Director, AI Platform & Agentic Engineering, AI & Genome Sciences

Job Description AI/ML is central to our mission to accelerate target and biomarker discovery through a deeper understanding of disease biology. We are seeking a Director, AI Platform & Agentic Engineering to build and lead the technical capabilities that allow scientists to rapidly develop, evaluate, and apply cutting‑edge AI/ML methods. You will work across unique assets, including genome‑scale perturbation data, proprietary foundation models, large‑scale biological datasets, and experimental partnerships that enable model predictions to be tested in the lab. This hands‑on technical leadership role spans software and data engineering, scientific computing, foundation models, and agentic AI. You will build an agile research platform connecting multimodal data, knowledge graphs, scalable compute, and reusable AI tools to accelerate experimentation, reproducible research, and scientific discovery.

Primary Responsibilities

• AI Platform & Research Engineering: Build and evolve the AI/ML research environment, developer tooling, and reusable capabilities that connect scientists with data, knowledge, compute, and models.
• Foundation Models & Agentic AI: Enable foundation model training, fine‑tuning, and evaluation, and develop frameworks for AI agents, tool integration, retrieval, orchestration, and human‑in‑the‑loop scientific workflows.
• Scientific Computing: Partner with IT and technology teams to provide flexible access to cloud, Databricks, GPU clusters, and other high‑performance computing environments required for cutting‑edge AI research.
• Agile Engineering: Own the SDLC for shared AI/ML tools and applications, establishing pragmatic standards for software architecture, testing, CI/CD, reproducibility, security, and maintainability to enable machine learning and data scientists.
• Technical Leadership: Remain actively engaged in architecture, prototyping, and implementation while mentoring engineers and supporting scientists in rapidly translating new AI approaches into scientific applications.

Required Qualifications

• PhD in a relevant field such as Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Data Science, Physics, Informatics, AI/ML, Mathematics, or a related STEM discipline, with 6+ years of industry experience, or Master's Degree with 10+ years of industry experience.
• Experience building AI/ML infrastructure, scientific software, or high‑performance computing environments.
• Experience with cloud and computing technologies such as AWS, Databricks, Spark, Docker, Kubernetes, GitHub, and CI/CD.
• Strong software engineering expertise, particularly in Python, AI/ML frameworks, and modern software architecture.
• Experience developing GenAI and agentic AI systems, including frameworks such as LangGraph, Semantic Kernel, AutoGen, or equivalent.
• Experience with RAG, vector databases, knowledge graphs, and agent orchestration.
• Strong communication skills and ability to work effectively across scientific, engineering, and technology teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Machine Learning, Physics, or a related quantitative field, with significant industry experience.
• Hands‑on experience with foundation model training, fine‑tuning, and evaluation.
• Experience developing computational capabilities for biological or biomedical research.
• Experience creating internal scientific platforms, developer tools, or open‑source software.

Our company is committed to inclusion, ensuring that candidates can engage in a hiring process that exhibits their true capabilities.

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.

The primary location for this posting is: USA - Massachusetts - Cambridge (320 Bent Street)

Where required by law, the compensation range for this role is provided below. The salary range for the primary location of this role is: $194,100.00 - $305,600.00. This range reflects the Company's reasonable expectation of the base salary applicable to this role at the time of posting. An employee’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, government requirements, and business or organizational needs. The successful candidate will be eligible for annual bonus and long‑term incentive, if applicable.

We offer a comprehensive package of benefits.

• Medical, dental, vision healthcare and other insurance benefits (for employee and family)
• Retirement benefits, including 401(k)
• Paid holidays
• Vacation
• Compassionate and sick days

More information about benefits is available at

Additional location(s): Please note the salary range above applies to the Primary Location of the position. Where a role has other listed locations, different compensation guidelines may apply. You may find the salary ranges for additional locations below. If the salary range is not listed for the location you are applying to, our Talent Acquisition team will provide further information to you relevant to your location.

Additional location(s) Compensation Information:
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: 10%
Flexible Work Arrangements: Hybrid
Shift: Not Indicated
Valid Driving License: No
Hazardous Material(s): n/a

Job Posting End Date: 11/30/2026. 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.

Our company is a global health care leader with a diversified portfolio of prescription medicines, vaccines and animal health products. The difference between potential and achievement lies in the spark that fuels innovation and inventiveness; this is the space where we have codified our legacy for over a century. Our success is backed by ethical integrity, forward momentum, and an inspiring mission to achieve new milestones in global healthcare.