Merck Posted October 18, 2026

Specialist Quality Control

West Point, Pennsylvania, United States of America FULL_TIME
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About this opportunity

Job Description

Job Description:

The Specialist, WPLO Equipment Support Group (ESG) is responsible for the implementation, lifecycle management, and administration of laboratory equipment within assigned areas of Laboratory Operations. This position provides technical support for routine business activities and applies the Risk-Based Asset Management (RBAM) process to evaluate high- and medium-risk equipment. The incumbent partners with the Small Capital point of contact to develop forecasts and align funding for future risk mitigation, participates in projects as a lead or team member, and supports operational improvements, instrument qualification, implementation, and decommissioning activities.

The Specialist serves as point of contact for assigned IPT laboratory areas and is accountable for maintaining strong customer focus and support.

The Specialist – Quality Control, within Laboratory Operations and under the broad direction of the Director – Quality Control, is responsible for the implementation and management of laboratory equipment utilized within assigned laboratories. This role ensures operations are conducted in accordance with our Manufacturing Division and company safety policies and procedures, current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) regulations, and departmental budget requirements. The incumbent may provide technical expertise and recommendations in support of company, divisional, and organizational initiatives, including capital requests, operational improvements, equipment replacement, and routine business activities supporting testing within Laboratory Operations.

Primary Responsibilities:

Support capital projects and coordinate equipment-related projects within the assigned area of Laboratory Operations.

Partner with the Reliability Engineer to assess laboratory equipment risk and align capital planning with equipment replacement needs.

Obtain vendor quotes, coordinate procurement of equipment, and establish equipment and job plans within systems such as SAP and ProCal (maintenance systems)

Use ProCal and SAP to create job plans and complete required approvals, change controls, and system updates.

Oversee initial operational qualification requirements as needed.

Collaborate with Laboratory Operations, Equipment, Maintenance, and Utilities teams to prioritize and coordinate equipment removals, relocations, and installations.

Provide input into contract negotiations and support vendor relationship management.

Initiate and participate in equipment-related investigations and quality notifications to ensure compliance with cGMP and regulatory requirements, supporting the quality, safety, efficacy, and potency of our company products.

Lead simple projects, such as like-for-like equipment changes, or serve as a contributor on more complex cross-functional projects.

Education Minimum Requirement:

BS/B.A or M.S in Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Engineering, Microbiology, Virology or other associated field with a minimum of 0-2 years of relevant laboratory, manufacturing, biotechnology or quality control experience.

Required Experience and Skills:

  

Demonstrated interpersonal skills including flexibility, collaboration and inclusion skills, and ability to work in a team environment.

Individual and team experience in a Quality or Manufacturing function.

Demonstrated technical expertise in analytical testing methodology, equipment and software validation principles, as well as a general understanding of the operation and mapping of controlled temperature units.

Preferred Experience and Skills:

Proven analytical aptitude, critical thinking skills, and ability to apply key concepts.

Speaks with courage and candor.

Strong written and verbal communication skills.

In-depth working knowledge and application of GMPs/GLPs.

Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously.

Lead or participated in project management.

Required Skills:

Ability to Coordinate, Ability to Coordinate, Adaptability, Analytical Instrumentation, Analytical Thinking, Change Controls, Competency Management, Customer Centricity, Customer-Focused, Customer Support, Driving Continuous Improvement, Equipment Monitoring, Equipment Ordering, GMP Compliance, Laboratory Documentation, Laboratory Safety, Logical Thinking, Microbiological Analysis, Multitasking, Operational Quality, Team Communication, Team Organization, Teamwork, Technical Writing, Troubleshooting {+ 1 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

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 primary location for this posting is:

USA - Pennsylvania - West Point

Where required by law, the compensation range for this role is provided below.

The salary range for the primary location of this role is:

$87,300.00 - $137,400.00

This range reflects the Company's reasonable expectation of the base salary applicable to this role at the time of 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 .

Additional location(s): Please note the salary range above applies to the Primary Location of the position. Where a role has other listed locations, different compensation guidelines may apply. You may find the salary ranges for additional locations below. If the salary range is not listed for the location you are applying to, our Talent Acquisition team will provide further information to you relevant to your location.

Additional location(s) Compensation Information:

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:

Not Applicable

Shift:

1st - Day

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

N/A

Job Posting End Date:

10/21/2026 *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:R422283

Job details

Seniority
Not listed
Function
Quality
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
West Point, Pennsylvania, United States of America
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 1369 comparable Quality roles across 143 biopharma companies.

1369Comparable roles tracked
1241Currently active
143Companies hiring similar roles
52Countries represented

Salary context

230 of 1369 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function. This posting doesn't list a seniority level, so peers aren't narrowed by seniority either -- the range below may span more levels than usual.

This roleSubject Not listed on this posting
Lowest disclosed · QA - Stat Sort Specialist · Lilly $18/hr – $35/hr (≈ $37,482–$72,592/yr)
Highest disclosed · Vice President, Quality Assurance - GMP · Exelixis Inc $315,500/yr – $366,500/yr
Peer group range $55,037 – $341,000 (median $129,052)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 1369 comparable roles

United States553
Ireland82
China62
France58
Germany51
India50

+ 46 more countries

Seniority mix

625 of 1369 peers have a known seniority level

Manager183
Senior166
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc73
Associate68
Associate Director35
Director35
Principal30
Senior Director28
Executive/VP7

Therapeutic area mix

1 of 1369 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Vaccines & Infectious Disease1

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.

40%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Associate
Same function Same country
40%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Director
Same function Same country
40%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Manager
Same function Same country
40%similar
Gilead Sciences, Inc. La Verne, United States
Same function Same country
40%similar
Gilead Sciences, Inc. La Verne, United States Senior
Same function Same country
40%similar
Gilead Sciences, Inc. Foster City, United States Manager
Same function 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.

40%
Advisor, Physicochemical Properties and Compound Quality
Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Associate
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
Senior Manager, Clinical Quality Assurance
AbbVie · North Chicago, IL · Manager
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
Sr. Quality Assurance Specialist
Gilead Sciences, Inc. · La Verne, United States · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
Senior Manager Quality Assurance, Medical Device (Sustaining)
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) · Renss, United States · Manager
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.