60%
Principal Biostatistician
Biogen · Cambridge, United States · Principal
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.