Associate Specialist - Data Science

Job Description

Associate Specialist - Data Science

At our company we are leveraging analytics and technology, as we invent for life on behalf of patients around the world. We are seeking those who have a passion for using data, analytics, and insights to drive decision making, that will allow us to tackle some of the world’s greatest health threats.

Within our commercial Insights, Analytics, and Data organization we are transforming to better power decision-making across our end-to-end commercialization process, from business development to late lifecycle management. As we endeavor, we are seeking a dynamic talent to be a Founder and serve in the role of Analyst - Data Science.

This role involves working with our partners in different Therapeutic areas (e.g. Oncology, Vaccines, Chronic Care, etc.) and Domain areas (Market Access, pricing, etc.) across the organization to help create scalable and production-grade analytics solutions, ranging from data visualization and reporting to advanced statistical and AI/ML models. You will be working with a scrum team comprising of data scientists, business analysts, subject matter experts, data engineers, and business partners to deliver well-defined projects across therapeutic areas. This role is catered to a generalist and supports a wide range of possible tasks. These include descriptive statistics, supporting data visualization platforms, building out machine learning and advanced statistical models, which will sometimes be from scratch, and sometimes be from an existing prototype. This will involve understanding essential statistical and programming methods that ensure low bias models and parameterizing and modularizing code to support future model scalability and efficiency.

Model development and deployment will occur in the cloud (AWS), and we’ll look for the appropriate knowledge and/or experience. You don’t have to be an expert in any of the potential areas of analytics, but need to be able to demonstrate aptitude, willingness to execute, and an ability to problem solve independently. We will have resources that you can leverage as needed. This role will require interfacing with executive and business stakeholders, so strong communication skills is a must.

Who you are:

· You understand the foundations of statistics and machine learning and can work in high performance computing/cloud environments, with experience/knowledge in some aspects across statistical analysis, machine learning, model management, data engineering, data visualization, and data interpretation

· You are self-motivated, and have demonstrated abilities to think independently as a data scientist

· You structure your data science approach according to the necessary task, while appropriately applying the correct level of model complexity to the problem at hand

· Strong Python skills (some specifics of Sagemaker is a plus), and SQL skills are a must. Experience having deployed models to production is a plus.

· You have an agile mindset of continuous learning and will focus on integrating enterprise value into team culture

· You are kind, collaborative, and capable of seeking and giving candid feedback that effectively contributes to a more seamless day-to-day execution of tasks

· Ability to spin up quick visualization prototypes in PowerBI, Qliksense, or other similar tools is preferred. Experience with R-Shiny, Bokeh, Django, or JavaScript is a plus.

· You have an agile mindset of continuous learning and will focus on integrating enterprise value into team culture

· You are kind, collaborative, and capable of seeking and giving candid feedback that effectively contributes to a more seamless day-to-day execution of tasks

· Experience with real world data (e.g., claims, electronic health records) is a plus

· Experience within any of the therapeutic areas like oncology is a plus (e.g., NCCN guidelines, SEER data, understand lines of therapy rules, have knowledge about staging and existing therapeutic spaces)

Education Requirements:

· Required: Bachelors degree with at least 0-2 years industry experience (experience requirement can be waived off for exceptional candidates

· Preferred: Advanced degree (MS, PhD) in a quantitative science or health field (e.g., computational biology, epidemiology, biostatistics, statistics, mathematics, physics, economics)

Required Skills:

Business Intelligence (BI), Database Design, Data Engineering, Data Modeling, Data Science, Data Visualization, Machine Learning (ML), Software Development, Stakeholder Relationship Management, Waterfall Model

Preferred Skills:

Biology, Biology, Biostatistical Analysis, Biostatistics, Business Case Development, Business Data Analytics, Business Development, Business Model Development, Business Process Development, Business Transformation, Cloud Computing, Communication, Computational Biology, Creativity, Data Analysis, Data Assessment, Data Interpretations, Data Reporting, Data Research, Decision Making, Deployment Software, Digital Analytics, Economics, Epidemiology, Group Problem Solving {+ 18 more}

Current Employees apply HERE

Current Contingent Workers apply HERE

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:

Yes

Hazardous Material(s):

N/A

Job Posting End Date:

09/29/2026

*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.