Associate Director, Engineering

Job Description

Associate Director – Global Engineering Solutions

 

Our Engineers support internal and external manufacturing operations remain operational, continuously improve and innovate. With our extensive range of facilities and environments, our Engineers have opportunities across many diverse areas including Biological, Chemical, Automation, Capital Projects, Maintenance, Safety, Process Development, Technical Services, Utilities and Validation. 

Global Engineering Solutions (GES) executes a wide variety of capital and expense projects to ensure that our company has the capabilities and facilities to meet our goal to provide World Class Supply of Medicines. The GES group is seeking an Associate Director of Engineering to manage large capital projects independently or a series of smaller projects within a portfolio in the manufacturing, laboratory, packaging, and infrastructure lines of business. While the initial assignment is located in the North Carolina Region, future roles and responsibilities are dependent upon future project workload and locations.

Responsibilities include:

• Manage large capital projects independently or manage a series of smaller capital and/or expense projects within a portfolio, delivering critical assets safely, on time, within approved scope, and within prescribed budget.

• Lead integrated project teams across GES, Site Engineering, Operations, Quality, EHS, Maintenance, Technology, Procurement, Finance, and external delivery partners, building effective working relationships to align assigned projects with site expectations, business priorities, and applicable project delivery standards.

• Lead development and execution of project execution plans for assigned projects including scope, delivery strategy, procurement, construction, commissioning/startup, risk management, communications, and closeout.

• Ensure assigned project scopes deliver effective business solutions aligned with business priorities, manufacturing needs, compliance expectations, safety requirements, applicable standards, and approved capital objectives.

• Manage project design development through scope definition, design coordination, constructability review, value management, and disciplined evaluations of project decisions and trade-offs.

• Develop/support project specific procurement and contracting strategies in partnership with Procurement, Legal, site stakeholders, and GES leadership to support schedule, risk allocation, and business requirements.

• Manage project budgeting, forecasting, financial reporting, cost control, contingency, and change control processes, including appropriate evaluation, documentation, communication, and obtaining appropriate approvals for changes affecting scope, cost, schedule, quality, or approved business objectives.

• Manage project schedules, including planning, sequencing, milestone tracking, critical path management, shutdown/tie-in coordination, and recovery planning.

• Provide oversight for assigned projects, including field coordination, contractor performance, construction safety interface, execution quality, issue resolution, and alignment with site requirements.

• Prepare and coordinate project governance, funding, stage-gate, and decision materials for assigned projects for review by appropriate site, GES, and capital governance stakeholders, using applicable company processes, templates, and guidance.

• Manage project communications, reporting, and escalation of key issues to support timely decisions by project teams, site stakeholders, and senior leaders.

• Identify, manage, mitigate, and escalate project risks affecting safety, quality, compliance, cost, schedule, startup readiness, and business continuity.

• Coordinate project execution within active manufacturing environments, partnering with site teams on field verification, permitting, shutdown and tie-in planning, utility impacts, operational constraints, and business continuity.

• Manage or support commissioning, qualification, validation interface, turnover documentation, contract administration, closeout, lessons learned, and transition of completed assets to site operations.

• Provide project delivery guidance, coaching, and day-to-day project leadership to project team members and less experienced engineers or project managers, as appropriate, while respecting functional and direct-line management accountabilities.

The initial assignment is located in Wilson, NC. The Associate Director, Engineering will serve as a site-integrated project delivery leader for assigned capital and expense projects and may support future assignments in Durham, NC and other company sites, including domestic and international travel consistent with business and project needs. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to build strong site relationships, develop familiarity with Wilson campus operations, and contribute to a portfolio of meaningful projects that support safe, reliable, and compliance manufacturing operations.

Education Minimum Requirement:

• A Bachelor's Degree in Engineering

Required Experience and Skills:

• A minimum of ten (10) years of experience executing and delivering capital and/or expense projects in manufacturing, laboratory, infrastructure, or similarly complex operating environments, including demonstrated experience independently managing capital projects within a site, business, program, or comparable capital delivery environment.

• Experience leading integrated, cross-functional project teams and influencing stakeholders in support of capital project delivery.

• Experience delivering projects in an active manufacturing or operating facility where safety, quality, compliance, operational continuity, and startup readiness are critical.

• Working knowledge of project controls, including cost, schedule, forecasting, change management, risk management, and project reporting.

• Strong oral and written communication skills, including experience preparing clear project updates, risk summaries, escalation materials, and decision documents for cross-functional stakeholders.

• Strong judgment and decision-making skills, with ability to align teams, manage change, resolve issues, assess risk, and make sound recommendations in a dynamic project delivery environment.

Preferred Experience and Skills:

• Experience supporting capital projects in GMP pharmaceutical, biologics, vaccine, sterile manufacturing, packaging, or other regulated or quality-critical manufacturing environments.

• Experience with project types such as manufacturing facility upgrades, packaging systems, utilities, electrical infrastructure, fire protection, energy resilience, or site infrastructure.

• Familiarity with commissioning, qualification/validation interfaces, turnover, startup readiness, and operational handover expectations.

• Familiarity with corporate capital governance, stage-gate, funding authorization, or equivalent capital project approval processes.

• Experience working with external delivery partners such as engineering firms, construction managers, design-build/EPCM partners, trade contractors, consultants, and equipment vendors.

• Experience applying, coaching, and assessing teams’ effective use of Lean Project Delivery methods such as pull planning, constraint management, visual management, target value delivery, collaborative planning, or continuous improvement.

• Experience coaching or mentoring engineers, project managers, or cross-functional team members in capital project delivery practices.

• Experience applying structured project risk, constructability, operational readiness, or startup readiness review processes or tools.

Required Skills:

Adaptability, Automation Systems, Capital Project Management, Change Management, Clinical Manufacturing, Corporate Governance, Data Analysis, Decision Making, Drug Product Manufacturing, Governance Management, Interpersonal Relationships, Lean Manufacturing, Manufacturing Scale-Up, Regulatory Compliance, Root Cause Analysis (RCA), Strategic Thinking, Technical Transfer

Preferred Skills:

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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:

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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.

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The salary range for this role is

$142,400.00 - $224,100.00

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:

25%

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Not Applicable

Shift:

Not Indicated

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

n/a

Job Posting End Date:

08/27/2026

*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.