Merck KGaA Posted November 5, 2026

Scientific Associate Director, Induced Proximity Biology

Billerica, Massachusetts, United States FULL_TIME
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About this opportunity

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

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.

United As One for Patients, our purpose in Healthcare is to help create, improve and prolong lives. We develop medicines, intelligent devices and innovative technologies in therapeutic areas such as Oncology, Neurology and Fertility. Our teams work together across 6 continents with passion and relentless curiosity in order to help patients at every stage of life. Joining our Healthcare team is becoming part of a diverse, inclusive and flexible working culture, presenting great opportunities for personal development and career advancement across the globe.

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

Location: The Scientific Associate Director, Induced Proximity Biology is an onsite position in Billerica, MA. The role requires approximately 10% domestic and international travel to meet business needs.

 

The Role:

We are seeking a highly motivated, creative and collaborative scientific leader with expertise in cancer biology and functional genomics to help lead our laboratory efforts and drive strategic evolution in target identification, validation and in vitro assay development in cancer biology, with a specific emphasis on chemical biology and induced proximity. This role is expected to bring an expert level of scientific mastery in these areas and both own and drive technical strategy across the Research Unit. This will be evidenced by performing expert level hands on research in the laboratory, through direct mentorship and leadership of junior colleagues based in the laboratory, and via cross-functional impact across multiple project teams in an expert role. This individual will report to the Head of Target Discovery and Research and is expected to work both within the Oncology Research Unit and cross-functionally with members of the Drug Discovery Technology organization and other functional experts across the company. Key elements of the role are:

Drive overall strategy, design and execution of experiments to nominate new targets and approaches for induced proximity, chemical biology and functional genomics discovery research in Oncology

Serve as a hands-on expert and owner of novel approaches to engineer cellular and other model systems to validate and prosecute new targets and chemical modalities

Drive overall technical strategy in the RU by bringing creative ideas and solutions to complex biological problems and by driving the adoption of new innovative methods that will facilitate new discovery beyond the current capabilities of the RU

Mentor and work along with junior scientists to develop high-quality datasets that drive decision making on programs

Serve as a key expert partner across multiple project teams within the RU and with key external stakeholders

Demonstrate broad organizational impact through the evolution of a pipeline of induced proximity focused assets

Who You Are:

You are a creative and experienced PhD scientist with a demonstrated track record of productivity and creativity in the academic and industrial setting. You have deep expertise in functional genomics and cell biology and an ability to both perform hands-on research as well as mentor others in cutting edge approaches in the laboratory. You are both an expert in the lab and have demonstrated impact as a leader across cross-disciplinary project teams. You have a track record of driving new innovation in your prior roles and have owned the adoption of new modalities and approaches which have demonstrated impact. You are a strategic thinker with excellent skills in reading and applying the literature to key questions in cancer biology, know the field of induced proximity well and are eager to contribute as a part of a high performing team.

Minimum Qualifications:

PhD in Cancer Biology, Cell or Molecular Biology, Chemical Biology or a related field

7 - 10+ years of industry experience focusing on innovation in cancer research

Evidence of a high degree of productivity in the laboratory

High level expertise in functional genomics, cell biology, target identification and validation and data analysis

Evidence of organizational impact in prior roles based on the application of innovation and novelty to key scientific problems

Prior demonstration of ability to lead a project, both with hands-on impact and cross-functional impact

Preferred Qualifications:

Prior or current expertise in induced proximity, ideally in a company setting

Track record of mentoring productive junior scientists with a sense of urgency

Basic knowledge of applications of artificial intelligence to drug discovery

Ability to direct overall project strategy at an expert level

Outstanding critical thinking, presentation and communication skills

Pay range for this position: $175,000 - $242,000

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
Associate Director
Function
Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Billerica, Massachusetts, United States
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 274 comparable Associate Director Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research roles across 48 biopharma companies.

274Comparable roles tracked
263Currently active
48Companies hiring similar roles
22Countries represented

Salary context

117 of 274 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 $175,000/yr – $242,000/yr
Lowest disclosed · Senior Primate Behavior Specialist · Labcorp $70,000/yr – $80,000/yr
Highest disclosed · Toxicology Senior Research Fellow · Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (US) $232,000/yr – $348,000/yr
Peer group range $75,000 – $290,000 (median $144,600)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 274 comparable roles

United States202
India11
United Kingdom7
China7
Canada6
Japan5

+ 16 more countries

Seniority mix

274 of 274 peers have a known seniority level

Senior216
Associate Director31
Manager27

Therapeutic area mix

27 of 274 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Immunology10
Oncology9
Neuroscience7
Cardiovascular / CVRM1

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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.

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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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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.