Merck KGaA Posted October 6, 2026

(Senior) Internal Auditor Operational Audits

Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany FULL_TIME
Quality Senior
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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!

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.

Your role: 

We're seeking highly motivated individuals to join our dynamic, diverse, and very engaged internal audit team! We offer a high-profile internal audit function, with good visibility on all management levels and a track record for developing employees into senior roles in the organization. In this role, you will have dual responsibilities that include classic operational audit activities as well as leveraging our audit analytics initiatives.

For the operational audits, you lead, coordinate, and participate in the organization and execution of internal audits of different types (subsidiary, processes, or project reviews as well as special audits) within our company globally. Responsibilities include scoping, fieldwork, coordination, communication with senior management and action planning, as well as supervise and review the work of other Internal Audit team members. You perform data analytics during fieldwork in your respective audit area, prepare meaningful, standardized audit reports documenting audit procedures and results and present audit results to senior management including recommendations.

To further leverage data analytics in our audit landscape, you will strongly contribute to changes of audit techniques and methodology through data analytics and create value using data, digital tools, platforms, technologies, services, and processes. This role includes significantly contributing to internal control topics and continuous improvement on a group level through data analytics as well as to the audit analytics strategic roadmap.

Who you are:

University degree in Business, Finance, or equivalent and audit-specific qualifications (for e.g., CPA, CIA, or CFE certification) required. Relevant professional experience (minimum seven years in audit) in an internationally operating company or in a Big 4 accounting firm is required.

Multiple years of experience in leading complex audits in accordance with the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) Standards. Industry experience in the Pharma, Biotech, Life Science or Electronics sector is preferred.

Strong audit experience in the areas of Finance, Order-to-Cash, Source-to-Pay, Business Governance, Healthcare Compliance (Marketing & Medical activities), etc. as well as ability to independently scope and conduct audits of complex global processes is required.

Experience in managing strategic internal projects related to continuous improvement of internal audit quality and execution.

Extensive experience in using data analytics through projects or assignments and familiarity with handling ERP system data and data analytics tools (for e.g., Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, Qlik, etc.).

Ability to be agile, open-minded and to manage audits and stakeholders of different cultures (good intercultural and communication skills), to work in a matrix organization together with a desire to develop your leadership skills; good project management and organizational skills with the ability to handle multiple responsibilities at the same time.

Business-level fluency in English; additional language skills are an advantage.

Willingness to travel globally (approx. 20% travel time).

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
Senior
Function
Quality
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany
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 256 comparable Senior Quality roles across 66 biopharma companies.

256Comparable roles tracked
230Currently active
66Companies hiring similar roles
30Countries represented

Salary context

66 of 256 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 Not listed on this posting
Lowest disclosed · Associate Quality Control Chemist, Senior (Data Review) · Merck KGaA $25/hr – $39/hr (≈ $52,000–$81,120/yr)
Peer group range $66,560 – $201,900 (median $131,050)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 256 comparable roles

United States139
Ireland16
China11
Singapore10
Spain9
India8

+ 24 more countries

Seniority mix

256 of 256 peers have a known seniority level

Senior178
Associate Director40
Principal38

Therapeutic area mix

0 of 256 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

No peers with a known therapeutic area yet.

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
Johnson & Johnson Umkirch, Germany Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
AbbVie Ludwigshafen, RP Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
50%similar
Lilly Alzey, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany Principal
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country
50%similar
50%similar
BioNTech Mainz, Germany Associate Director
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country
45%similar
AbbVie Annecy, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Senior
Same function Same 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.

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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%
Senior Source Regulatory Compliance Specialist, Supplier Auditor (m/f/d)
Johnson & Johnson · Umkirch, Germany · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
50%
Principal Research Scientist I/II Biologics Quality Control in Biologics Analytical R&D (all genders) (full-time, permanent)
AbbVie · Ludwigshafen, RP · Principal
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
45%
Sr. Quality Assurance Specialist
Gilead Sciences, Inc. · La Verne, United States · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
45%
Senior Quality Assurance Validation Specialist
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) · Renss, United States · Senior
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.