Merck
Director R&D Technical Lead – Animal Health, U.K. (Cambridgeshire)/U.S. (San Diego)
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Job Description
Director R&D Technical Lead – Animal Health, U.K. (Cambridgeshire)/U.S. (San Diego)
About Technology Solutions
Our company’s Animal Health Technology Solutions offers global animal identification and monitoring solutions for companion animals and livestock. These solutions enable pet owners to better manage the health and well-being of their pets and enable livestock producers to improve well-being and animal production. Technology Solutions include Core Technologies in Livestock Identification, Dairy, Beef and Swine monitoring, for which the product/market fit is established, as well as products in discovery.
Our Technology Solutions division is evolving. We are moving to a Product Operating Model – a new way of working that empowers product teams to take full ownership and accountability for delivering customer and business value in ways our customers love and that work for the business.
Our product teams are cross-functional and durable, bringing together all the skills required to deliver impactful outcomes. Each team includes a Product Manager, Technology Lead, Product Designer, Delivery Lead, engineers, and developers.
We believe in customer centricity, ownership, and accountability. Solutions must be:
- Valuable – customers choose to buy or use them
- Viable – aligned with business constraints and goals
- Usable – intuitive and user-friendly
- Feasible – achievable with our technical capabilities
Leadership of the team is shared between the Product Manager and the Technology Lead, ensuring balanced guidance that bridges product vision and technical execution.
We have a new role for a Director R&D Technical Lead – Animal Health. This is for an individual contributor to be based either in Cambridgeshire, U.K. or San Diego, U.S.
Travel requirement for the role: 25%
R&D Technology Lead Role
As Technology Lead, you will be the technical cornerstone of our product team. You will drive the architecture, technical quality, and delivery across hardware, software, data, AI and design. Partnering closely with the Product Managers, designers, and engineers you will ensure that technical solutions align with product goals, customer needs, and business outcomes.
Your role is to lead by example, foster a culture of technical excellence, and ensure the team delivers scalable, high-impact and maintainable technology solutions throughout the product lifecycle.
We are looking for Technology Lead who:
- Thrive on technical ownership, accountability, and customer focus
- Are comfortable signing up for measurable results, even when this means working through others to achieve them
- Collaborate across R&D, leveraging internal platforms and core technical capabilities
- Use data, logic, and influence to guide teammates, stakeholders, and executives
- Foster an environment of continuous learning, innovation, and collaboration
Key Responsibilities
Technical Strategy & Architecture
- Collaborate with Product Managers and designers to translate product goals into technical solutions, with a keen focus on value, business outcomes, and user experience.
- Define and lead product architecture, ensuring scalability, performance, and maintainability
- Lead the product technical design and implementation of product features, ensuring alignment with product vision and customer needs, along the full product lifecycle.
- Drive architectural decisions for the product, in partnership with functional technology leaders, and advocate for best practices in hardware development, software development, data, AI, testing, and deployment.
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Collaboration & Cross-Functional Leadership
- Partner with functional R&D leads to support and grow engineers, fostering a culture of continuous learning, innovation, and technical excellence
- Mentor and coach engineers, modelling best practices across hardware, software, and data engineering
- Collaborate cross-functionally with R&D, Product Management, Design, Supply Chain and Manufacturing, Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success to ensure alignment and delivery
- Facilitate effective communication and collaboration across cross-functional teams, connecting technical teams directly with customers as appropriate
Quality, Delivery & Innovation
- Ensure speed to market of our products, while maintaining appropriate focus on quality, scalability, and performance.
- Identify technical risks early and proactively define mitigation strategies.
- Stay current with emerging technologies, industry trends, and the competitive landscape to continuously improve product capabilities and technical processes
- Drive innovation by leveraging internal platforms and core technologies while exploring new approaches.
Performance & Accountability
- Share accountability with the Product Manager for delivering measurable results against agreed product metrics.
- Define, track, and report on technical performance metrics (e.g., system uptime, scalability, reliability, technical debt management, code quality).
- Ensure engineering practices meet high standards for security, compliance, and sustainability.
- Take ownership of technical trade-offs and ensure decisions balance customer needs, business outcomes, and long-term maintainability.
Required education, experience and skills:
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science, electrical engineering, information systems or related field, or equivalent practical experience.
- Proven experience in system architecture / engineering, technical leadership, or leading development teams in a product-driven environment.
- Strong technical expertise in relevant programming languages, frameworks, and cloud infrastructure.
- Demonstrated expertise in hardware design and engineering as well as software development practices.
- Deep understanding of the product development lifecycle and agile methodologies.
- Excellent problem-solving skills with the ability to make sound technical decisions under uncertainty.
- Experience mentoring and leading engineering teams to deliver high-quality, scalable solutions.
- Strong communication and collaboration skills to work effectively with customers, Product, Design, and Business Stakeholders.
- Passion for building products that solve real customer problems and deliver measurable value.
- A mindset of ownership, accountability, and customer focus; comfortable signing up for results and driving outcomes through others when needed
- Passion for fostering team innovation and leveraging the collective ideas and expertise of cross-functional colleagues.
- Business experience in both large-scale companies and start-ups preferred.
Closing date for applications: 31st May 23.59
Required Skills:
Cloud Infrastructure, Cloud Technology, Collaborative Communications, Collaborative Leadership, Electrical Engineering, Hardware Development, Manufacturing, Pasture Management, Product Lifecycle, Product Management, Technical Debt, Technical Leadership
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Preferred Skills:
Business Enterprise Architecture (BEA), Capability Development, Emerging Technologies, Financial Management, Innovation, Organizational Structures, Portfolio Management, Professional Development, Solution Architecture, Stakeholder Relationship Management, Strategic Planning, Workforce Planning
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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:
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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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
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
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Travel Requirements:
Flexible Work Arrangements: Hybrid
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Job Posting End Date: 06/01/2026
*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.
Requisition ID: R395971
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