Merck Posted September 20, 2026

Senior Specialist, Biostatistics

Rahway, New Jersey, 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

Join Our Company’s Rahway Animal Health Team

Our Company's Global Animal Health Research & Development (R&D) division is a pioneer in the discovery, development and registration of medicines, products, and therapeutics for animals. To strengthen the team responsible for our global initiatives, we are looking for a highly skilled and motivated individual to join our R&D team.

Position Summary

The Statistical Programmer is responsible for developing, validating, and maintaining statistical programs used in the analysis and reporting of clinical, operational, or research data. This role works closely with statisticians, data managers, and clinical teams to ensure high-quality, reproducible outputs that meet industry and regulatory standards.

Key Responsibilities

Develop and validate statistical programs using statistical tools, SAS and R

Create analysis datasets, tables, listings, and figures (TLFs) according to study requirements and analysis plans

Support data cleaning, transformation, and quality control processes

Review study protocols and data specifications to ensure programming requirements are understood

Perform validation checks and ensure compliance with internal standards, SOPs, and regulatory guidelines

Collaborate with cross-functional teams including statisticians, data managers, project managers, clinical and regulatory teams

Troubleshoot programming issues and provide efficient solutions to support project timelines

Maintain clear documentation of programming code, processes, and deliverables

Contribute to process improvements and standardization of repetitive programming tasks

Participate the study team’s activities when needed

 

Required Qualifications

Bachelor’s or Master's degree in Statistics, Computer Science, or a related field

At least 5 years of experiences of statistical programming in pharma, biotech, or CRO.

Strong proficiency in SAS, R, and Excel

Good understanding of data structures, statistical methods, and analysis workflows

Experience of leading programming activities

Familiarity with regulatory requirements from agencies such as CVM/EMA/USDA

Familiarity with Electronic Data Capture Systems, such as Prelude and/or Medrio are preferred

Animal Health

Our Animal Health Division is a trusted global leader in veterinary medicine, dedicated to preserving and improving health, well-being, and performance of animals and the people who care for them. We are a global team of professionals working together to make a positive difference in animal care and the world’s food supply and have a deep sense of responsibility towards our customers, consumers, animals, society, and our planet. Through our commitment to The Science of Healthier Animals®, we offer veterinarians, farmers, pet owners and governments one of the widest ranges of veterinary pharmaceuticals, vaccines and health management solutions and services. We invest in dynamic and comprehensive R&D resources and a modern, global supply chain. We are present in more than 50 countries, while our products are available in some 150 markets.

Required Skills:

Applied Statistics, Base SAS, Biostatistics, Data Analysis, Numerical Analysis, Protocol Designing, Statistical Analysis, Statistical Computing, Statistical Packages, Statistical Programming, Timeline Management, Waterfall Model

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

EEOC GINA Supplement​

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:

Domestic

VISA Sponsorship:

No

Travel Requirements:

10%

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Hybrid

Shift:

Not Indicated

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

N/A

Job Posting End Date:

10/5/2026 *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:R417055

Job details

Seniority
Senior
Function
Biostatistics & Data Science
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Rahway, New Jersey, United States of America
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

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

We currently track 112 comparable Senior Biostatistics & Data Science roles across 28 biopharma companies.

112Comparable roles tracked
108Currently active
28Companies hiring similar roles
14Countries represented

Salary context

48 of 112 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 · Principal Computational Statistician · Lilly $66,000/yr – $193,600/yr
Highest disclosed · Biostatistics Associate Director (HYBRID) · Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (US) $174,800/yr – $262,200/yr
Peer group range $129,800 – $218,500 (median $181,875)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 112 comparable roles

United States66
India9
United Kingdom8
China6
Belgium5
Spain4

+ 8 more countries

Seniority mix

112 of 112 peers have a known seniority level

Senior44
Associate Director35
Principal33

Therapeutic area mix

11 of 112 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology5
Immunology4
Rare Disease2

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
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
AbbVie Worcester, MA Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Merck KGaA Billerica, Massachusetts, United States Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
UCB Atlanta, Georgia, United States Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (US) Boston, United States Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country

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%
Sr. Advisor - Statistics (RWE)
Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Senior Scientist - Oligo Bioinformatics
Merck KGaA · Billerica, Massachusetts, United States · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Senior Scientist, Statistical Programming
Merck · Rahway, New Jersey, United States of America · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Senior Bioinformatics Engineer II
ModernaTX, Inc. · Cambridge, 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.