Principal Engineer

Amgen•Thousand Oaks, CA

2d•$140,334 - $189,864•Onsite

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. Amgen is advancing a broad and deep pipeline and portfolio of medicines to treat heart disease, obesity and obesity-related conditions, rare diseases, inflammatory conditions and cancer. 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. Principal Engineer What you will do Let’s do this. Let’s change the world. In this vital role you will join the Drug Product Technologies (DPT) group to join our Thousand Oaks, CA team. This role is responsible for the development, characterization, and technology leadership of aseptic fill/finish operations, including Filling, Lyophilization and visual inspection systems, and in maturing our platforms ecosystem supporting late-stage drug product programs across biologic modalities. The Principal Engineer will need to stay ahead of the latest developments/trends in the industry and scientific community to foster innovation and to meet future business needs. The position requires deep expertise in E2E aseptic manufacturing technologies, and process development strategy, with an emphasis on platform harmonization, simplification, automation, and data-driven decision making. The Principal Engineer will provide technical and strategic leadership while integrating cross-functional information to ensure success throughout the product lifecycle, from process characterization to commercialization and global tech transfers. The successful candidate will operate in a fast-paced, matrixed environment, collaborating across Drug Product Technologies, Quality, Regulatory, and Manufacturing Operations. They will be accountable for advancing technical solutions, driving innovation, and improving operational efficiency across the network. A successful candidate will be self-motivated, able to manage complex work packages, and excel at influencing across teams. They will also bring a forward-looking mindset—staying ahead of trends and technology to shape the future of drug product development at Amgen. This position requires up to 10% travel to domestic and international sites.

Requirements

Doctorate degree and 2 years of engineering or operations experience
Master’s degree and 4 years of engineering or operations experience
Bachelor’s degree and 6 years of engineering or operations experience
Associate’s degree and 10 years of engineering or operations experience
High school diploma/GED and 12 years of engineering or operations experience

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree in Engineering, Biotechnology, Pharmaceutics or related discipline with experience in pharmaceutical development and manufacturing.
5+ years of relevant experience in pharmaceutical/biotech development
Experience in designing drug product unit operations such as freeze/thaw, formulation/mixing, filtration, filling, lyophilization, capping, and visual inspection
Experience in technical transfer of drug product processes to manufacturing sites
Strong skills in applying fundamental engineering and scientific principles to process design
Experience in recipe development using offline (Pilot) capabilities or in the manufacturing environment
Experience leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Generative AI (GenAI) tools to drive automation, enhance data analysis, optimize workflows, and develop AI-powered solutions for business and operational efficiency.
Proficiency in digital technologies and automation systems related to aseptic processing and filling operations, including experience with data analytics, process monitoring tools, and digital process control systems.
Proven experience with Process tech transfer, Process characterization and validation Statistical software (e.g., JMP, Minitab)
Familiarity with FDA/EU GMP standards, global regulatory requirements
Strong project management and cross-functional leadership skills
Experience that includes elements of new product development, aseptic processing, filling, lyophilization, manual / automated visual inspection, process characterization, equipment design and implementation, technical transfers to global manufacturing sites, statistical process control (SPC), and statistical design and analysis of experiments.
Proven ability to learn and act on dynamic information at a rapid pace.
Excellent written and verbal communication

Responsibilities

Lead the design and execution of process development for aseptic filling, lyophilization, and visual inspection.
Apply comprehensive knowledge of process and product commercialization to develop and standardize tools that improve business-process efficiency and harmonization, including study designs, prior-knowledge assessments, lessons learned, and protocol and report templates.
Partner with unit operation owners and subject matter experts to advance these activities.
Partner with cross-functional subject matter experts across the drug product manufacturing network to execute filling, lyophilization, and visual inspection characterization and recipe development, enabling technology transfers and new product introductions across clinical and commercial manufacturing sites.
Collaborate across functions to identify and implement process improvements, provide technical support, and facilitate knowledge sharing across sites.
Analyze data using advanced statistical and analytical techniques and statistical software.
Support clinical and commercial fill/finish manufacturing, as needed, through process capability analysis, troubleshooting, root-cause analysis, and product impact assessments for nonconformance investigations and process changes or improvements.
Apply and advance in silico modeling tools.
Author and review guidance documents, technical protocols and reports, product impact assessments, and regulatory sections supporting IND and marketing application submissions.
Provide progress reports and presentations that keep management informed and engaged on program status, advancement, and future functional needs.
Periodically support the authorship of manuscripts and technical articles, departmental workshops, and evaluations of offline capabilities.