Assoc. Dir , Technical Product Management

Merck • Upper Gwynedd Township, PA

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

This role serves as the senior technical and product leader for pilot plant and manufacturing-facing research automation platforms. The Associate Director is accountable for strategy, architecture, delivery, and operational excellence of plant-side automation and OT infrastructure, while also providing hands-on technical leadership and oversight of system integration, cybersecurity, and regulated operations.
This position owns the plant automation technology portfolio end-to-end, from concept and design through validation, deployment, support, and lifecycle management.

Requirements

• 8+ years experience in automation, OT infrastructure, or plant automation systems
• Strong experience with DeltaV, PLCs, Ignition, SCADA, MES
• Hands-on knowledge of OT networking, firewalls, VLANs, and segmented architectures
• Experience designing and operating virtualized OT environments (VMware, Hyper-V)
• Proven experience integrating plant systems with enterprise IT platforms
• Demonstrated leadership in regulated (GmP) environments
• Strong understanding of SDLC, validation, and change management
• Ability to lead multiple concurrent initiatives and cross-functional teams
• Strong communication skills with technical and non-technical stakeholders

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree preferred

Responsibilities

• Define and own the strategy for pilot plant and plant-facing research automation platforms
• Act as technical lead and single point of accountability for plant automation solutions for capital end project deployments
• Translate business, scientific, and manufacturing needs into platform roadmaps and execution plans
• Lead OT architecture, infrastructure design, and system integration across plant environments
• Ensure secure, compliant OT networking aligned with ISA/IEC 62443 principles
• Oversee integration of plant automation systems with enterprise platforms (PI, MES, data platforms)
• Lead and approve system design, architecture decisions, and technical standards
• Within the scope of the product, manage capital and non-capital project execution, including scope, estimates, and delivery timelines
• Ensure adherence to SDLC, change control, validation, and GmP requirements
• Partner with Quality, Engineering, Infrastructure, Security, and vendors on delivery and support
• Provide escalation leadership for incidents, root cause analysis, and remediation
• Lead continuous improvement of OT platforms, including obsolescence and modernization
• Manage and mentor R3 engineers and contractors supporting plant automation
• Communicate platform status, risks, and roadmap clearly to leadership and stakeholders

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
• annual bonus
• long-term incentive

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees