Senior Principal Scientist, Pharmacokinetics

Job Description

The South San Francisco DMPK organization is seeking an accomplished and highly collaborative Senior Principal Scientist to provide scientific leadership across drug conjugate discovery and development programs, support strategic portfolio decisions, and advance DMPK capabilities for emerging modalities. This individual will partner closely with discovery biology, translational sciences, clinical development, bioanalytical, toxicology, chemistry, and program teams to enable data-driven decision making from early discovery through clinical candidate nomination and FIH execution.

The successful candidate will provide scientific leadership for conjugate DMPK strategy, oversee  LM ADME experimentation strategy and capabilities,  contribute to portfolio management and prioritization, serve as a program representative in high priority programs  and manage a team of principal investigators and biologics scientific experts. The candidate will drive efforts to strengthen DMPK capabilities by tracking advances in conjugates, ADME, PK/PD, bioanalysis, and emerging modalities, while collaborating with internal and external partners to deliver high-impact data packages.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide scientific leadership for DMPK strategy supporting drug conjugates and related novel modalities.

• Represent DMPK on cross-functional discovery and development teams, integrating ADME, PK, PK/PD, bioanalytical, pharmacology, toxicology, and clinical pharmacology perspectives to guide program decisions.

• Lead the development and implementation of fit-for-purpose DMPK screening funnels and translational plans to support lead optimization, candidate selection, human dose projection, and regulatory packages.

• Provide scientific oversight for LM ADME experimentation strategy and capabilities.

• Contribute to portfolio management by identifying DMPK-related opportunities, liabilities, resource needs, and decision points across programs.

• Author, review, and present high-quality scientific documents, nonclinical packages as part of regulatory submissions, project updates, and decision-making materials for internal and external stakeholders.

• Directly manage and develop a group of investigators and scientific experts, setting clear scientific expectations, enabling effective prioritization and execution, and fostering continued growth of technical and leadership capabilities.

• Monitor external scientific advances in conjugates, ADME, translational PK/PD, bioanalysis, and emerging modalities, and integrate relevant innovations into internal strategy.

• Collaborate effectively with internal teams, external partners, and contract research organizations to ensure efficient delivery of high-impact DMPK data packages.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Education:

• Master's (with 15+ years) or Ph.D. (with 12+ years) in pharmacokinetics, drug metabolism, pharmaceutical sciences, pharmacology, bioengineering, chemistry, biochemistry, biological sciences, or a related discipline with significant experience in DMPK, ADME, translational pharmacology, or biologics/conjugate drug development.

Required Experience and Skills:

• Extensive experience in DMPK, ADME, pharmacokinetics, translational science, or related disciplines, with a strong record of scientific impact in discovery and/or development programs.

• Deep scientific expertise in ADME, PK, PK/PD, bioanalysis, and translational interpretation, with demonstrated ability to apply these disciplines to complex modalities such as drug conjugates, biologics, or other novel therapeutic platforms.

• Proven ability to design, interpret, and integrate in vitro and in vivo data to enable program progression, candidate selection, human PK projection, dose selection, and regulatory strategy.

• Demonstrated experience serving as a DMPK representative or scientific leader on cross-functional project teams and influencing program strategy through clear, data-driven recommendations.

• Strong understanding of nonclinical-to-clinical translation, IND-enabling requirements, and the role of DMPK data in regulatory submissions and clinical development planning.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present complex scientific concepts clearly to technical, cross-functional, and senior leadership audiences.

• Strong collaboration, mentoring, and talent development skills, with a commitment to building an inclusive, high-performing scientific culture.

Preferred Experience and Skills:

• Track record of scientific leadership, including shaping strategy, solving complex problems, leading matrixed teams, and driving decisions in a fast-paced portfolio environment.

• Experience with small molecule ADME drug discovery applicable to conjugate discovery and development.

• Familiarity with model-informed drug discovery and development approaches, including translational PK/PD, PBPK, population PK, exposure-response, or human dose projection.

• Demonstrated external scientific visibility through publications, conference presentations, consortia participation, or cross-industry engagement.

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The salary range for this role is

This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this 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.  Available benefits include medical, dental, vision healthcare and other insurance benefits (for employee and family), retirement benefits, including 401(k), paid holidays, vacation, and compassionate and sick days. More information about benefits is available at https://jobs.merck.com/us/en/compensation-and-benefits.

You can apply for this role through https://jobs.merck.com/us/en (or via the Workday Jobs Hub if you are a current employee). The application deadline for this position is stated on this posting.

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

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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. 

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