{"id":1026759,"url":"https://alion.io/job/merck-co-vence-collar-tech-lead","title":"Vence Collar Tech Lead","company":{"id":3768,"name":"Merck & Co.","domain":"msd.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/msd","size_band":"5000+","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Workday","truth_index":{"grade":"A","score":100,"open_postings":281,"ghost_share":0.014,"stale_share":0.075,"repost_share":0.085,"time_to_fill_p50_days":12,"computed_at":"2026-10-23T05:54:15Z"}},"role":"Leadership","role_family":"Leadership","seniority":"lead","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Cambridge, United Kingdom","San Diego, United States"],"countries":["GB","US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":87000,"max_usd":190000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":66},"experience_years_min":5,"visa_sponsorship":true,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-09-17T00:00:00Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-19","last_verified_at":"2026-10-23T21:25:32Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":36,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":36},"description":"Job Description\nAnimal 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.\nOur 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.\nOur 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.\nWe believe in customer centricity, ownership, and accountability. Solutions must be:\nValuable - customers choose to buy or use them\nViable - aligned with business constraints and goals\nUsable - intuitive and user-friendly\nFeasible - achievable with our technical capabilities\nLeadership of the team is shared between the Product Manager and the Technology Lead, ensuring balanced guidance that bridges product vision and technical execution.\nRole Summary\nAs the Vence Collar Tech Lead, you will provide technical leadership for the animal wearable device (collar) within the broader Vencesolution. You will lead the technical design and execution of the collar from concept through mass production, ensuring the solution is technically robust, manufacturable, reliable, and scalable in real-world farm environments.\nYou will work as part of the Vence core product team, in close partnership with the Vence Collar Product Manager, R&D teams, NPI, Operations, Customer Success, and manufacturing partners. You will be accountable for technical architecture, system integration, validation, risk management, and technical readiness for launch and ongoing support.\nWe are looking for a Vence Collar Tech Lead who:\nThrives on leading technical development of products that customers love, understanding customer problems and leading the development and delivery of technological solutions\nIs guided by measurable results related to collar performance and customer outcomes\nCollaborates across R&D, NPI, Operations, Supply Chain, and Customer Success to deliver a technically strong device\nUses field data and technical evidence to guide engineering tradeoffs and improvements\nFosters an environment of continuous learning, innovation, and collaboration in a multidisciplinary team\nKey Responsibilities\nCollar Technical Strategy, Architecture, and Design\nWork with the Vence Collar Product Manager and cross-functional partners to understand Vence customer needs and translate agreed product outcomes into technical solutions for the collar.\nLead the technical architecture and system design for the collar, including electronics, mechanics, embedded software, RF communications, integration, and validation.\nDefine and drive engineering solutions that meet performance, reliability, manufacturability, and cost constraints.\nEnsure collar designs and algorithms are compatible with and make effective use of relevant Core Platforms, avoiding duplication of platform responsibilities.\nEvaluate technical feasibility, complexity, and risk for proposed design changes and solutions.\nOwn collar-specific product outcomes and metrics (e.g., field failure/return rates, installation/activation success, battery life, robustness, unit cost) and use these to guide design trade-offs\nCollaboration, Product Discovery & Cross Functional Leadership\nWork as part of the Vence core product team to define goals and solve customer problems related to the collar, bringing collar-specific technical and field insights into decisions.\nDrive and participate in product discovery for collar-related problems:Engage with Customer Success, field teams, and customers to understand pain points (installation, comfort, durability, reliability).\nHelp define and run experiments and trials to validate ideas before committing to full design changes.\n\nCollaborate cross-functionally with R&D functional managers, engineers, product design, NPI, Operations, Supply Chain, and Customer Success to ensure alignment and delivery. \nValidation, Quality, and NPI Readiness\nEnsure speed to market while maintaining focus on quality, robustness, and performance in demanding environments.\nCollaborate with NPI and Operations on production launch and ramp-up, as well as ongoing mass production support.\nDefine and oversee validation strategy, technical acceptance criteria, and readiness activities.\nIdentify risks early and proactively define mitigation strategies.\nSupport ongoing operations by investigating and resolving field issues and feeding insights into future improvements.\nStay current with relevant IoT, hardware, and wearable technologies and industry trends.\nPromote innovation while maintaining strong focus on reliability, safety, and field performance.