**Job Description** **Director, Data Science and AI, Engineering Lead** Our Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) capabilities are vital catalysts for our mission to invent new medicines that save and enhance lives. The Data, AI & Genome Sciences (DAGS) function at our organization adopts an AI/ML-first approach to enhance target and biomarker discovery by driving the understanding of complex disease mechanisms. As the Director of Data Science and AI, Engineering Lead, you will leverage your expertise in Software Engineering, Data Engineering, Data Science, Machine Learning Engineering, and High-Performance Scientific Computing to manage the full Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) of custom AI/ML applications that accelerate the pace of therapeutic target discovery by DAGS Data Scientists, Machine Learning Scientists, Computational Biologists, Biologists, and Researchers. You will also forge strong cross-functional partnerships with IT solution experts to maintain access to state-of-the-art compute infrastructure required to remain at the forefront of innovation. You will report to the Executive Director and Head of AI/ML. **Primary Responsibilities:** + Manage the full SDLC of custom AI/ML applications enabling Data Scientists, Computational Biologists, and Researchers to decode disease biology to drive novel target and biomarker discovery. + Enable rapid prototyping, fast iteration, and user-driven enhancements of AI/ML application. + Partner with DAGS AI/ML team to maintain and scale an experimental compute environment integrating massive Multi-modal FAIR Data and Knowledge Graph infrastructure with high-performance AWS/Databricks-based AI/ML experimental workstreams. + Drive strategy for high-performance GPU cluster compute to de-risk reliance on any one solution and to ensure that DAGS AI/ML Team members maintain access to scalable state-of-the-art GPU clusters. + Provide technical support toDAGS AI/ML Data Scientists, AI/ML Researchers, and AI/ML Engineers to ensure that they can do their work efficiently and effectively. + Partner with many DAGS and IT stakeholders in a complex, highly matrixed, fast-paced environment to plan, build, test, deploy, monitor, and maintain the reliable compute infrastructure and software tools to deliver high-impact machine learning applications and ring-fence and de-risk deliverables. **Required Experience and Skills:** + PhD in a relevant field such as Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Physics, or a related discipline, with 6+ years of industry experience, MS with 9+ years of experience, or BS with 12+ years of experience + Experience building, deploying, and monitoring AI/ML applications. + Fluency in AWS, Databricks, MLFlow, Python, Torch, R, Spark, React, Java, Docker, Bash, GitHub, CI/CD, Redshift, Dev/Staging/Prod Deployments, Jira, Confluence. + Experience pre-train/fine-tuning/evaluating transformer-based Foundation Models. + Hands-on experience with Knowledge Graphs. + Familiarity with State-Space and Graphical Neural Network Models is a plus. + Hands-on experience with biological data is a plus. + Excellent communication skills and ability to work collaboratively in a fast-paced, multi-disciplinary team. \#EligibleforERP Current Employees apply HERE (https://wd5.myworkday.com/msd/d/task/1422$6687.htmld) Current Contingent Workers apply HERE (https://wd5.myworkday.com/msd/d/task/1422$4020.htmld) **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 (https://survey.sogosurvey.com/r/aCdfqL) if you need an accommodation during the application or hiring process. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, or disability status, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. For more information about personal rights under the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment laws, visit: EEOC Know Your Rights (https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/2022-10/22-088\_EEOC\_KnowYourRights\_10\_20.pdf) EEOC GINA Supplement​ Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination (https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/OFCCP/pdf/pay-transp\_%20English\_formattedESQA508c.pdf) We are proud to be a company that embraces the value of bringing diverse, talented, and committed people together. The fastest way to breakthrough innovation is when diverse ideas 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 (https://www.msdprivacy.com/us/en/CCPA-notice/) **U.S. Hybrid Work Model** Effective September 5, 2023, employees in office-based positions in the U.S. will be working a Hybrid work consisting of three total days on-site per week, Monday - Thursday, although the specific days may vary by site or organization, with Friday designated as a remote-working day, unless business critical tasks require an on-site presence.This Hybrid work model does not apply to, and daily in-person attendance is required for, field-based positions; facility-based, manufacturing-based, or research-based positions where the work to be performed is located at a Company site; positions covered by a collective-bargaining agreement (unless the agreement provides for hybrid work); or any other position for which the Company has determined the job requirements cannot be reasonably met working remotely. Please note, this Hybrid work model guidance also does not apply to roles that have been designated as “remote”. **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/International **VISA Sponsorship:** Yes **Travel Requirements:** No Travel Required **Flexible Work Arrangements:** Hybrid **Shift:** Not Indicated **Valid Driving License:** No **Hazardous Material(s):** n/a **Required Skills:** Business Intelligence (BI), Database Design, Data Engineering, Data Modeling, Data Science, Data Visualization, Machine Learning, Software Development, Stakeholder Relationship Management, Waterfall Model **Preferred Skills:** **Job Posting End Date:** 03/6/2025 ***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:** R336862