Vertex Fall 2025 Co-op, Operational Excellence, Vertex Manufacturing Center (Boston, MA)

Job Description

The Vertex Co-op Program offers students the opportunity to learn about the pharmaceutical industry from a hands-on perspective. You will be working closely with and learning from some of the brightest people in the industry. When you join our co-op program you should not be surprised to see that our environment is one that is innovative and team oriented, where collaboration is not just a word, and "we are relentless" is in everything we do. Students can expect to be challenged by their project plan, connect with other co-ops, and feel valued by the Vertex community. Not only will co-ops learn about their day-to-day tasks through their specific work assignments, but they will interact and have exposure to our organizational leaders and their teams.

Job Summary:

Help us design the future of how science gets done.

Join Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ Operational Excellence team at our internal manufacturing site in Boston, where you’ll play a hands-on role in creating a digital experience that improves how our development teams collaborate, access data, and drive therapies from bench to clinic. You’ll partner with experts across formulation development, analytical development, and manufacturing to build a user-friendly internal landing page that supports faster, clearer, and more connected decision-making.

This role is ideal for a data-savvy student with an interest in UX/UI design, digital product development, and real-world impact in the life sciences.

Key Responsibilities:

This role will support the UX/UI design and development of a landing page for our internal Customers, which will serve as a hub to streamline communication, coordination, and exchange of information. The landing page will be built on a custom graph database platform, already in place and in use.

Day-to-Day Duties:

• Build a user-friendly information hub using our graph database platform. You'll work with platform developers to solve technical issues and learn how to best use the system.
• Work with our VMC Operational Excellence team members to translate “Voice of the Scientist” input into useful knowledge hub features that help Scientists and Manufacturing personnel do their jobs better.
• Work with another co-op student who focuses on how data is organized and managed, to ensure everything connects properly behind the scenes.
• Test what you built with actual users to make sure it's easy to use and make improvements based on their feedback.
• Write easy-to-follow guides and help documentation for users, plus a manual for future team members who will maintain the site.

Why this Role is Exciting:

• You’ll create a real, functional digital product used by Vertex scientists and engineers.
• You’ll bridge the gap between human-centered design and complex scientific and manufacturing data.
• You’ll learn how cross-functional teams come together to make cutting-edge therapies possible.
• You’ll walk away with tangible portfolio pieces and a deeper understanding of how digital transformation happens in biopharmaceutical sciences.

Qualifications:

Education & Experience:

• Currently pursuing a bachelor’s or master’s degree in one of the following fields:
  • Data Science
  • Human Factors Engineering
  • User Experience (UX) Design
  • Computer Science or Information Systems
  • Bioinformatics or Biomedical Engineering (with demonstrated UX or data visualization experience)

Technical Skills:

• Strong familiarity with graph data models or knowledge graphs (e.g., Neo4j, RDF-based systems), or a demonstrated interest and willingness to learn quickly
• Familiarity with data visualization tools such as Power BI, Tableau, or Excel dashboards.
• Experience with programming for data analysis (e.g., Python, SQL, R).
• Understanding of human-centered design principles and best practices for intuitive navigation and visual hierarchy.
• Ability to take high-level requirements and translate them into actionable design and functionality.
• Exposure to semantic ontologies (e.g. NIIMBL), preferred.
• Familiarity with HTML/CSS/JavaScript or low-code platforms for rapid prototyping, preferred.

Communication & Collaboration:

• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work effectively in a team-oriented environment.

Initiative & Learning Agility:

• Willingness to learn new tools and methodologies.
• Curiosity and problem-solving mindset. Comfortable asking clarifying questions, proposing design options and troubleshooting ambiguities.
• Legal authorization to work in the United States, now and in the future. Please note that Vertex