Merck KGaA Posted November 10, 2026

Senior Operational Excellence Process Engineer/Digital Champion

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.

Location: The Senior Operational Excellence Process Engineer/Digital Champion is an onsite position in Tamaqua, PA with

Your Role: 

This role provides you with the opportunity to apply analytical thinking, data-driven storytelling, and stakeholder influence to unlock the highest-value productivity opportunities for our Hometown Synthesis/Purification Operations (Thin Films and Specialty Gas). You will drive measurable productivity improvements by integrating Lean Six Sigma with Digital Solutions to deliver safe, reliable, and customer-focused outcomes. Collaborating with the OE Global Network, Digital Transformation, Operations, Maintenance, and Global Engineering, you will deliver quick wins and identify longer-term OE and digital opportunities tracked in our internal systems. You’ll lead data access and analytics enablement to accelerate productivity across HVM processes, fleet builds, and New Product Launch optimization.

Key Responsibilities:

OE Leadership and Productivity: Lead productivity initiatives across SYN/PUR product lines; develop and maintain Value Stream Maps (VSMs) & Daily Management Systems (DMS); drive process variation reduction (RCCAs, FMEA, DOE).

Digital Transformation and Data-Enabled Performance: Leverage dashboards, apps, and data platforms to access and interpret critical process data; apply SPC and analytics to improve OEE, throughput, and quality. Collaborate with Digital Solutions and Data & Digital IT (DDIT) to accelerate data access, data quality, and analytics readiness for manufacturing decisions.

Change Management and Capability Building: Own Management of Change (MOC) for OE implementations; design and deliver training on VSM, DMS, RCA, 5S, DOE, and digital tools; mentor site teams in problem-solving and data storytelling.

Governance, Metrics, and Reporting: Define and track KPIs (e.g., WAVE-related productivity, cycle time, scrap, yield, on-time delivery); provide regular leadership reporting; escalate risks and opportunities with clear remediation plans.

Technology Transfer, Start-up & Scaling: Support technology transfer from pilot to commercial scale; contribute to commissioning/start-up activities for OE-driven projects; capture learnings for future scale-up across product lines.

 

Who You Are

Minimum Qualifications:

BS in Chemical Engineering or a related scientific field; advanced degree preferred

5+ years in manufacturing/process engineering with Lean Six Sigma experience; demonstrated problem-solving across chemical/physical processing environments

Green Belt or similar certification (minimum); hands-on experience applying DFSS, DMAIC, RCCA, and FMEA

Data literacy: experience with data storytelling, basic analytics, and using real time data to drive decisions

Preferred Qualifications:

MS or PhD in Chemical Engineering or related field

Black Belt or Master Black Belt certification

Data analytics experience (e.g., SPC/SQC, multivariate analysis) and familiarity with data platforms (e.g., Palantir Foundry or similar)

Strong leadership, organizational, and interpersonal skills; effective communicator across operators, engineers, and leadership

Ability to thrive in a matrixed team, partner with multiple functions, and manage change with stakeholders

Experience in technology transfer (small-to-large scale), commissioning/start-up, and operations of systems used in electronics materials manufacturing (synthesis, purification, filling, storage)

Knowledge of semiconductor materials, packaging, processes, and customer experience

Pay range for this position: $130,000 - $165,000

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
Senior
Function
Data & Digital
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, United States
Employment type
Full time

How this role compares

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

We currently track 224 comparable Senior Data & Digital roles across 48 biopharma companies.

224Comparable roles tracked
210Currently active
48Companies hiring similar roles
24Countries represented

Salary context

63 of 224 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 $130,000/yr – $165,000/yr
Lowest disclosed · Sr. Data Analyst · Johnson & Johnson $79,000/yr – $127,650/yr
Peer group range $103,325 – $265,400 (median $197,200)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 224 comparable roles

United States97
India51
United Kingdom14
Spain12
Germany6
Poland6

+ 18 more countries

Seniority mix

224 of 224 peers have a known seniority level

Senior107
Associate Director66
Principal51

Therapeutic area mix

8 of 224 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology4
Neuroscience1
Immunology1
Respiratory1
Dermatology & Aesthetics1

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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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Notify me about similar jobs

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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.