Senior Scientist, In Vitro Cardiometabolic Disease
Merck
August 24, 2026
On-site
South San Francisco, CA
Clinical Research and Development
Senior Scientist (R3) — Cardio-Metabolic Disease (CMD)
Key Responsibilities
- Design, perform, troubleshoot, document, analyze, and interpret in-vitro experiments with minimal supervision to support/lead exploratory and pipeline projects.
- Develop and validate complex in-vitro models and assay sets for mechanistic target studies and evaluation of therapeutic candidates for metabolic and endocrine diseases.
- Execute tightly controlled experiments independently; present high-quality data to multi-disciplinary teams.
- Identify opportunities to reduce timelines, improve throughput, and increase operational efficiency.
- Stay current with emerging scientific/technological advances relevant to metabolic and endocrine diseases.
- Contribute to scientific visibility via presentations, publications, and scientific engagement.
Qualifications
- Education: Bachelor’s (7+ years) or Master’s (4+ years) in Biology, Biochemistry, Pharmacology, or related field.
Required Experience/Skills
- Experience in more than one area: target identification, target validation, quantitative assay development, metabolic diseases, neuro-endocrine diseases.
- Experience with multiple human primary cell/cell line types (e.g., adipocytes, hepatocytes, myocytes, osteocytes, endocrine cells) in routine and complex assays.
- Ability to manage multiple projects/priorities with scientific rigor and attention to detail.
- Professional communication and collaboration.
- Analytical mindset and curiosity to understand biology/mechanism of action aligned to goals.
Preferred Experience/Skills
- GPCR targets; quantitative 96/384-well cell-based assays.
- Standard biochemistry/molecular biology techniques (e.g., mRNA isolation, qRT-PCR, ELISA, HTRF, AlphaLISA, western blotting).
- Metabolic disease-relevant in-vitro assays (e.g., calcium flux, cAMP/IP1, beta-arrestin, receptor dimerization, glucose/lipid uptake, lipolysis, Seahorse, high-content imaging).
- Target modulation methods (e.g., small molecules, peptides, antibodies, antibody-peptide conjugates, siRNA, viral vectors).
- Ability to use AI agents/LLMs for hypothesis generation, synthesis, experimental design, and data analysis.
Required/Preferred Skills
- Required: assay development, biochemical assays, cell culture techniques, drug target identification, high content screening, immunoassays, metabolic diseases, molecular biology, neuroendocrinology, primary cell culture, protein purifications, quantitative assays, target validation.
- Preferred: GPCRs, high-throughput screening.
Application Instructions
- Apply via https://jobs.merck.com/us/en (or Workday Jobs Hub for current employees). The application deadline is stated on the posting.
Key Responsibilities
- Design, perform, troubleshoot, document, analyze, and interpret in-vitro experiments with minimal supervision to support/lead exploratory and pipeline projects.
- Develop and validate complex in-vitro models and assay sets for mechanistic target studies and evaluation of therapeutic candidates for metabolic and endocrine diseases.
- Execute tightly controlled experiments independently; present high-quality data to multi-disciplinary teams.
- Identify opportunities to reduce timelines, improve throughput, and increase operational efficiency.
- Stay current with emerging scientific/technological advances relevant to metabolic and endocrine diseases.
- Contribute to scientific visibility via presentations, publications, and scientific engagement.
Qualifications
- Education: Bachelor’s (7+ years) or Master’s (4+ years) in Biology, Biochemistry, Pharmacology, or related field.
Required Experience/Skills
- Experience in more than one area: target identification, target validation, quantitative assay development, metabolic diseases, neuro-endocrine diseases.
- Experience with multiple human primary cell/cell line types (e.g., adipocytes, hepatocytes, myocytes, osteocytes, endocrine cells) in routine and complex assays.
- Ability to manage multiple projects/priorities with scientific rigor and attention to detail.
- Professional communication and collaboration.
- Analytical mindset and curiosity to understand biology/mechanism of action aligned to goals.
Preferred Experience/Skills
- GPCR targets; quantitative 96/384-well cell-based assays.
- Standard biochemistry/molecular biology techniques (e.g., mRNA isolation, qRT-PCR, ELISA, HTRF, AlphaLISA, western blotting).
- Metabolic disease-relevant in-vitro assays (e.g., calcium flux, cAMP/IP1, beta-arrestin, receptor dimerization, glucose/lipid uptake, lipolysis, Seahorse, high-content imaging).
- Target modulation methods (e.g., small molecules, peptides, antibodies, antibody-peptide conjugates, siRNA, viral vectors).
- Ability to use AI agents/LLMs for hypothesis generation, synthesis, experimental design, and data analysis.
Required/Preferred Skills
- Required: assay development, biochemical assays, cell culture techniques, drug target identification, high content screening, immunoassays, metabolic diseases, molecular biology, neuroendocrinology, primary cell culture, protein purifications, quantitative assays, target validation.
- Preferred: GPCRs, high-throughput screening.
Application Instructions
- Apply via https://jobs.merck.com/us/en (or Workday Jobs Hub for current employees). The application deadline is stated on the posting.