Merck Posted September 26, 2026

Senior Scientist, Regulatory Affairs- CMC - Synthetic Moieties of ADC's and Bioconjugates

North Wales, Pennsylvania, United States of America FULL_TIME
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Merck 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

Job Description

SENIOR SCIENTIST (R3) REGULATORY CMC - SYNTHETIC MOIETIES OF ADCs AND BIOCONJUGATES

Position Description:

Serve as a Regulatory Chemistry, Manufacturing and Control (CMC) Lead for the synthetic-moiety (Drug-Linker) of assigned antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) and other bio-conjugate programs, providing regulatory leadership within Regulatory and on cross-functional teams.

Be accountable for the delivery of all regulatory milestones through product development and post-approval lifecycle.

Develop and execute robust, phase-appropriate global Regulatory CMC strategies for drug-linkers, payloads, linkers, peptides, and other chemically synthesized moieties that are part of bio-conjugate molecules.

Be accountable for the execution of global product regulatory strategies by robust assessment of global regulatory CMC requirements and identification of potential risks.

Integrate the regulatory strategy for synthetic moieties with those for the targeting component, conjugation process, conjugated drug substance, and drug product, including alignment of dossier content, data requirements, and regulatory milestones.

Manage preparation and execution of Chemistry, Manufacturing and Control documentation including Investigational New Drug Applications, Investigational Medicinal Product Dossiers, original Biologics License Applications, Marketing Authorization Applications, post-approval submissions/variations, agency meeting background packages, and responses to health authority questions.

Manage change controls and develops regulatory filing strategies with an understanding of regulations and company policies and procedures.

Conduct all activities with an unwavering focus on compliance

Position Qualifications:

Education Minimum Requirement:

B.S. in a science, engineering, or a related field (advanced degree preferred). Fields of study include Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or Biochemistry.

Required Experience and Skills: 

At least 5 years of Regulatory CMC or directly relevant pharmaceutical development experience in small molecules or other chemically synthesized modalities, including experience in process chemistry, analytical development, manufacturing, testing, quality, technical operations, or CMC product development.

Preferred Experience and Skills:

Experience supporting CMC regulatory submissions, health authority interactions, or development of drug-linkers, payloads, ADCs, peptides, oligonucleotides, or other bio-conjugate or new-modality products. Experience with external development or manufacturing partners and global life-cycle management is also preferred.

Required Skills:

Adaptability, Adaptability, Analytical Biochemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADC), Biochemistry, Bioconjugation, Chemistry, Detail-Oriented, Document Coordination, Drug Development, Drug Formulations, Electronic Common Technical Document (eCTD), Employee Training Programs, External Manufacturing, Interpersonal Relationships, Ligand Binding, Pharmaceutics, Process Chemistry, Regulatory Affairs Management, Regulatory CMC, Regulatory Communications, Regulatory Compliance, Regulatory Compliance Audits, Regulatory Documents {+ 6 more}

Preferred Skills:

Current Employees apply HERE

Current Contingent Workers apply HERE

US and Puerto Rico Residents Only:

Our company is committed to inclusion, ensuring that candidates can engage in a hiring process that exhibits their true capabilities. Please click here if you need an accommodation during the application or hiring process.

As an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer, we provide equal opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.  As a federal contractor, we comply with all affirmative action requirements for protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.  For more information about personal rights under the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment laws, visit:

EEOC Know Your Rights

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We are proud to be a company that embraces the value of bringing together, talented, and committed people with diverse experiences, perspectives, skills and backgrounds. The fastest way to breakthrough innovation is when people with diverse ideas, broad experiences, backgrounds, and skills come together in an inclusive environment. We encourage our colleagues to respectfully challenge one another’s thinking and approach problems collectively.

Learn more about your rights, including under California, Colorado and other US State Acts

The salary range for this role is

$117,000.00 - $184,200.00

This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. An employee’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, government requirements, and business or organizational needs.

The successful candidate will be eligible for annual bonus and long-term incentive, if applicable.

We offer a comprehensive package of benefits.  Available benefits include medical, dental, vision healthcare and other insurance benefits (for employee and family), retirement benefits, including 401(k), paid holidays, vacation, and compassionate and sick days. More information about benefits is available at https://jobs.merck.com/us/en/compensation-and-benefits .

You can apply for this role through https://jobs.merck.com/us/en (or via the Workday Jobs Hub if you are a current employee). The application deadline for this position is stated on this posting.

San Francisco Residents Only:  We will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment in compliance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance

Los Angeles Residents Only:  We will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance

Search Firm Representatives Please Read Carefully 

Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA, also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, Rahway, NJ, USA, does not accept unsolicited assistance from search firms for employment opportunities. All CVs / resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at our company without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of our company.  No fee will be paid in the event a candidate is hired by our company as a result of an agency referral where no pre-existing agreement is in place. Where agency agreements are in place, introductions are position specific. Please, no phone calls or emails.

Employee Status:

Regular

Relocation:

No relocation

VISA Sponsorship:

No

Travel Requirements:

No Travel Required

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Hybrid

Shift:

1st - Day

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

n/a

Job Posting End Date:

10/1/2026 *A job posting is effective until 11:59:59PM on the day BEFORE  the listed job posting end date. Please ensure you apply to a job posting no later than the day BEFORE the job posting end date.

Requisition ID:R418704

Job details

Seniority
Senior
Function
Regulatory Affairs
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
North Wales, Pennsylvania, United States of America
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Regulatory Affairs role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 88 comparable Senior Regulatory Affairs roles across 40 biopharma companies.

88Comparable roles tracked
87Currently active
40Companies hiring similar roles
21Countries represented

Salary context

35 of 88 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 $117,000/yr – $184,200/yr
Lowest disclosed · Senior Regulatory Affairs Specialist (OTTAVA) · Johnson & Johnson $92,000/yr – $148,350/yr
Peer group range $120,175 – $245,000 (median $199,500)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 88 comparable roles

United States40
Poland6
India6
China5
Japan4
Portugal3

+ 15 more countries

Seniority mix

88 of 88 peers have a known seniority level

Senior43
Associate Director41
Principal4

Therapeutic area mix

6 of 88 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Dermatology & Aesthetics2
Oncology2
Vaccines & Infectious Disease1
Immunology1

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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.

60%
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Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
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.