\nPerformance and Accountability\nOwn the technical architecture and engineering of the collar and ensure the solution achieves customer outcomes.\nDeliver high-quality technical solutions that meet agreed requirements and performance targets.\nTrack and report technical metrics such as reliability, test coverage, yield, field failure rates, and risks.\nEnsure engineering decisions balance feasibility, reliability, maintainability, manufacturability, and cost.\nProvide strong technical input to support product decisions.\nRequired Qualifications\nBSc/MSc in Electrical Engineering or a related discipline.\nMinimum 5 years of experience in technical leadership or technical project management for multidisciplinary hardware products.\nProven experience working in a product team and collaborating cross-functionally.\nMinimum of 5 years of experience working in medium and large-scale companies.\nComprehensive knowledge of IoT architecture, embedded systems, hardware, mechanics, integration, and validation.\nExperience developing mass-production products for wireless IoT or wearable devices.\nProven experience working throughout the entire product life cycle, from discovery and concept through design, validation, and mass production.\nExperience working on complex products requiring a high level of technical know-how and coordination across multiple geographic locations.\nExcellent communication, presentation, and organizational skills.\nPassion for building products that solve real customer problems and deliver measurable value in the field.\nA mindset of ownership, accountability, and customer focus; comfortable signing up for results and driving outcomes through others when needed.\nPreferred Qualifications\nExperience in geofencing, animal technology, or similar field-deployed hardware solutions.\nCharacteristics\nAbility to lead as an individual contributor within a matrix environment, influencing without direct line authority.\nStrong ability to focus on what is important to the customer and the business, not just what is technically interesting.\nWillingness to travel to meet customers, field teams, manufacturing partners, and remote R&D teams.\nProblem solver with a “can-do” attitude and strong desire for learning and innovation.\nExcellent team player, able to collaborate closely with the Vence Product Manager, Vence Tech Lead, Vence core product team, engineering, NPI, Operations, and Customer Success.\nPassion for fostering team innovation and leveraging the collective ideas and expertise of cross-functional colleagues.\nRequired Skills:\nPreferred Skills:\nChange Controls, Portfolio, Programme, and Project Support, Problem Management, Release Management, Risk Management, Strategic Planning, System DesignsCurrent Employees apply HERE\nCurrent Contingent Workers apply HERE\nUS and Puerto Rico Residents Only:\nOur 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.\nAs 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. Asa 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:\nEEOC Know Your Rights\nEEOC GINA Supplement\nWe 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.\nLearn more about your rights, including under California, Colorado and other US State Acts\nSan Francisco Residents Only: We will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment in compliance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance\nLos 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\nSearch Firm Representatives Please Read Carefully\nMerck & 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.\nEmployee Status:\nRegularRelocation:\nDomestic/InternationalVISA Sponsorship:\nYesTravel Requirements:\nNo Travel RequiredFlexible Work Arrangements:\nNot ApplicableShift:\nNot IndicatedValid Driving License:\nNoHazardous Material(s):\nN/AJob Posting End Date:\n11/9/2026*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.","description_format":"text","description_chars":11082,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":5,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Continuous learning","Flexible schedule"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"Puerto Rico","iso":"PR","kind":"country"},{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":true,"industries":["Veterinary Medicine","Vaccines","Biologics & Biosimilars","Oncology Therapeutics"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-18T12:00:25Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":21,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.594,"p_room":0.35,"age_days":36,"expected_fill_days":12,"reasons":["conf:1","velocity","win:tail","comp:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-10-23T05:54:15Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/merck-co-vence-collar-tech-lead","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/merck-co-vence-collar-tech-lead.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-23T21:56:22Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":4381,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-24T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":3768},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=3768"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fmerck-co-vence-collar-tech-lead"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fmerck-co-vence-collar-tech-lead"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fmerck-co-vence-collar-tech-lead"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/merck-co-vence-collar-tech-lead\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fmerck-co-vence-collar-tech-lead"}]}