Lead Developer (all genders)

JobsCloseBy Editorial Insights

Merck Group seeks a Lead Developer to lead the technical direction of cloud native services in their identity security platform used across 150 sites. You’ll design and implement from design to production, lead by example, and collaborate with an SRE team to ensure reliability. Key requirements include ownership of production systems, strong Java with TypeScript and Go as a plus, microservices and Kubernetes experience, and security fundamentals with familiarity of SSO protocols. English required, German a plus. Onsite in Weiterstadt, full time. To apply, tailor your CV to showcase leadership of production systems, secure by design thinking, CI/CD and observability, and outcomes with tools like Kafka and Grafana.

Work Your Magic with us!  

Ready to explore, break barriers, and discover more? We know you’ve got big plans – so do we! Our colleagues across the globe love innovating with science and technology to enrich people’s lives with our solutions in Healthcare, Life Science, and Electronics. Together, we dream big and are passionate about caring for our rich mix of people, customers, patients, and planet. That's why we are always looking for curious minds that see themselves imagining the unimaginable with us.  

Build and evolve components in our self-developed identity and security platform used across 150+ global sites. As a Lead Developer, you’ll own the technical direction of key services (from design to production), lead by example in implementation, and work closely with a dedicated SRE team that runs and operates the solutions—so you can focus on building robust software.

Your role:

• Lead the design and development of cloud-native services and platform components (security, IAM/SSO, data/observability).
• Translate product and security requirements into robust architectures and high-quality implementations.
• Drive engineering best practices (code quality, testing, reviews, CI/CD, secure-by-design).
• Collaborate with SREs to ensure reliability, scalability, and operational excellence (SLIs/SLOs, incident learnings, hardening).
• Mentor engineers and enable the team to deliver sustainably and confidently.

Who you are:

• Professional software engineering experience with ownership of production systems.
• Strong hands-on development skills (ideally Java ; TypeScript and Go is a plus).
• Solid understanding of microservices and Kubernetes-based delivery.
• Good grasp of security fundamentals (authentication/authorization, secure coding; familiarity with SSO protocols like OIDC/OAuth/SAML is a plus).
• Experience working with modern platform components such as streaming, analytics, and observability stacks is beneficial.
• Interest or experience in IT security (e.g., threat modeling, secure architecture, vulnerability management, or security testing) is beneficial.
• Fluent in English (German is a plus).

Our environment (you’ll work with)

• Kubernetes, IaC, GitOps, and a self-hosted, cloud-native ecosystem
• Common technologies across the team: Kafka, Flink, Postgres, Neo4J, Grafana, Elasticsearch, plus Java, TypeScript, Go
• Strong partnership with an experienced SRE team for operations and reliability

What we offer: We are curious minds that come from a broad range of backgrounds, perspectives, and life experiences. We believe that this variety drives excellence and innovation, strengthening our ability to lead in science and technology. We are committed to creating access and opportunities for all to develop and grow at your own pace. Join us in building a culture of inclusion and belonging that impacts millions and empowers everyone to work their magic and champion human progress!

Apply now and become a part of a team that is dedicated to Sparking Discovery and Elevating Humanity!