Sr. Spclst , User Research

Merck & Co. • Rahway, NJ

97d • $114,700 - $180,500 • Onsite

About The Position

At our Company, we have been inventing for life for more than a century, bringing forward medicines and vaccines for many of the world's most challenging diseases. Information technology is a critical differentiating capability for our research organization and a pillar of our company's strategy, with a focus on driving efficient, reusable, and easy-to-consume technology. The User Research Team is a newly established group within the Business Strategy and Partnership organization of the CDDS Value Team, R D IT. This team focuses on business problems and pain points that cut across multiple business functions or represent entirely new challenges to the organization. In an end-to-end process context, the team analyzes business processes and data, evaluates impacts, investigates root causes, and delivers clear, validated, and measurable problem definitions and define potential solution approaches. The outcome of this team's work is ensuring that technology addresses the right and most impactful problems. As a User Research Analyst, you will work closely with R D stakeholders across functions and geographies, as well as other IT teams within and across divisions, especially the Business Architecture and Information Architecture teams in the Business Strategy and Partnership group. This role provides a unique opportunity to shape how R D IT identifies and prioritizes business challenges, ensuring investments deliver maximum value. It is ideal for candidates who are naturally curious, analytical, collaborative, and brave enough to ask why — with the ability to frame problems in a way that is both high value and feasible to solve.

Requirements

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Life Sciences, Business, Information Systems, or related field.
• At least 5 years of experience in business process improvement, with a minimum of 3 years in pharmaceutical R D or related domains.
• Proven experience mapping processes using standard tools/notations and applying structured methods/frameworks for root cause analysis.
• Experience applying Design Thinking or other human-centered design methods.
• Strong critical thinking skills and the ability to tell a clear, compelling story from complex analysis.
• Understanding of drug development processes in one or more of the following areas: clinical, regulatory, safety, medical, clinical data management, biostatistics.
• Excellent communication skills - able to clearly explain complex concepts verbally and in writing.
• Skilled at facilitating workshops and engaging stakeholders across cultures and functions.
• Ability to work effectively with global teams across time zones.

Nice To Haves

• Familiarity with pharma R D systems (e.g., EDC, CTMS, eTMF, Regulatory Information Management, Safety Databases, Veeva Vault).
• Experience with large-scale cross-functional transformation projects in a global organization.
• Proficiency in data analysis and visualization tools (e.g., Excel, Tableau, Power BI, or similar).

Responsibilities

• Partner with R D stakeholders to investigate business requests, pain points, and emerging ideas.
• Conduct end-to-end process analysis across domains and functions, identifying bottlenecks, redundancies, and interdependencies.
• Derive insights by analyzing business processes and data to uncover root causes.
• Produce clear, validated, and measurable problem definitions, ensuring alignment with both business and IT stakeholders.
• Collaborate with the Business Architecture and Information Architecture teams to validate analysis and problem framing.
• Facilitate workshops, interviews, and cross-regional discussions to capture diverse perspectives.
• Develop process maps, gap analyses, and related materials to communicate findings effectively.
• Translate complex findings into compelling narratives and visuals that resonate with leadership and cross-functional teams.
• Follow up on problem definitions through the solutioning phase as required, ensuring the original problem remains the focus.
• Communicate findings to business and IT leadership, build organizational buy-in, and support business case development where required.

Benefits

• 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

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Industry: Chemical Manufacturing
• Education Level: Bachelor's degree