Job Description

We are a global health care leader with a diversified portfolio of prescription medicines, vaccines, and consumer health products, as well as animal health products. Today, we are building a new kind of healthcare company – one that is ready to help create a healthier future for all of us.

Our ability to excel depends on the integrity, knowledge, imagination, skill, diversity, and teamwork of people like you. To this end, we strive to create an environment of mutual respect, encouragement, and teamwork. As part of our global team, you’ll have the opportunity to collaborate with talented and dedicated colleagues while developing and expanding your career.

Be a part of the legacy: Our Postdoctoral Research Fellow Program

aims to be a best-in-industry program for industrial postdoctoral researchers, designed to provide you with an academic focus in a commercial environment. With the resources, reach, and expertise of a large pharmaceutical company, postdoctoral researchers will be positioned to excel in an institution committed to breakthrough innovation in research and discovery.

Position Overview:

We are seeking a talented and motivated candidate with expertise in immunology or vaccinology and a strong interest in adaptive immunological memory to join the Infectious Disease & Vaccines: Immunology group at our company’s West Point, PA site. As a postdoctoral fellow in Infectious Disease & Vaccines, you will work with a highly collaborative team of scientists across functional and therapeutic areas to investigate basic immunological mechanisms regulating vaccine durability. The successful candidate will be responsible for launching independent projects that interrogate how decisions made during vaccine design impact the development of immunological memory, with a primary focus on the development of long-lived plasma cells and memory B cells. The postdoctoral fellow will collaborate closely with a mentor to develop research plans, enable model development, conduct mechanistic studies, and generate novel insights which can be leveraged to generate more durable vaccine responses.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

· Establishment and optimization of vaccine models in pre-clinical animal species.

· Development of immunological assays to characterize antigen-specific humoral and cellular immune responses.

· Performing single cell assays including high-parameter flow cytometry and single cell omics profiling (e.g. single cell RNAseq, BCRseq, and ATACseq).

· Data interpretation, manuscript and patent preparation, publication, and presentation

Education Minimum Requirement:

· Ph.D. within 6 months of hire in Immunology, Vaccinology, or related field.

Required Experience and Skills:

· Expertise in the in vivo development of adaptive immunological memory.

· Hands-on experience working with pre-clinical animal models and manipulating samples derived from these models.

· Hands-on experience and solid knowledge in aseptic techniques in tissue culture.

· Hands-on experience and solid knowledge in molecular biology.

· Hands-on experience with in vitro assay development and troubleshooting.

· Experience in immunological assays (e.g. ELISA, ELISPOT, high-parameter flow cytometry, cell sorting, in vitro restimulation assays).

· Strong publication record and ability to design and execute experiments and interpret data.

· Excellent communication and collaboration skills.

Skills that would be a plus but not required:

· Expertise in B cell differentiation and B cell responses to vaccination or infection.

· Familiarity with BSL2 level viral pathogens (e.g. SARS-CoV2, RSV, etc.)

· Familiarity or experience with single-cell omics assays and data analysis.

· Familiarity or experience with BCR repertoire sequencing and analysis.

· Familiarity or experience with novel vaccine adjuvants and/or vaccine platforms.

#PostdoctoralOpportunities

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Required Skills:

Accountability, Accountability, Adaptability, Analytical Chemistry, Assay Development, Cell-Based Assays, Cell Culture Techniques, Clinical Immunology, Computational Biology, Data Analysis, Flow Cytometry, Global Health, Immunoassays, Immunology, Immunotherapy, Infectious Disease, In Vitro Assays, In Vivo Mouse Models, Leadership, Mathematical Biology, Molecular Biology, Programming Languages, Research Planning, Scientific Writing, siRNA Knockdown {+ 3 more}

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

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

VISA Sponsorship:

Yes

Travel Requirements:

10%

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Not Applicable

Shift:

Not Indicated

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

N/A

Job Posting End Date:

10/31/2025

*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.