Director, Varicella DS Technical Operations

Job Description

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.

      

GENERAL SUMMARY:

The Director, DS Technical Operations for the Varicella Bulk B12 and B62 IPTs within the LVV E2E Technical Operations at the West Point site is responsible for the oversight of one or more technical teams. The primary responsibility of the Director is providing leadership and expertise in monitoring and improving production process performance, continuous improvement projects, process validation, sterilization and cleaning validation, change implementation, deviation investigations and CAPA implementation among other related duties. We seek someone that values diversity and inclusion for the Director of technical operations role. 

 

GENERAL PROFILE:

• Builds talent by coaching and developing the members of the Technical Operations team to ensure  appropriate breadth, depth and skill sets across the team to maintain and drive the business forward. Provides/solicits regular feedback from team and colleagues. Develops technical/professional staff through coaching, assignment selection and associated training.       
• Responsible for building/growing the organization’s functional excellence. Recruit and direct engineers and scientists as necessary. Develops technical/professional staff through mentoring, assignment selection and training.
• Manages team resources and prioritizes as aligned with business needs to include run the business support, project support, and continuous improvement activities – e.g. improve safety/compliance, reduce cost and increase consistency and efficiency.
• Provides leadership on schedule, priorities, and issue resolution to aid the team in accomplishing business objectives.
• Adapts and implements departmental plans and priorities based on-site and End-to-End scorecard to address local business, service and operational challenges.
• Collaborates and engages with multiple functional organizations such as Operations, Technology, Quality, Automation, Global Engineering Services, Procurement, Finance, Above Site Technology, Regulatory, among others, to develop and maintain processes that meet cGMP and business requirements.
• Provides technical guidance to staff, colleagues or customers as well as anticipates and interprets the customer needs to identify solutions. Includes approval of technical documentation including investigations, protocols, qualification, validation etc. as required. Responsible for presenting technical discussions to regulatory agencies during inspections.
• Adapts technical support model to address resource and operational challenges and evolving business needs.
• Responsible for the performance and results of the overall technical team.

BUSINESS EXPERTISE:

• Applies management skills to align staff activities with department objectives.

FUNCTIONAL EXPERTISE:

• Work with a cross-functional team within the IPT consisting of Operations, Technology, Quality, Automation, and Regulatory team members, among others, to develop and maintain manufacturing processes that meet cGMP and business requirements. 
• Utilize core technology principles to design, develop or maintain processes to clean, sterilize, and manufacture vaccine products.·        
• Develop technical and manufacturing documents necessary for process design/definition, engineering studies, process demonstration, process change and/or validation.·        
• Assist with troubleshooting and effectively resolving problems. Develop and implement corrective actions to unplanned (atypical) manufacturing events to ensure a consistent and reliable supply and prevent a recurrence.  
• Ability to examine an issue from diverse perspectives (safety, compliance, automation, equipment, process, and people) to best understand and resolve the root cause.
• Provide leadership on schedule, priorities, and issue resolution to aid the team in accomplishing business objectives.
• Coordinate the work of the IPT technical team to identify and implement technology-driven productivity and cost improvements. Exhibit behaviors focused on equipment uptime, minimizing cost and maintaining process consistency.
• Assist in authoring regulatory submissions and presenting work to multiple regulatory agencies throughout the inspection process.  
• Responsible for building/growing the team’s functional excellence. Recruit and direct engineers and scientists as necessary. Develops technical/professional staff through mentoring, assignment selection and training.
• Forecasts resource needs for technical team.
• Monitors the health of the process through continuous monitoring and the annual process review or continuing validation activities.
• Develops and assures consistent application of standardized work, engineering and process tools.
• Links with key functional leads on site and above site to provide input on behalf of the site team.

PROBLEM SOLVING:

• Directs the resolution of complex technical or business problems.
• Identifies and resolves technical and operational problems using lean/six sigma tools.
• Effectively collaborates with peers on site and above site as required.
• Expert application of problem solving skills.

IMPACT:

Influence

• Explains difficult concepts and persuades others to adopt point of view.
• Communicates information, asks questions and checks for understanding.

Accountability

• Accountable for the performance of work group.

Decision Making

• Makes decisions – guided by policies, procedures and department objectives.
• Consults on an as-needed basis with next-level manager on more complex decisions.

STRATEGIC PLANNING:

• Adapts and implements departmental plans and priorities based on department and site scorecard to address local business, service and operational challenges.

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT:

• Forecasts resource needs; manages allocated budget.

Education Minimum Requirement:

• B.S. degree in Engineering or Sciences.

Required Experience and Skills:

• Minimum 10 years post-bachelor’s degree experience in GMP manufacturing and/or technical support of GMP manufacturing operations (or M.S./ PhD degree plus 6 years).
• Tech Ops experience in biologics, vaccine or bulk sterile manufacturing facilities.
• Minimum of 3 years of Management or Supervisory experience.
• Highly developed communication, leadership and teamwork skills.
• Experience leading and managing departmental or cross-functional teams.
• Regulatory inspection presentation experience with external regulatory authority representatives.

Preferred Experience and Skills:

• Advanced degree (M.S., PhD) in Engineering or Sciences and/or relevant work experience.
• Sterile manufacturing experience.
• Validation experience.
• Regulatory inspection presentation experience with external regulatory authority representatives.

Working Relationships:

• Reports to End-to-End Technical Operations Lead.
• Manages and interacts with employees within own organization.
• Frequent interaction with employees from other IPTs, sites and external suppliers.        
• Interacts with representatives from regulatory agencies.

Required Skills:

Biopharmaceutical Industry, Change Adoption, Change Agility, Consulting, Continuous Monitoring, Corrective Action Management, GMP Compliance, Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Key Client Relationships, Manufacturing Scale-Up, People Leadership, Pharmaceutical Process Development, Process Characterization, Process Manufacturing, Regulatory Compliance, Regulatory Experience, Resource Management, Results-Oriented, Strategic Management, Strategic Planning, Teamwork, Technical Transfer, Writing Technical Documents

Preferred Skills:

Current Employees apply HERE

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:

EEOC Know Your Rights

EEOC GINA Supplement​

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.

Learn more about your rights, including under California, Colorado and other US State Acts

The salary range for this role is

$173,200.00 - $272,600.00

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:

08/17/2026

*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.

Requisition ID:R410714