Senior RNA Chemist – RNA Therapeutics

Amgen • Thousand Oaks, CA

3d • $123,777 - $167,463

About The Position

Join Amgen’s Mission of Serving Patients. 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. In this vital role you will focus on advancing programable mRNA design, synthesis, purification, and characterization strategies to enable the discovery and development of next-generation mRNA medicines. You will bring strong expertise in RNA chemistry and nucleic acid therapeutics and will work at the interface of molecular design, analytical characterization, and platform innovation. You will also collaborate across multidisciplinary teams to develop robust RNA technologies that improve therapeutic performance, stability, manufacturability, and translational potential.

Requirements

• Doctorate degree PhD OR PharmD OR MD [and relevant post-doc where applicable] OR Master’s degree and 3 years of relevant scientific experience OR Bachelor’s degree and 5 years of relevant scientific experience

Nice To Haves

• PhD + 2 years relevant experience in RNA chemistry, oligonucleotide chemistry, nucleic acid therapeutics, or related discipline.
• Strong background in the design, synthesis, and optimization of RNA molecules, including experience with mRNA and/or circRNA.
• Hands-on experience with in vitro transcription, RNA purification, and analytical characterization.
• Experience in cell culture and functional in vitro assays for quantification of RNA expression.
• Experience with FPLC purification and familiarity with chromatography-based workflows for biomolecule purification.
• Knowledge of modified nucleotides, capping technologies, circularization methods, and structure-function relationships in RNA systems.
• Understanding how RNA chemistry and purification impact stability, translation efficiency, immunogenicity, and manufacturability.
• Demonstrated ability to independently design experiments, troubleshoot technical challenges, and drive scientific progress.
• Strong record of collaboration in multidisciplinary drug discovery or platform development environments.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with experience presenting scientific data to cross-functional teams.
• Track record of innovation as evidenced by publications, patents, or advancement of enabling technologies.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement high-throughput strategies for modular assembly of mRNA elements to achieve maximal payload expression and programable cellular performance for therapeutic applications.
• Develop and advance mRNA platform technologies, including chemical modification strategies, capping approaches, and sequence/structure optimization.
• Lead experimental efforts to improve RNA quality, purity, stability, and biological activity.
• Develop and apply purification strategies for mRNA, including experience with FPLC-based purification methods where applicable.
• Utilize and interpret analytical methods for mRNA characterization, including HPLC, FPLC, LC-MS, gel electrophoresis, capillary electrophoresis, UV/Vis, and related biochemical and biophysical techniques.
• Evaluate the impact of sequence, structure, chemical modifications, and purification approaches on mRNA performance and developability through functional in vitro assays.
• Collaborate closely with cross-functional partners in molecular biology, delivery, formulation, process development, bioanalytics, and translational sciences.
• Clearly document experimental work and communicate findings through internal reports, presentations, patent disclosures, and scientific publications.
• Contribute to the development of scalable and reproducible workflows that support RNA therapeutic platform advancement.

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: Senior