2026 Future Talent Program – Intern

Job Description

The Future Talent Program features internships that last up to 12 weeks and will include one or more projects. These opportunities in our Research and Development Division can provide you with great development and a chance to see if we are the right company for your long-term goals.

A summer research internship position is available in the Translational Sciences and Outsourcing group within the Pharmacokinetics, Dynamics, Metabolism, and Bioanalytics (PDMB) function of ourResearch&DevelopmentDivision in Boston, Massachusetts.

This group focuses on quantitative tools to enable faster and better decision-making throughout our company's portfolio. The intern will contribute to a pioneering project analyzing pooled control-group data from nonclinical toxicology species to enhance the interpretation of routine safety parameters and support veterinary clinical pathologists in contextualizing control group data.

The research project will focus on retrospective analysis of historical toxicology data. The intern will be guided in developing reusable, code-based workflows for data retrieval, processing, and statistical analysis of these data. Through regularly participating in collaborative scientific discussions across departments, the intern will help to identify trends and insights of interest within the dataset while simultaneously creating tools to easily access those insights and bring them to key stakeholders. These insights will then be compared with published clinical pooled placebo data to understand translational trends. The intern will also have opportunities to participate in various special events/programs for summer interns to explore your future career interest and learn drug discovery and development at our company.

This internship will last up to 12 weeks at either our Boston, MA or Cambridge, MA sites.

Key Roles/Responsibilities will include but are not limited to the following:

• Retrieve cleaned and harmonized historical nonclinical toxicology control-group data using SQL

• Develop and implement statistical analyses to characterize trends in chemical pathology measurements

• Create reusable data pipelines and code-based workflows (R or Python) for retrospective analyses

• Compare preclinical control data with published clinical pooled placebo data

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams including nonclinical drug safety, veterinary pathology, and translational medicine

• Present research findings in group meetings and prepare a final scientific presentation

• Potentially contribute to publication of the project results

Education:

• Must be a full-time student currently enrolled in a Masters/PhD program in Biostatistics, Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Engineering, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Toxicology, or related quantitative life science fields

Required Skills and Experience

• Must have a strong background in statistics and quantitative bio-focused research, ideally as demonstrated by a publication or course project

• Must be proficient in coding with R or Python for data analysis, especially data visualization tools

• Must have an aptitude for thinking critically and creatively to overcome technical challenges

• Must possess excellent verbal and written communication skills

• Must have the ability to work independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced environment

• Must be enrolled full-time in the Fall Semester at an accredited university/college after the internship

• Must be able to complete a 10-12 consecutive week internship between May and August

Preferred Experience and Skills:

• Should have knowledge of programming and code management tools (Git/GitHub, RMarkdown, Jupyter Notebooks, SQL)

• Should possess basic understanding of drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics, or toxicology principles and terminology

• Should have experience or interest in developing web applications using R (e.g., Shiny) or Python (e.g., Dash, Flask) to create interactive data visualization and analysis tools

• Should have a minimum GPA of 3.0

Please note that this position may be closed before the posted end date or may remain open longer, at the discretion of the company.

Salary range:

The salary range for this role is $39,600.00-$105,500.00 USD

FTP2026

RL2026

Current Employees apply HERE

Current Contingent Workers apply HERE

US and Puerto Rico Residents Only:

Our company is committed to inclusion, ensuring that candidates can engage in a hiring process that exhibits their true capabilities. Please click here if you need an accommodation during the application or hiring process.

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:

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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.

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U.S. Hybrid Work Model

Effective September 5, 2023, employees in office-based positions in the U.S. will be working a Hybrid work consisting of three total days on-site per week, Monday - Thursday, although the specific days may vary by site or organization, with Friday designated as a remote-working day, unless business critical tasks require an on-site presence.This Hybrid work model does not apply to, and daily in-person attendance is required for, field-based positions; facility-based, manufacturing-based, or research-based positions where the work to be performed is located at a Company site; positions covered by a collective-bargaining agreement (unless the agreement provides for hybrid work); or any other position for which the Company has determined the job requirements cannot be reasonably met working remotely. Please note, this Hybrid work model guidance also does not apply to roles that have been designated as “remote”.

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. 

Employee Status:

Intern/Co-op (Fixed Term)

Relocation:

No relocation

VISA Sponsorship:

No

Travel Requirements:

No Travel Required

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Not Applicable

Shift:

Not Indicated

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

n/a

Required Skills:

Biological Sciences, Biological Sciences, Clinical Research, Cloud Data Catalog, Data Analysis, Database Management, Data Science, Data Security, Data Visualization, Data Wrangling, Detail-Oriented, Drug Metabolism, Environmental Toxicology, Event Planning, Flask (Web Framework), Forensic Toxicology, Key Performance Indicators (KPI), Physiology, Project Management, Project Reviews, Python (Programming Language), Self Motivation, Software Proficiency, Toxicity Studies, Toxicology {+ 5 more}

 Preferred Skills:

Job Posting End Date:

11/3/2025

*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.