Scientist, Statistical Programming (Hybrid) Full-time

Senior Statistical Programmer

Statistical Programming is in the Biostatistics and Research Decision Sciences (BARDS) department at our company's Research & Development Labs which supports the targeting, discovery, development, manufacturing, and marketing of drugs and vaccines for the benefit of patients and global public health.

This position provides high-quality statistical programming deliverables for global stakeholders in Early Development Statistics and/or PK/PD Modeling and Simulation spanning all our Company's therapeutic areas.

The senior statistical programmer will gather and interpret user requirements for programming requests, retrieve required data, transform data into analysis/modeling datasets, and develop tables, listings and figures according to statistical/modeling analysis plan. The senior programmer will partner with stakeholders to solve problems; reduce the amount of programming tasks being completed by stakeholders to facilitate an increase in efficiency and compliance for the analyses.

The senior programmer will also write programs to analyze data with statistical methods which are not currently available through commercial software packages. The programmer will be a key collaborator with statisticians, pharmacokinetic (PK) modelers, and other project stakeholders.

Primary Activities:

• Programmatically develop, validate and maintain datasets, tables, listings, and figures
• Assure deliverable quality and compliance with departmental SOPs and good programming practices
• Collaborate effectively with project team members including outsource provider staff

Required Education:

• BA/BS in Computer or Data Science, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, Life Sciences, Engineering, or related field plus a minimum of 2 years of SAS/R programming in a clinical trial setting.
• or MS in Computer or Data Science, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, Life Sciences, Engineering, or related fields.

Department Required Skills and Experience:

• Good interpersonal skills and ability to negotiate and collaborate effectively
• Good written, oral, and presentation skills
• Knowledge and experience in developing analysis and reporting deliverables for R&D projects (data, analyses, tables, graphics, listings)
• Takes direction effectively and completes tasks at a project level; ability to collaborate with key stakeholders

Position-Specific Required Skills and Experience:

• Solid SAS or R programming experience for data manipulation, analysis and reporting
• Ability to learn new program techniques, multilingual skills, Gen AI skills, as well as data structures and data standards quickly and effectively
• Takes direction effectively and completes programming tasks under the guidance of a senior programmer at a project level
• Interest and ability to work in an exploratory environment, handling non-standard data in a variety of formats with minimal requirements
• Ability to identify data issues and understand complex data structure
• An interest in advancing career by investing in development activities and taking on tasks with increasing levels of challenge and responsibility

*Preferred Skills and Experience:

• Opensource programming languages such as Python, Gen AI knowledge and experience
• Ability to comprehend analysis plans which may describe the methodology to be programmed; understanding of statistical concepts
• Good working knowledge of reporting processes (SOPs) and software development life cycle (SDLC)
• Knowledge of CDISC SDTM and ADaM standards
• Ability and interest to work across cultures and geographies
• An interest in professional societies

Required Skills:

Clinical Trials, Data Management, Data Manipulation, Data Modeling, Numerical Analysis, Programming Languages, Software Development, Stakeholder Relationship Management, Stakeholder Reporting, Statistical Analysis, Statistical Programming

Preferred Skills:

CDISC ADaM, Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC) Standards, Generative AI, PKPD Modeling, Python (Programming Language), R Programming, Statistical Analysis Systems (SAS) Programming, Study Data Tabulation Model (SDTM), Translational Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics (PKPD)

Salary Range for this role is $96,200.00 – $151,400.00

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.