Senior Specialist, Image Data Analytics

Job Description

At our company, we aspire to be the premier research-intensive biopharmaceutical company. We're at the forefront of research to deliver innovative health solutions that advance the prevention and treatment of diseases in people and animals.

As a Senior Specialist in Image Data Analytics, you will have the opportunity to contribute to groundbreaking research and development, leveraging advanced data analytics to support drug discovery, safety, and efficacy assessment.

Responsibilities

• Lead the scientific design and implementation of advanced image analytics methods for discovery, translational, and clinical research.
• Develop novel or adapted algorithms in computer vision, machine learning, deep learning, signal processing, and statistics for multimodal biomedical data.
• Design reproducible, scalable analytical workflows that integrate imaging data with experimental, molecular, and clinical metadata.
• Collaborate deeply with domain scientists to define scientific questions, translate them into analytical strategies, and interpret results in biological and clinical context.
• Serve as a technical and scientific authority within cross-functional project teams, driving solutions from concept through deployment.
• Critically evaluate internal methods and external tools/vendors through benchmarking, validation, and scientific rigor.
• Identify opportunities for innovation, propose new analytical directions, and contribute to the long-term technical strategy of the team.
• Author high-quality scientific reports, internal documentation, and presentations; contribute to peer-reviewed publications as appropriate.
• Mentor junior scientists and collaborators, providing guidance in methodology, best practices, and scientific thinking.

Qualifications

Required

• PhD in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Data Science, Bioinformatics, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, or a closely related quantitative discipline.
• Demonstrated application of computational methods to biomedical imaging or high-dimensional biological data in an academic, pharmaceutical, biotech, or healthcare setting.
• Strong proficiency in Python and the modern scientific computing stack (NumPy, SciPy, pandas), with hands-on experience in PyTorch and/or TensorFlow or similar frameworks.
• Proven ability to conduct independent scientific research, including problem formulation, method development, validation, and interpretation.
• Experience leading or owning analytical workstreams with minimal supervision.
• Strong scientific communication skills, including technical writing and oral presentation to interdisciplinary audiences.

Preferred

• Specialized experience in microscopy, digital pathology (H&E, IHC, multiplex imaging) and/or radiological imaging (CT, MRI, PET).
• Experience with modern deep learning paradigms, including transformers, foundation models, self-supervised learning, VLMs, and multimodal architectures.
• Familiarity with MLOps, reproducible research, and model governance in regulated or semi-regulated environments.
• Experience with HPC, GPU acceleration, and cloud-native analytics.
• Exposure to spatial biology, bioinformatics, genomics, or multi-omics integration.
• Record of peer-reviewed publications, scientific software contributions, or open-source development.
• Demonstrated experience mentoring graduate students, or junior scientists.

This role is designed for PhD-trained scientists who want to apply rigorous computational and statistical methods to real-world biomedical problems, influence decision-making across the pharmaceutical R&D lifecycle, and balance scientific innovation with practical impact in an industry environment.

Required Skills:

Applied Analytics, Applied Analytics, Applied Statistics, Biomedical Engineering, Business Intelligence (BI), Complex Modeling, Computed Tomography (CT), Computer Vision, Database Design, Data Engineering, Data Modeling, Data Science, Data Visualization, Deep Learning, Design, Electrical Engineering, Flow Cytometry, Machine Learning (ML), Medical Imaging, Microscopies, Pandas (Software), Python Numpy, Signal Processing, Single Cell Analysis, Software Development {+ 3 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 salary range for this role is

$129,000.00 - $203,100.00

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:

1st - Day

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

n/a

Job Posting End Date:

06/26/2026

*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.