Specialist, Semantic Data Engineer

Job Description

Our company is seeking a semantic data engineer to build, and scale enterprise-grade knowledge graph solutions that power advanced analytics and decision-making in pharmaceutical research. This role will implement the design of semantic data layers that integrate heterogeneous scientific datasets, enabling end-to-end traceability, cross-domain insights, and AI/ML-driven discovery. The ideal candidate will combine deep expertise in knowledge graphs, ontology engineering, and data engineering, with strong domain awareness in pharmaceutical R&D.

Key responsibilities

• Design and implement scalable knowledge graph architectures to integrate multi-modal data (e.g., omics, process, analytical, lineage)
• Build and manage graph data models representing entities such as samples, processes, assays, targets, and biological relationships
• Drive adoption of graph technologies (e.g., RDF, property graphs, SPARQL/Cypher)
• Partner with platform teams to implement scalable infrastructure (e.g., Amazon Neptune, serverless pipelines)
• Ensure performance, scalability, and governance of knowledge graph platforms
• Collaborate with product managers, scientists, data engineers, and AI/ML teams to translate business needs into semantic models

Required experience and skills

• Semantic web technology stack (e.g., RDF data format, SPARQL query language)
• Amazon Web Services (AWS), particularly the serverless services (e.g., Lambda, Step Functions)
• Data engineering (e.g., SQL queries, ETL jobs)
• Programming in Python
• Experience with DevSecOps practices like continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD), source code version control (e.g., Git), infrastructure-as-code (e.g., CloudFormation, Terraform), and containers (e.g., Docker)

Desired experience and skills

• Cheminformatics and familiarity with the pharmaceutical research
• Exposure to AI/ML applications leveraging graph data
• Good communication and collaboration skills, and ability to collaborate with other teams to develop solutions
• Experience with Atlassian stack of tools for agile software development (e.g., Jira, Confluence)
• Demonstrate growth mindset and ability to work with enterprise teams

Additional location(s) Compensation Information:

Required Skills:

Amazon Web Services (AWS), CI/CD, Collaboration, Communication, DevSecOps, Extract Transform Load (ETL), Graph Databases, Infrastructure As Code (IaC), Python (Programming Language), Resource Description Framework (RDF), SPARQL, Structured Query Language (SQL), Version Control

Preferred Skills:

Artificial Intelligence (AI), Atlassian Confluence, Atlassian JIRA, AWS CloudFormation, Cheminformatics, Docker (Software), Git, Machine Learning (ML), Pharmaceutical Research, Terraform (Software)

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Search Firm Representatives Please Read Carefully 
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:

Regular

Relocation:

No relocation

VISA Sponsorship:

Yes

Travel Requirements:

10%

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Hybrid

Shift:

Not Indicated

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

N/A

Job Posting End Date:

11/6/2026

*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.