Senior Principal Scientist, Skin Biology and Inflammation

Amgen • Thousand Oaks, CA

7d

About The Position

The Senior Principal Scientist, Skin Biology and Inflammation, serves as a senior scientific leader in skin biology, shaping therapeutic hypotheses, programs, and capabilities across Inflammation Research. The role connects experimental biology with human data, computational science, AI, automation, and emerging technologies to support high-quality decisions from target discovery through early development.

The scientist provides leadership for discovery programs, technology platforms, or strategic initiatives focused on skin biology and inflammatory disease. They define human-biology-driven hypotheses and translate them into integrated experimental and computational strategies for target identification and validation, patient segmentation, and differentiated therapeutic approaches. The role also guides program strategy, milestone definition, experimental prioritization, risk assessment, and resolution of complex scientific issues, with accountability for scientific quality and delivery against longer-term objectives.

The role involves collaboration across scientific, computational, engineering, translational, clinical, and project teams; mentoring colleagues; influencing functional strategy; communicating recommendations to internal and external audiences; and building external scientific eminence through collaborations and scientific or technical contributions.

Requirements

• Doctorate degree (PhD, PharmD, or MD, with relevant postdoctoral training where applicable) and 3 years of relevant experience; or master’s degree and 6 years of relevant experience; or bachelor’s degree and 8 years of relevant experience.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including ability to frame complex science, uncertainty, and recommendations for technical and senior leadership audiences.
• Demonstrated excellence in project leadership and ability to balance scientific rigor, strategic focus, urgency, adaptability, and operational execution.
• Commitment to coaching others, sharing knowledge, and building a connected, inclusive, and inspiring environment.

Nice To Haves

• Deep expertise in keratinocyte biology, stromal or fibroblast biology, skin inflammation, epithelial-immune crosstalk, wound repair, tissue remodeling, and/or inflammatory diseases of the skin.
• Strong record of applying human tissues, disease-relevant cellular systems, organotypic models, spatial biology, single-cell methods, imaging, omics, functional genomics, or perturbational approaches to define mechanisms.
• Demonstrated experience using AI-enabled tools, machine learning, computational biology, agentic research workflows, advanced analytics, or data integration to generate and test biological hypotheses.
• Ability to identify where technology can create a step change in biological understanding, then build partnerships and workflows that convert promising concepts into robust capabilities.
• Experience advancing drug discovery programs and understanding how target biology connects to modality, biomarkers, translational strategy, clinical differentiation, and portfolio value.
• Evidence of scientific influence beyond an immediate team, such as cross-functional leadership, external collaborations, invited presentations, senior authorship, patents, or other recognized contributions.

Responsibilities

• Provide scientific leadership for discovery programs, technology platforms, or strategic initiatives focused on skin biology and inflammatory disease.
• Define human-biology-driven hypotheses and translate them into integrated experimental and computational strategies for target identification, validation, patient segmentation, and differentiated therapeutic approaches.
• Design, direct, and interpret complex studies using relevant human tissues and advanced preclinical systems.
• Apply AI-enabled, computational, agentic, and data-science approaches to synthesize evidence, generate mechanistic insights, prioritize experiments, and improve scientific decision-making.
• Partner with computational scientists, engineers, automation experts, translational scientists, human geneticists, clinicians, and project teams to develop integrated datasets and predictive biological models.
• Identify, evaluate, and implement emerging technologies that improve the study of skin biology, including tissue models, imaging, multi-omics, high-content phenotyping, functional genomics, and scalable experimental platforms.
• Guide program strategy, milestone definition, experimental prioritization, risk assessment, and resolution of complex scientific issues.
• Be accountable for scientific quality and delivery against longer-term objectives.
• Influence project, departmental, and broader functional strategy by identifying external scientific and technology trends and translating them into actionable opportunities.
• Lead and contribute to cross-functional teams, connecting expertise across the organization to deliver results.
• Coach and provide scientific and technical guidance to colleagues while fostering an inclusive, connected, curious, and high-performing research culture.
• Communicate scientific strategy, evidence, uncertainty, and recommendations to project teams, senior leaders, governance bodies, and external scientific audiences.
• Build external scientific eminence through influential collaborations, conference participation, publications, patents, and other reviewed scientific or technical outputs.

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.
• 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.
• Career development opportunities.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior