Associate Principal Scientist, Immunology Discovery
Merck
Summary
The Associate Principal Scientist will lead translational discovery activities through strong expertise in immune cell biology, human disease models, assay development, and data interpretation. The candidate will use primary immune cell systems, ex vivo patient samples, co-culture models, tissue analyses, and multi-omics datasets to build decision-enabling translational packages.
Job description
Key Responsibilities
- Design, execute, analyze, and interpret translational experiments to validate therapeutic targets in immunology, inflammation, and autoimmunity.
- Develop disease-relevant in vitro, ex vivo, co-culture, and patient-derived tissue models.
- Integrate mechanistic, pharmacology, transcriptomic, spatial, and biomarker data to connect target biology with disease pathophysiology and mechanism of action.
- Generate decision-enabling data packages to support target prioritization, candidate progression, biomarker hypotheses, and patient selection.
- Apply deep immunology expertise to design fit-for-purpose experiments and address key scientific questions.
- Introduce innovative translational models, technologies, and analytical platforms.
- Represent the function on project teams and communicate plans, progress, risks, and recommendations clearly.
- Collaborate with discovery biology, translational medicine, biomarker sciences, data science, pharmacology, clinical development, academia, and CRO partners.
- Mentor junior scientists through scientific guidance, experimental oversight, and data interpretation support.
- Promote scientific rigor, high-quality documentation, inclusion, and a one-team mindset.
Qualifications
Education: Bachelor's (with 13+ years), Master's (with 9+ years) or Ph.D. (with 5+ years) in immunology, cell biology, molecular biology, translational science, biomedical sciences or related discipline and relevant experience.
Required Experience And Skills
- Strong foundation in immunology, inflammation, autoimmunity, or related immune-mediated disease biology.
- Demonstrated ability to independently design, troubleshoot, and interpret complex biological experiments.
- Hands-on experience with primary cell culture, immune-cell assays, co-culture systems, tissue models, or ex vivo human sample platforms.
- Ability to analyze biological, biochemical, immunological, and translational assay data and design follow-up studies.
- Clear communication of complex science to multidisciplinary audiences.
- Effective collaboration across functions and ability to contribute to multiple projects in a matrixed environment.
Preferred Experience And Skills
- Experience developing translational models of inflammatory or autoimmune disease, immune-cell activation, tissue inflammation, or immune-mediated pathology.
- Expertise with flow cytometry, cytokine profiling, imaging, multiplex tissue analysis, spatial biology, transcriptomics, or related platforms.
- Experience integrating human datasets with experimental models to define mechanism of action, pharmacodynamic biomarkers, responder hypotheses, or combination strategies.
- Experience supporting drug discovery from target validation through candidate nomination or early clinical translation.
- Familiarity with immune-mediated diseases such as IBD, rheumatoid arthritis, hidradenitis suppurativa, psoriatic disease, lupus, asthma, or atopic dermatitis.
- Experience leading external collaborations or coordinating CRO work.
Requirements
- Bachelor's (with 13+ years), Master's (with 9+ years) or Ph.D. (with 5+ years) in immunology, cell biology, molecular biology, translational science, biomedical sciences or related discipline and relevant experience.
- Strong foundation in immunology, inflammation, autoimmunity, or related immune-mediated disease biology.
- Demonstrated ability to independently design, troubleshoot, and interpret complex biological experiments.
- Hands-on experience with primary cell culture, immune-cell assays, co-culture systems, tissue models, or ex vivo human sample platforms.
- Ability to analyze biological, biochemical, immunological, and translational assay data and design follow-up studies.
- Clear communication of complex science to multidisciplinary audiences.
- Effective collaboration across functions and ability to contribute to multiple projects in a matrixed environment.
Benefits
- Medical Insurance
- Dental Insurance
- Vision Insurance
- Other Insurance Benefits
- 401(k)
- Paid Holidays
- Vacation
- Compassionate Leave
- Sick Leave
- Annual Bonus
- Long-Term Incentive
Company overview
Merck & Co., Inc., known as Merck in the United States and Canada and MSD (Merck Sharp & Dohme) internationally, is a premier American multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Rahway, New Jersey. Founded in 1891 as the U.S. subsidiary of the German Merck Group, the company became independent following World War I and has since grown into one of the world's largest biomedical companies, ranking fourth globally by revenue. Merck operates across three core business segments: pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and animal health products. The company is renowned for its groundbreaking research and development, having brought numerous life-saving medicines to market including Keytruda (pembrolizumab), a leading immunotherapy for cancer treatment that generated $29.5 billion in 2024 revenue, and Gardasil, a revolutionary HPV vaccine. With approximately 75,000 employees worldwide, Merck maintains a robust pipeline of innovative therapies focused on oncology, vaccines, hospital acute care, cardiology, neuroscience, virology, immunology, and diabetes. The company invests heavily in R&D, spending $17.9 billion in 2024 alone, demonstrating its commitment to advancing scientific discovery. Merck's legacy spans over 130 years of bringing hope to humanity through important medicines and vaccines, operating with a purpose to use leading-edge science to save and improve lives globally while fostering an inclusive workforce and responsible business practices.