Senior Principal Scientist, Clinical Research, Breast Cancer
Merck
August 26, 2026
Remote friendly (Rahway, NJ)
United States
Clinical Research and Development
Responsibilities:
- Plan and direct clinical research activities for new or marketed Oncology medicines across all phases of clinical development.
- Evaluate pre-clinical and translational work to generate early clinical development plans and Investigational New Drug (IND) applications.
- Develop clinical development strategies for investigational or marketed Oncology drugs.
- Plan clinical trials (design, operational plans, settings) based on these strategies.
- Monitor and manage conduct of ongoing or new clinical trials.
- Analyze and summarize clinical findings to support safety/efficacy decisions, new drug applications, clinical study reports, and publications.
- Participate in internal and joint internal/external research project teams for development of new compounds and further study of marketed compounds.
- Supervise Clinical Scientists executing clinical studies.
- Collaborate cross-functionally (commercialization, regulatory affairs, statistics, manufacturing) to manage clinical development projects.
- Maintain scientific knowledge through awareness of new findings/methodologies, identify strong investigators, build communications, and attend scientific meetings.
- Author development documents, presentations, budgets, and position papers; facilitate global collaborations; travel ~20%.
Qualifications:
- Education: M.D. or M.D./Ph.D.
- Required: Industry or senior faculty academia experience; 3+ years clinical medicine; 3+ years industry drug development or biomedical research in academia; demonstrated scientific scholarship; strong clinical medicine and biomedical research background; strong interpersonal/team skills; outstanding verbal/written communication and presentation.
- Preferred: Board Certified/Eligible in Oncology (and/or Hematology); prior clinical research experience and publications.
Required Skills: Breast Cancer, Clinical Development, Clinical Medicine, Clinical Research Management, Clinical Trials, Data Analysis, Decision Making, Drug Development, Ethical Standards, Oncology Research, Oncology Trials, Scientific Publications, Strategic Planning.
Application instructions:
- Apply via https://jobs.merck.com/us/en (or Workday Jobs Hub for current employees). Application deadline listed on posting.
- Plan and direct clinical research activities for new or marketed Oncology medicines across all phases of clinical development.
- Evaluate pre-clinical and translational work to generate early clinical development plans and Investigational New Drug (IND) applications.
- Develop clinical development strategies for investigational or marketed Oncology drugs.
- Plan clinical trials (design, operational plans, settings) based on these strategies.
- Monitor and manage conduct of ongoing or new clinical trials.
- Analyze and summarize clinical findings to support safety/efficacy decisions, new drug applications, clinical study reports, and publications.
- Participate in internal and joint internal/external research project teams for development of new compounds and further study of marketed compounds.
- Supervise Clinical Scientists executing clinical studies.
- Collaborate cross-functionally (commercialization, regulatory affairs, statistics, manufacturing) to manage clinical development projects.
- Maintain scientific knowledge through awareness of new findings/methodologies, identify strong investigators, build communications, and attend scientific meetings.
- Author development documents, presentations, budgets, and position papers; facilitate global collaborations; travel ~20%.
Qualifications:
- Education: M.D. or M.D./Ph.D.
- Required: Industry or senior faculty academia experience; 3+ years clinical medicine; 3+ years industry drug development or biomedical research in academia; demonstrated scientific scholarship; strong clinical medicine and biomedical research background; strong interpersonal/team skills; outstanding verbal/written communication and presentation.
- Preferred: Board Certified/Eligible in Oncology (and/or Hematology); prior clinical research experience and publications.
Required Skills: Breast Cancer, Clinical Development, Clinical Medicine, Clinical Research Management, Clinical Trials, Data Analysis, Decision Making, Drug Development, Ethical Standards, Oncology Research, Oncology Trials, Scientific Publications, Strategic Planning.
Application instructions:
- Apply via https://jobs.merck.com/us/en (or Workday Jobs Hub for current employees). Application deadline listed on posting.