Senior Scientist, Biostatistics, Clinical Safety Statistics

Job Description

BARDS (Biostatistics and Research Decision Sciences) is a distinguished department within our company's renowned Research and Development division. Quantitative scientists, in partnership with other subject matter experts, apply state-of-the art scientific methodologies and tools to enable the discovery, development, regulatory approval, manufacturing, and marketing of medical drugs and vaccines for the benefit of patients and global human health.

The Clinical Safety Statistics (CSS) group within BARDS supports proactive assessment, transparent communication, and effective management of product risk profiles in pre- and post-marketing development stages. 

Responsibilities:

• Provide statistical support for program-level evaluation of clinical safety data.
• Interact with members of cross-functional safety teams (e.g., Safety Physicians and Scientists, Clinical Trial Physicians and Scientists, Epidemiologists, Regulatory Liaisons, Early and Late Development Statisticians, Statistical Programmers, and others) on the planning and execution of ongoing safety evaluations for products across pre-marketing and post-marketing development stages.
• Design, develop and evaluate processes and tools for product safety evaluation, including ongoing aggregate safety evaluation at the program level.

Primary activities:

• Provide statistical support to cross-functional safety teams including strategic planning and scientific reasoning activities that facilitate safety evaluation.
• Plan and execute ongoing aggregate safety evaluations, including cumulative meta-analysis of safety.
• Design, develop and apply safety evaluation methods, processes, standards, and tools, including enhanced graphical analyses.
• Collaborate with other statisticians and statistical programming staff to ensure high-quality, safety-related deliverables, which meet analysis requirements, internal standard operating procedures, and external regulatory requirements.
• Prepare oral or written reports to effectively communicate results of safety evaluations to project teams.
• Ascertain the need for development of novel statistical methodology and evaluate the appropriateness of available software for implementing the planned analyses.
• Conduct research on innovative statistical methods and applications in clinical safety evaluation.

Education and Minimum Requirement:

• PhD or equivalent degree in statistics/biostatistics or related discipline, or a master’s degree with a minimum of 3 years of relevant experience. 

Required Skills and Experience:

• Solid understanding of study design and statistical analysis methods, particularly survival analysis, meta-analysis, and Bayesian methodologies. 
• Working knowledge of statistical and data processing software such as SAS and R (R-Shiny a plus).
• Strong oral and written communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively with colleagues from different functional backgrounds.

• Strong initiative, motivation, attention to detail, commitment to high-quality execution, and ability to manage multiple priorities.

Preferred Skills and Experience:

• Familiarity with CDISC standards, including SDTM and ADaM datasets.
• Knowledge of statistical methods for analyzing observational epidemiologic data, including approaches to controlling confounding, such as matching and propensity score methods.
• Proficiency in using AI tools to support writing activities (including summaries, reports, presentations, and manuscripts) as well as programming and other analytical tasks.
• Knowledge of regulatory requirements related to safety signal detection, evaluation, and reporting.
• Understanding of the drug discovery and development process.
• Understanding of disease biology
• Interest in statistical research, particularly methodologies for safety monitoring, safety evaluation, and benefit-risk assessment; publication(s) in peer-reviewed statistical or medical journals a plus.

BARDS2020

#EligibleforERP

Required Skills:

Biostatistics, Clinical Trials, Data Management, Data Science, Scientific Modeling, Statistical Analysis, Statistics

Preferred Skills:

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Current Contingent Workers apply HERE

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

$117,000.00 - $184,200.00

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:

Yes

Travel Requirements:

10%

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Hybrid

Shift:

Not Indicated

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

n/a

Job Posting End Date:

09/7/2026

*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.