Director, Digital Plant Lead

Job Description

Digital is the multiplier that will allow Development Sciences and Clinical Supply (DSCS) to deliver better experiments faster, efficient filing and launch, more robust supply chains and higher-confidence decisions across the portfolio. The DSCS Digital Technologies (DDT) organization is tasked with the mission to pioneer and deploy innovative digital technologies that drive the acquisition, automation and utilization of data to enhance insights, efficiency, and quality of DSCS processes and methods.

The DSCS Digital Technologies (DDT) organization within our Research Laboratories is accountable for driving the digital transformation, data architecture, and technology solutions that enable execution and operations within the DSCS organization.

The Director, Digital Plant Lead is responsible for developing an integrated strategy for digital capabilities across our Research facilities, including but not limited to manufacturing execution systems (MES), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions, planning and finite scheduling capabilities and inventory management systems. This role will focus on digital plant design, with the goal of ensuring that information and materials can be shared seamlessly across the research laboratories network.

The Director, Digital Plant Lead will:

• Define business requirements for the successful design and implementation of digital manufacturing and supply chain capabilities, in collaboration with site leaders and Research Laboratories IT.
• Proactively identify opportunities to harmonize system implementation across sites to maximize interoperability and streamline the flow of information and materials across sites.
• Drive cross-site and cross-divisional alignment on systems implementation, including MES and ERP.
• In collaboration with CMC Data Governance, ensure a consistent approach to enterprise data creation and management that is aligned with FAIR principles across the Research laboratories network.
• Support the design and implementation of digital tools that streamline master data management within manufacturing and inventory management systems, including but not limited to MES and ERP.
• Work strategically with Change Management and DSCS functional area SMEs to design business processes that effectively leverage digital capabilities for master and transactional data generation and management, minimizing work that occurs outside of enterprise systems.
• Contribute to the advancement of the DSCS Digital Technologies Strategic Roadmap, aligning system implementation with business process execution and data management requirements to create a digitally enabled network across our Research laboratories.

Primary Activities

• Requirements Translation: Translate business process needs into system implementation requirements for digital manufacturing and supply chain capabiliites, including MES and ERP.
• Digital plant design: Provide expertise in virtual plant design across enterprise systems, leveraging industry best practices and learnings from across the company manufacturing and supply chain network.
• System integration: Align enterprise system implementation across sites and divisions, facilitating interoperability and enabling the seamless flow of information and materials between facilities.
• Business process transformation: Drive business process harmonization across the Research Laboratories network, ensuring that business processes are executed in the appropriate enterprise systems to ensure contemporaneous and comprehensive knowledge capture.
• Performance monitoring: Define and track KPIs to monitor enterprise system adoption and value realized through digital transformation within our Research laboratories.
• Systems architecture: Work closely with system architects and end-users to ensure scalable, secure, and efficient implementation of enterprise systems.
• Documentation & Enablement: Document system requirements, business processes and system architecture. Support the development of training plans as new enterprise systems are rolled out to end-users within our Research Laboratories.

 

Required Skills and Qualifications

• Experience: 8+ years in a digital manufacturing support, plant automation or a related technical field.
• Pharmaceutical manufacturing or supply chain experience. Understanding of manufacturing across modalities (ie small molecule, large molecule, vaccine) is preferred.
• Business requirements translation: Proven track record of gathering complex requirements from non-technical stakeholders and translating them into actionable user requirements and specifications for system design and implementation.
• System implantation: Prior experience supporting introduction or substantial upgrade of enterprise systems such as MES, ERP or related enterprise system strongly preferred.
• Collaboration & Influence: Demonstrated ability to develop strong, trust-based relationships to drive change and execute priorities with a diverse group of technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills; demonstrated ability to communicate technical concepts clearly to non-technical stakeholders, including senior executives.
• Independence: Independent decision-making abilities with a proactive approach to leading projects and delivering results.

Education and Skills

• Education: PhD with 4+ years of experience or Bachelor’s degree with 8+ years of experience in Engineering, Automation, Computer Science, or comparable technical field.

Additional location(s) Compensation Information:

The salary range for the additional location (US) of this role is:
{USD 173`200 - USD 272`600}

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.

Required Skills:

Business Process Design, Business Transformation, Change Agility, Digital Transformation, Digital Transformation Initiatives, Engineering Principle, Enterprise Systems, Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

Preferred Skills:

Current Employees apply HERE

Current Contingent Workers apply HERE

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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:

Not Applicable

Shift:

Not Indicated

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

N/A

Job Posting End Date:

11/10/2026

*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.