Senior Specialist - Value Engineering & Automation

Job Description

Join a high-impact team driving procurement transformation through hands-on automation and value engineering. This role is focused on executing business solutions that reduce manual work, improve transparency, and challenge how we spend with suppliers. You will own and deliver initiatives end-to-end, from problem definition through implementation and value realization. Success in this role comes from the ability to combine practical technical skills with strong business judgment to drive measurable impact. This is not a pure technical, data engineering, or dashboarding role. It is designed for someone who can use technology pragmatically to solve business problems and generate value.

What you’ll do:

• Lead and deliver automation initiatives across Procurement, translating complex problems into scalable solutions from design through value realization.
• Design, build, and advance automation solutions using data and technology to reduce manual effort, improve decision‑making, and scale digital ways of working across Procurement.
• Establish and evolve a value engineering framework to improve cost transparency, understand spend drivers, and assess whether the business is receiving the value it pays for.
• Partner closely with business stakeholders, IT, and Category Management to systematically track supplier performance, surface value leakage or overpayment, and drive timely commercial or operational interventions.
• Act as a technically savvy, self‑driven change agent, managing stakeholders effectively, introducing new ideas, learning emerging technologies, and translating complexity into direct, measurable business impact.

What you’ll bring:

Manage and Execute Automation Applications

• Own and deliver two key procurement automation initiatives, driving end-to-end execution from problem to adoption
• Eliminate manual work by building practical solutions (scripts, Power Apps, workflows) that improve efficiency and scalability
• Work directly with data (SQL) to replace Excel/manual processes with automated, repeatable logic

Value Engineering & Should-Cost Framework

• Build and evolve a value engineering framework to improve cost transparency and supplier performance insight
• Develop should-cost perspectives to challenge supplier spend and identify inefficiencies
• Drive identification and resolution of value leakage and overpayment, ensuring measurable business impact

Education and experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, Business Analytics, or a related fi eld (or equivalent practical experience).
• 5+ years of experience building data‑driven or automation solutions in a business environment (e.g., procurement, operations, fi nance, IT).
• Strong working knowledge of SQL and data handling, applied to solve practical business problems rather than build infrastructure
• Demonstrated ability to build and implement simple automation solutions (e.g., scripts, workflows, low-code tools) that improve efficiency and reduce manual effort
• Proven track record of linking work to measurable outcomes such as cost savings, efficiency gains, or improved supplier/value management

Required Skills:

Automation, Business Intelligence (BI), Process Automations, Procurement, Program Execution, Program Management, Supplier Negotiations, Supplier Performance Management (PM), Supplier Strategy, Value Engineering (VE)

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:

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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

$96,200.00 - $151,400.00

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:

25%

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Hybrid

Shift:

1st - Day

Valid Driving License:

Yes

Hazardous Material(s):

N/A

Job Posting End Date:

06/5/2026

*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.