Merck KGaA Posted October 1, 2026

Quality Engineer

Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, United States FULL_TIME
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Merck KGaA 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

Work Your Magic with us!  Start your next chapter and join EMD Electronics.

Ready to explore, break barriers, and discover more? We know you’ve got big plans – so do we! Our colleagues across the globe love innovating with science and technology to enrich people’s lives with our solutions in Healthcare, Life Science, and Electronics. Together, we dream big and are passionate about caring for our rich mix of people, customers, patients, and planet. That's why we are always looking for curious minds that see themselves imagining the unimaginable with us.

Everything we do in EMD Electronics is to help us deliver on our purpose of being the company behind the companies, advancing digital living. We are dedicated to being the trusted supplier of high-tech materials, services and specialty chemicals for the electronics, automotive and cosmetics industries. We foster a global collaborative organization made up of individuals who have the passion to win, obsess about the customer, are relentlessly curious and act with urgency. Together, we push the boundaries of science to make more possible for our customers.

This role does not offer sponsorship for work authorization. External applicants must be eligible to work in the US.

Your Role:

The Quality Engineer position will lead the effort to raise quality performance for materials delivered to major semiconductor customers globally. In this role, you will identify improvement opportunities, lead cross-functional teams through structured problem solving and Lean/Six Sigma projects, and embed sustainable process changes that reduce variation, prevent defects, and strengthen customer confidence. As the voice of the customer, you will partner with the Site Quality Manager to build a culture of continuous improvement, using process control tools, data, and automation to make quality gains measurable and lasting.

Key Responsibilities:

Partner with the Site Quality Manager to set improvement goals and maintain and advance quality performance

Act as the voice of the customer to the site, translating customer feedback and requirements into improvement priorities

Lead site continuous improvement efforts for Hometown quality, identifying, prioritizing, and delivering projects that reduce defects, variation, and cost of poor quality

Use process control tools (e.g., SPC reviews) and performance metrics to find improvement opportunities and confirm that are sustained

Lead investigations to root cause using structured problem-solving tools (5-Whys, segmentation, Model Based Problem Solving) and manage cross-functional teams in implementing corrective, preventive, and mitigation actions

Drive Lean and Six Sigma projects (DMAIC, kaizen events, value stream mapping) from scoping through implementation and sustainment

Lead cross-functional teams in resolving various issues and translating lessons learned into standardized process improvements across the site and globally

Identify and enable automation and data digitization activities that speed decisions, improve visibility into unknown variables and issues, and remove manual inefficiencies

Lead FMEAs, management of change, and document control improvements to keep changes controlled, documented, and effective

Support and engage in audits of site processing and quality systems, turning findings into improvement actions

Contribute to global quality projects and share best practices across sites

Coach and mentor teams in continuous improvement methods to build problem-solving capability across the site

Who You Are

Minimum Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree in engineering, Chemistry, Physics, Materials Science, or a similar technical discipline, along with 5+ years of experience supporting or leading quality or continuous improvement initiatives in a semiconductor, chemical production, or a similar manufacturing environment

OR

Master’s degree in chemistry, Physics, Materials Science, or a similar technical discipline along with 3+ years of experience supporting or leading quality or continuous improvement initiatives in a semiconductor, chemical production, or a similar manufacturing environment

Preferred Qualifications:

Demonstrated success leading continuous improvement projects with measurable results

Experience with quality problem-solving tools (5-Whys, segmentation, Model Based Problem Solving), FMEAs, continuous improvement activities, management of change, and document control systems

Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt certification preferred

Demonstrated success advancing projects, project teams, and process improvements

Excellent time management and organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple projects at once

Working knowledge of statistics (SPC, t-test, ANOVA) sufficient to validate improvements

Demonstrated ability to motivate others, influence without authority, and collaborate with multiple internal stakeholders

Proficiency with data and visualization tools such as JMP, Palantir Foundry, Python, and/or Tableau

Experience with process improvement, data automation, and data digitization

Excellent oral and written communication skills in English, and ideally additional languages

Ability to work effectively with people from various backgrounds and cultures

Experience in the electronics industry, preferably semiconductors

Experience with ISO9001 Quality Management Systems

SAP experience

Pay Range for this position: $86,200-$129,200 year

The offer range represents the anticipated low and high end of the base pay compensation for this position. The actual compensation offered will be determined by factors such as location, level of experience, education, skills, and other job-related factors. Position may be eligible for sales or performance-based bonuses. Benefits offered by the Company include health insurance, paid time off (PTO), retirement contributions, and other perquisites. For more information click  here .

What we offer: We are curious minds that come from a broad range of backgrounds, perspectives, and life experiences. We believe that this variety drives excellence and innovation, strengthening our ability to lead in science and technology. We are committed to creating access and opportunities for all to develop and grow at your own pace. Join us in building a culture of inclusion and belonging that impacts millions and empowers everyone to work their magic and champion human progress!

Apply now and become a part of a team that is dedicated to Sparking Discovery and Elevating Humanity!

Job details

Seniority
Not listed
Function
Quality
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, United States
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 1008 comparable Quality roles across 131 biopharma companies.

1008Comparable roles tracked
957Currently active
131Companies hiring similar roles
48Countries represented

Salary context

192 of 1008 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function. This posting doesn't list a seniority level, so peers aren't narrowed by seniority either -- the range below may span more levels than usual.

This roleSubject $86,200/yr – $129,200/yr
Lowest disclosed · Quality Control Stability Technician · Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) $19/hr – $30/hr (≈ $39,395–$61,610/yr)
Highest disclosed · Quality Assurance Specialist · Merck KGaA $65,100/yr – $976,000/yr
Peer group range $50,502 – $520,550 (median $138,125)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 1008 comparable roles

United States349
Germany54
Ireland53
China53
Switzerland39
France38

+ 42 more countries

Seniority mix

498 of 1008 peers have a known seniority level

Manager160
Senior116
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc60
Associate Director40
Associate39
Director32
Principal23
Senior Director20
Executive/VP8

Therapeutic area mix

2 of 1008 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Vaccines & Infectious Disease1
Respiratory1

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.

40%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Associate
Same function Same country
40%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Director
Same function Same country
40%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Manager
Same function Same country
40%similar
Novartis Cambridge (USA), United States Director
Same function Same country
40%similar
Novartis Cambridge (USA), United States Principal
Same function Same country
40%similar
Gilead Sciences, Inc. Foster City, United States Associate Director
Same function 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.

40%
Advisor, Physicochemical Properties and Compound Quality
Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Associate
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
Director, Study Quality and Compliance - Nonclinical Safety/Toxicology
Novartis · Cambridge (USA), United States · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
QA Specialist III
Gilead Sciences, Inc. · La Verne, United States · Seniority not listed
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
QA Operations Specialist - Shift Based
Novartis · Carlsbad, United States · Seniority not listed
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.