Senior Specialist, Operations (Vaccine Manufacturing)

Job Description

Our Manufacturing Operations teams are the people that make our products within our Company's Manufacturing Division. We work with a “Safety First, Quality Always” mindset, striving for continuous improvement to supply our customers and patients with products of the highest quality, lowest cost, delivered within the shortest lead time, and achieve our Company vision of saving and improving lives globally. You will help to drive the Elkton Priorities from three facets — Protect, Build, Transform. Protecting our present is to strengthen our base business while maintaining safe, ethical, and compliant behaviors. Building our future is to create a forward-looking and agile growth network. Transforming our paradigm is to embed key enablers such as digital and data analytic capabilities and lean manufacturing.

Do you possess exceptional communication, presentation, and stakeholder management skills? Are you the type of person that’s able to execute carefully planned actions while pivoting as needed for results? Are you excited by hard, complex, and ambiguous work? Is failure a part of your learning process? Do you have a strong capacity for influence and cross-functional teamwork in a diverse work environment? Are you able to take initiative, duty, and demonstrate results-oriented project management? Are you willing to proactively own a problem and go above and beyond to assist your team in getting the job done?

Elkton Manufacturing Division is seeking a highly motivated person at a Senior Specialist level to provide tactical management for production at the site. Our ability to excel relies on the integrity, knowledge, imagination, skill, diversity, and teamwork of people like you. To this end, we strive to create an environment of mutual respect, encouragement, and teamwork. As part of our global team, you will have the opportunity to work with talented and dedicated colleagues while developing and expanding your career.

Reporting to the Associate Director of Operations, the Senior Operations Specialist primary duties will be to help facilitate day-to-day production and promotion of operations. You will partner with team members to identify and implement continuous improvement initiatives in the areas of efficiency, productivity, operational excellence, and lean practices, cost improvements, energy conservation, and waste minimization. This position will require mentorship and the development of more junior members of the team. Limited off-shift or weekend coverage may be based on business unit needs and specific assignments.

Primary tasks include:

Protect our present:

• Operations ownership of key business projects, including updating weekly metrics and deliverables

• Promote a culture of continuous improvement and testing the status quo

• Proactively recognize and mitigate barriers to initiatives

• Assist operations manager as needed with payroll and attendance administration

• Completes and/or directs continuous improvement projects to improve the performance of our business processes, including investigation Corrective/Preventative Actions (CAPAs), projects aimed at improving Right-First-Time performance or preventing/reducing deviations, and value capture projects that seek to improve output/efficiency, reduce cost

Build our future:

• Ownership of the principal standardized work process which prioritizes resolution of issues from the shop floor and drives resolution through 8-step problem Solving and other Lean tools.

• Partner with peers on global teams to ensure a positive learning organization, alignment of strategy, and revealing best practices

• Mentor others on effective communication and dynamic listening techniques to fully comprehend needs and expectations

Transform our paradigm:

• Work directly with the operations team and shop floor to define the standards of the Electronic batch record and the necessary master data build, as needed by the area

• Provide teaching and coaching to effectively transfer Lean skills across project teams and continuously develop their knowledge of our company’s Production System and its application to our work

• Coach and develop directors and managers to apply Lean management values, problem-solving, and standardized work, and foster a right-first-time culture

Minimum Education:

• B.S. within Science or Engineering with minimum four (4) years working knowledge in current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs) biological, sterile, vaccine, pharmaceutical, military, or related regulated environment.

Skills:

• Minimum four (4) years related skills and knowledge in a functional area, such as Operations, Quality, Technical Operations, Technology, Engineering, Maintenance, and/or Supply Chain or in the military

• Exceptional people skills with the ability to navigate and resolve conflict through servant management behaviors

• Technical and communication skills strong enough to present in a Regulatory audit

• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple tasks and priorities simultaneously

• Demonstrated ability to develop and direct standard work and lean manufacturing concepts

Preferred Knowledge and Skills:

• Extensive appreciation and use of the 8 Step problem solving and DMAIC process. Hands-on application of Lean tools and techniques: standardized work, scientific problem solving, value stream mapping, mistake proofing, 5S-Visual Factory, and others

• Two (2) years in relevant manufacturing or processing (aseptic/sterile, oversight of sterilization cycles, vaccines, etc.) area

• Evaluating complex end-to-end supply chains and driving process improvement

• Excellent skills using IT applications to organize and evaluate data (MS Access, MS Excel, Minitab)

• Running Operations Shop floor

• Working knowledge of regulatory standards in accordance with current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP)

• Coaching, teaching, and enabling a High-Performance Organization. Proven skills in coaching and teaching others to think, engage with and apply lean methods and tools.

Our Manufacturing & Supply Division is dedicated to being the most trusted supplier of bio-pharmaceuticals worldwide. Our facilities, along with our external contractors, suppliers, and partners, create a reliable global manufacturing network that’s devoted to delivering a high-quality, reliable supply to customers and patients on time, every time.

Who we are …

We are known as Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, New Jersey, USA in the United States and Canada, and MSD everywhere else. For more than a century, we have been inventing for life, bringing forward medicines and vaccines for many of the world's most challenging diseases. Today, our company continues to be at the forefront of research to deliver innovative health solutions and advance the prevention and treatment of diseases that threaten people and animals around the world.

#LI-HW2

What we look for …

In a world of rapid innovation, we seek brave Inventors who want to make an Impact in all aspects of our business, enabling breakthroughs that will affect generations to come. We encourage you to bring your disruptive thinking, collaborative spirit, and diverse perspective to our organization. Together we will continue Inventing For Life, Impacting Lives while Inspiring Your Career Growth.

Invent. Impact. Inspire.

NOTICE FOR INTERNAL APPLICANTS

In accordance with Managers' Policy - Job Posting and Employee Placement, all employees subject to this policy are required to have a minimum of twelve (12) months of service in current position prior to applying for open positions.

If you have been offered a separation benefits package, but have not yet reached your separation date and are offered a position within the salary and geographical parameters as set forth in the Summary Plan Description (SPD) of your separation package, then you are no longer eligible for your separation benefits package. To discuss in more detail, please contact your HRBP or Talent Acquisition Advisor.

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For more information about personal rights under Equal Employment Opportunity, visit:

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We are proud to be a company that embraces the value of bringing diverse, talented, and committed people together. The fastest way to breakthrough innovation is when diverse ideas come together in an inclusive environment. We encourage our colleagues to respectfully challenge one another’s thinking and approach problems collectively. We are an equal opportunity employer, committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace.

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Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA, also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., Kenilworth, 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:

Relocation:

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Flexible Work Arrangements:

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Requisition ID:R124428