Senior Scientist, Hybrid Modeler, Digital Insights, DSCS Digital Technologies

Job Title

Senior Scientist, Hybrid Modeler, Digital Insights, DSCS Digital Technologies

Merck & Co. is a global biopharmaceutical leader committed to developing innovative prescription medicines, oncology treatments, vaccines, and animal health products. We employ 69,000 professionals worldwide and dedicate significant resources to research and development. The Digital Insights team within the Development Sciences and Clinical Supply (DSCS) Digital Technologies organization focuses on creating digital tools and workflows that accelerate experiments, filing, launch, and supply chain decisions.

• Develop and deploy mechanistic, CFD, and data‑driven models to support development, scale‑up, tech transfer, and manufacturing of sterile drug substance (DS) and drug product (DP) processes across biologics and vaccines.
• Lead CFD‑based mixing and unit operation modeling to quantify hydrodynamic stresses, energy dissipation, mixing times, and scale‑up risk, enabling science‑based operating windows and control strategies.
• Integrate data science and machine learning with physics‑based models to accelerate model execution, improve predictive accuracy, and enable rapid scenario screening.
• Collaborate closely with stakeholders to de‑risk sterile process scale‑up, optimize formulation and process robustness, and support clinical‑to‑commercial transitions.
• Design, execute, and interpret scale‑down and validation experiments to establish model credibility and scalability; use experimental data to validate and refine CFD and ML models.
• Own end‑to‑end modeling project execution, including problem formulation, data requirements, simulation workflows, model validation, reporting, and clear communication of predictions and uncertainty.
• Establish best practices for modeling workflows, including pre/post‑processing, HPC and cloud computing utilization, data management, version control, and model reuse; contribute to standardized playbooks and a central model repository.
• Demonstrate excellent interpersonal, communication, and collaboration skills; embrace and model core values fostering a supportive culture.

• Ph.D. in Computer Science, Data Science, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, or a closely‑related field.
• MS in a related field with at least 2 years of industrial/pharmaceutical or relevant experience.
• BS in a related field with at least 4 years of industrial/pharmaceutical or relevant experience.

• Strong expertise in CFD and transport phenomena, with hands‑on experience using ANSYS Fluent, STAR‑CCM+, M‑Star, COMSOL, OpenFOAM, or equivalent.
• Demonstrated experience with multiphase and complex flows, including free‑surface modeling (VOF), turbulent flows, non‑Newtonian rheology, and/or particle‑laden systems.
• Strong programming and data science skills in Python, MATLAB, R, JMP, or equivalent, including data wrangling, visualization, model coupling, and workflow automation.
• Experience validating models against experimental data and designing representative scale‑down systems.
• Ability to translate complex modeling results into clear, actionable insights for non‑modeling audiences, with strong written and verbal communication skills.

• Experience with sterile CMC development workflows, particularly unit operations such as mixing, pooling, pumping, filling, filtration, or freeze‑drying.
• Applied understanding of QbD, DOE, and model validation frameworks, including statistical design and analysis of experiments.
• Working knowledge of multivariate data analysis, SPC, and PAT, with experience integrating experimental and manufacturing data into models.
• Experience with advanced modeling approaches, such as:
  • Reduced‑order modeling (ROM)
  • Physics‑informed neural networks (PINNs)
  • Hybrid mechanistic / machine learning models
  • CFD‑ML surrogate models for rapid decision making
• Prior contributions to technology transfer, process robustness assessments, or troubleshooting using modeling and simulation are a strong plus.

$ – $ per year

Merck offers a comprehensive…