Merck KGaA Posted October 22, 2026

Senior Scientist, LNP Discovery Biology

Billerica, Massachusetts, 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 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.

Your Role:

The Senior Scientist, LNP Discovery Biology position is a hands-on bench role supporting the LNP Discovery platform within the Research Unit Neuroscience & Immunology (N&I). You will execute the in vitro and ex vivo work that drives candidate selection and develop assays the program depends on. The role sits at the interface of LNP delivery and immunology and collaborates across groups to progress a differentiated targeted delivery platform. This is a laboratory-based role where you will run your own experiments, interpret your own data, and present it to the project team, working closely with Principal Scientist’s across the department and the wider group.

Execute in vitro and ex vivo studies in support of the targeted LNP delivery platform, including primary human T cell and PBMC assays for transfection efficiency, CAR expression, and functional activity.

Develop, qualify, and troubleshoot new assays, and document them to a standard other scientists and CROs can follow.

Design and run multicolor flow cytometry panels, and generate the core readouts in support of the targeted delivery platform.

Support in vivo studies in humanized mouse models (PBMC- and huCD34+-engrafted NSG), including sample processing, bleed and tissue collection, and endpoint analysis; contribute to study design discussions.

Analyze, interpret, and present your data in group and project team meetings, with clear figures and a defensible interpretation.

Maintain rigorous records: electronic lab notebook, assay protocols, reagent and sample tracking, and the quality standards the program's data packages rest on.

Partner with formulation and lipid chemistry colleagues on candidate characterization, and with CRO and partner contacts on sample logistics and data transfer.

Train and support research associates and junior scientists on assays and techniques you own.

Who You Are

Minimum Qualifications:

Bachelors Degree in Immunology, Cell Biology, Molecular Biology or other Life Science discipline.

8+ years of industry experience.

1+ years of experience with primary human immune cell culture, multicolor flow cytometry, developing and troubleshooting cell-based assays, and supporting in vivo studies.

OR

Master’s Degree in Immunology, Cell Biology, Molecular Biology other Life Science discipline.

6+ years of industry experience.

1+ years of experience with primary human immune cell culture, multicolor flow cytometry, developing and troubleshooting cell-based assays, and supporting in vivo studies.

OR

PhD in Immunology, Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, other Life Science discipline.

2+ years of industry experience.

1+ years of experience with primary human immune cell culture, multicolor flow cytometry, developing and troubleshooting cell-based assays, and supporting in vivo studies.

Preferred Qualifications:

Experience with LNP or other nanoparticle delivery systems, including mRNA cargo and in vitro potency assessment.

Experience with CAR biology or cell therapy, including CAR detection reagents and the readouts that distinguish real pharmacology from artifact.

Experience with humanized mouse models (PBMC- or huCD34+-engrafted NSG), including engraftment monitoring.

Prior work on B cell depletion, autoimmune indications, or CD19/CD20-directed therapies.

Comfort in a fast-moving, cross-functional environment where the data and the slides are often due the same week.

Hands-on experience with primary human immune cell culture, T cell isolation, activation, and expansion, and the functional assays that go with it.

Strong practical command of multicolor flow cytometry: panel design, compensation, gating strategy, and the failure modes of each.

Experience developing and troubleshooting cell-based assays independently, rather than only running established protocols.

Experience supporting in vivo studies, including sample processing and endpoint analysis from mouse models.

Careful, well-documented laboratory practice and comfort working to agreed protocols and quality standards.

Clear communication of data and interpretation, including presenting at group and project team meetings.

Pay Range for this position: $94,600-$144,100

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 .

RSREMD

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
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 439 comparable Senior Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research roles across 52 biopharma companies.

439Comparable roles tracked
398Currently active
52Companies hiring similar roles
18Countries represented

Salary context

220 of 439 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 $94,600/yr – $144,100/yr
Lowest disclosed · Senior Animal Behaviorist - Primate · Labcorp $70,000/yr – $80,000/yr
Highest disclosed · Senior Principal Scientist, Quantitative Biosciences · Merck $214,100/yr – $337,000/yr
Peer group range $75,000 – $275,550 (median $165,300)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 439 comparable roles

United States331
China15
India13
United Kingdom13
Switzerland10
Belgium9

+ 12 more countries

Seniority mix

439 of 439 peers have a known seniority level

Senior226
Principal171
Associate Director42

Therapeutic area mix

48 of 439 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Immunology15
Neuroscience14
Oncology14
Cardiovascular / CVRM3
Gastroenterology1
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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Or follow a whole field: get every new Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research job in the United States, and choose locations and companies.

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.

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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.