Director - Targeted Protein Degradation

Amgen • Thousand Oaks, CA

2d • $206,542 - $279,439

About The Position

Join Amgen’s Mission of Serving Patients At Amgen, if you feel like you’re part of something bigger, it’s because you are. Our shared mission—to serve patients living with serious illnesses—drives all that we do. Since 1980, we’ve helped pioneer the world of biotech in our fight against the world’s toughest diseases. With our focus on four therapeutic areas –Oncology, Inflammation, General Medicine, and Rare Disease– we reach millions of patients each year. As a member of the Amgen team, you’ll help make a lasting impact on the lives of patients as we research, manufacture, and deliver innovative medicines to help people live longer, fuller happier lives. Our award-winning culture is collaborative, innovative, and science based. If you have a passion for challenges and the opportunities that lay within them, you’ll thrive as part of the Amgen team. Join us and transform the lives of patients while transforming your career. Director - Targeted Protein Degradation What you will do Let’s do this. Let’s change the world. The Induced Proximity Platform (IPP) is advancing novel therapeutic modalities that leverage proximity-driven mechanisms to modulate biology in ways not achievable with conventional approaches. By integrating expertise in chemical biology, protein degradation, molecular glues, computational sciences, proteomics, and translational biology, IPP is creating new opportunities to address high-value targets and unlock transformative medicines for patients. We are seeking an accomplished and visionary Director of Targeted Protein Degradation (TPD) to provide scientific leadership for Amgen's targeted protein degradation strategy within IPP. Reporting directly to the Head of IPP, this individual will define and execute a bold scientific vision, build next-generation capabilities, establish strategic partnerships, and drive innovation across the rapidly evolving field of induced proximity therapeutics. The successful candidate will be a recognized leader in targeted protein degradation, chemical biology, or related disciplines, with a demonstrated track record of translating pioneering science into impactful drug discovery opportunities.

Requirements

• Doctorate degree and 4 years of scientific experience OR Master's degree and 8 years of scientific experience OR Bachelor's degree and 10 years of scientific experience
• At least 4 years experience directly managing people and/or leadership experience leading teams, projects, programs, or directing the allocation or resources.
• PhD in Chemical Biology, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Pharmacology, Medicinal Chemistry, or a related scientific discipline.
• Recognized scientific leader with significant contributions to targeted protein degradation, molecular glues, induced proximity biology, or adjacent fields.
• Deep understanding of degrader mechanisms, E3 ligase biology, chemical proteomics, structural biology, and translational pharmacology.
• Experience establishing scientific strategies, building research capabilities, and driving organizational transformation.
• Strong understanding of emerging computational and AI-enabled approaches in drug discovery.
• Demonstrated success developing strategic external collaborations and evaluating innovative technologies.
• Exceptional communication, influencing, and leadership skills with the ability to engage audiences ranging from scientific teams to executive leadership.

Responsibilities

• Build upon Amgen's differentiated Induced Proximity Platform to define and execute a long-term scientific vision for targeted protein degradation and proximity-based therapeutics, expanding the reach of the degrader platform into new biological spaces, therapeutic opportunities, and modalities while strengthening Amgen's leadership in next-generation drug discovery.
• Establish a differentiated scientific strategy that identifies where degradation and proximity-based mechanisms can uniquely address high-value biological targets and disease pathways beyond the reach of conventional therapeutic approaches.
• Drive innovation across the targeted protein degradation landscape, including molecular glues, heterobifunctional degraders, tissue-selective degraders, event-driven pharmacology, and emerging induced proximity modalities.
• Develop frameworks for identifying, evaluating, and prioritizing new biological opportunities enabled by targeted protein degradation and proximity biology.
• Anticipate emerging scientific, technological, and competitive trends and translate them into actionable platform strategies and capability investments.
• Serve as a key scientific advisor to Research leadership, influencing platform investments, capability development, and long-range innovation strategy.
• Foster a culture of scientific ambition, rigor, and innovation that expands the boundaries of what is considered druggable biology.
• Define and build next-generation capabilities required to enable world-leading targeted protein degradation discovery, including chemical biology, proteomics, functional genomics, structural biology, computational biology, machine learning, and translational sciences.
• Champion the integration of AI- and data-driven approaches into target identification, ligand discovery, degrader design, mechanism elucidation, and prediction of therapeutic outcomes.
• Drive the development and adoption of novel experimental and computational technologies that accelerate discovery and deepen mechanistic understanding of induced proximity biology.
• Establish scalable scientific workflows and decision-making frameworks that enable efficient translation of emerging concepts into high-quality drug discovery opportunities.
• Identify capability gaps and proactively build internal expertise, external partnerships, and enabling technologies necessary to maintain scientific leadership in the field.
• Build, mentor, and develop a high-performing multidisciplinary team of scientists spanning chemical biology, protein degradation, chemistry, proteomics, and drug discovery.
• Foster a culture of collaboration, accountability, inclusion, and scientific excellence.
• Attract, develop, and retain exceptional scientific talent while creating opportunities for growth and leadership development.
• Enable a highly innovative environment where bold ideas are encouraged, rigorously evaluated, and translated into impactful scientific outcomes.
• Partner closely with Therapeutic Areas, Medicinal Chemistry, Research Informatics, Translational Sciences, Pharmacology, and Development organizations to maximize the impact of targeted protein degradation across the research portfolio.
• Drive alignment across functions to ensure efficient execution and translation of platform innovations into therapeutic opportunities.
• Identify and evaluate emerging scientific advances, enabling technologies, and partnership opportunities that strengthen platform differentiation and long-term impact.
• Cultivate a broad external network of scientific leaders and innovators to ensure early visibility into transformative advances across chemistry, biology, computation, and drug discovery.
• Represent the IPP organization in scientific, strategic, and executive forums, communicating a compelling vision for how induced proximity biology can create the next generation of transformative medicines.

Benefits

• A comprehensive employee benefits package, including a Retirement and Savings Plan with generous company contributions, group medical, dental and vision coverage, life and disability insurance, and flexible spending accounts
• A discretionary annual bonus program, or for field sales representatives, a sales-based incentive plan
• Stock-based long-term incentives
• Award-winning time-off plans
• Flexible work models where possible.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree