Principal Scientist – Surface Biology Early Validation Lead

Amgen•Thousand Oaks, CA

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. Amgen is advancing a broad and deep pipeline of medicines to treat cancer, heart disease, inflammatory conditions, rare diseases, and obesity and obesity-related conditions. 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 Scientist – Surface Biology Early Validation Lead What you will do Let’s do this. Let’s change the world. We are building a high-throughput surface biology capability to enable early validation and characterization of membrane protein targets across Therapeutic Areas. This work focuses on generating high-quality experimental data to deepen understanding of target biology and support downstream therapeutic exploration. We are seeking an experienced Principal Scientist to lead a team focused on early-stage experimental strategies and assay development to evaluate membrane protein expression, localization, and internalization. In this role, you will guide the development and application of cell-based and quantitative assays, working closely with cross-functional partners to ensure data are robust, scalable, and aligned with discovery needs. You will operate in a highly collaborative environment, partnering with Therapeutic Area teams and platform functions to deliver biologically relevant insights that support target evaluation.

Requirements

Doctorate degree and 3 years of scientific experience OR Master’s degree and 7 years of scientific experience OR Bachelor’s degree and 9 years of scientific experience OR Associate’s degree and 12 years of scientific experience OR High school diploma / GED and 14 years of scientific experience
In addition to meeting at least one of the above requirements, you must have a minimum of 3 years of experience directly managing people and/or leadership experience leading teams, projects, programs, or directing the allocation of resources.
Your managerial experience may run concurrently with the required technical experience referenced above

Nice To Haves

PhD in Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, or related discipline
5+ years of relevant industry experience, including leadership of scientific projects or teams
Strong track record in cell-based assay development and early target validation
Experience working with membrane proteins or receptor biology
Demonstrated ability to collaborate across functions to support discovery programs
Strong communication, organization, and problem-solving skills

Responsibilities

Provide scientific and operational leadership for a team supporting early target validation
Lead the design and execution of cell-based and quantitative assays to discover and evaluate membrane protein biology
Establish robust, scalable workflows to support multiple discovery programs
Interpret experimental data and communicate clear, actionable insights to project teams
Partner with cross-functional stakeholders across the Discovery Sciences and Advanced Technologies and AI organization, Therapeutic Discovery, and Therapeutic Areas.
Collaborate across teams to integrate data and inform target evaluation and prioritization
Identify and implement new technologies to enhance assay robustness and throughput
Mentor and develop scientists, fostering a culture of rigor, collaboration, and accountability

Benefits

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

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