Qualifications: 

 Education: * Minimum qualification: Master's degree with 4+ years of experience in computational biology, bioinformatics or related fields. * Advance degree- PhD in computational biology, bioinformatics, or related fields. Required experience and skills: * Experience in biotech or pharmaceutical industries is a plus. * Advanced skills in a high-level programming language such as R or Python for data analysis and visualization. * Expertise in downstream analysis for common NGS data types, such as WGS/WES/panel-seq, bulk RNA-seq. Expertise with single-cell RNAseq and spatial transcriptomics is a plus. * Basic understanding of disease biology and molecular/cellular mechanisms in immunology. * Expertise in contemporary machine-learning/AI methods is a plus. Personality: * Problem-solving and collaboration skills, with rigorous and creative thinking. * Excellent communication, data interpretation presentation, and visualization skills. * Fluent in written and verbal English. * Adaptable and flexible. Note: * 100% onsite role. * Remote working candidates will not be considered. * Positions available: 2 

 We are looking for a contractor with extensive experience in computational biology to fill a Senior Scientist role on our Companion Diagnostics team in Merck, San Diego. * If you have a strong foundation in analyzing transcriptomics and genetics data, along with a deep understanding of statistics and AI/ML, we'd love to hear from you. Your work will be instrumental in driving precision medicine and drug development by dissecting the molecular mechanisms underlying immune-mediated diseases. * We welcome applications from individuals with a track record of innovative translational research, regardless of their current setting (clinical, academic, or industrial). Responsibilities * Use computational and statistical methods to stratify patients and develop Companion Diagnostic algorithms. * Conduct in-depth analyses to uncover the key biological functions and disease mechanisms driving disease subtypes. * Contribute to accurately represent key disease states in model systems and other validation scenarios. * Work closely with discovery immunology teams in the iterative process of validation of therapeutic candidates and/or mechanistic hypotheses. * Summarize your findings and report conclusions to Merck stakeholders.