Amgen Inc. Posted June 18, 2026

Process Development Senior Scientist

Thousand Oaks, United States Full time
Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research Senior

Amgen Inc. is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

Career Category

Scientific

Job Description

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.

Process Development Senior Scientist

What you will do

Let’s do this. Let’s change the world. In this vital role you will be responsible for development, characterization, scale-up and support of drug substance processes to enable commercial advancement of programs from Ph II/III clinical trials to marketing application.

Work in a coordinated group in which cell culture and purification scientists work together to advance Amgen’s rich, exciting and dynamic pipeline. With Amgen’s biology first approach, the position provides the outstanding opportunity of being able to work on multiple modalities from antibodies and oncolytic viruses to bispecifics and siRNAs.

The Pivotal Drug Substance Process Development organization at Amgen develops, characterizes and supports the commercialization of biologics drug substance manufacturing processes for all late-stage programs across the Amgen portfolio.

Apply established platform approaches and problem-solving skills to rapidly tackle drug substance challenges and build robust processes with efficient experimentation

Drive innovation and utilize out-of-the-box thinking to contribute to technology development

Expand and develop skills in cell culture and purification, thereby further contributing to the integrated group

Participate in drug substance teams and collaborate cross functionally with analytical and drug product representatives to deliver drug substance manufacturing processes in a phase appropriate manner.

Deliver process amenable to cGMP operation and carry out results of drug substance in a cGMP manufacturing environment

Author, or provide direction for the authorship of, technical report or CMC regulatory submissions which may require minimal additional editing

What we expect of you

We are all different, yet we all use our outstanding contributions to serve patients. The collaborative professional we seek is a dynamic thought leader with these qualifications.

Basic Qualifications:

Doctorate degree

OR

Master’s degree and 4 years of life sciences experience

OR

Bachelor’s degree and 6 years of life sciences experience

OR

Associate’s degree and 10 years of Engineering experience

OR

High School diploma / GED and 12 years of Engineering experience

Preferred Qualifications:

Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Bioengineering, Biomedical engineering, or Bioprocessing discipline or relevant experience in the pharmaceutical or related industry

Experience in bioreactor process development or cell line development

Scientific understanding of current bioreactor technologies, as well as the ability to explore and develop new approaches to further advance innovative bioreactor technologies

Understanding of protein characteristics and critical attributes so as to direct bioreactor development and product/process control strategies

Independently uncovering and resolving issues associated with cell culture and harvest and implementation of scientific projects

Strong technical communication skills, both written and verbal, to interact effectively and appropriately with all stakeholders and document learned information, improvements, and value generated

Motivated self-starter with excellent interpersonal and organizational skills

Leadership experience of progressively increased scope and a demonstrated ability to inspire and lead a group of scientists to deliver on complex and challenging objectives in defined timelines

Demonstrated eminence in the scientific community through a sustained record of peer reviewed publications

Demonstrated success working with diverse team members in a dynamic, cross-functional environment

Familiarity with design of experiments and statistical analysis of data

Knowledge of license application and the drug development process

Exposure to cGMP manufacturing and CMC components of regulatory submissions

What you can expect of us

As we work to develop treatments that take care of others, we also work to care for your professional and personal growth and well-being. From our competitive benefits to our collaborative culture, we’ll support your journey every step of the way.

The expected annual salary range for this role in the U.S. (excluding Puerto Rico) is posted. Actual salary will vary based on several factors including but not limited to, relevant skills, experience, and qualifications.

In addition to the base salary, Amgen offers a Total Rewards Plan, based on eligibility, comprising of health and welfare plans for staff and eligible dependents, financial plans with opportunities to save towards retirement or other goals, work/life balance, and career development opportunities that may include:

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. Refer to the Work Location Type in the job posting to see if this applies.

Apply now and make a lasting impact with the Amgen team.

careers.amgen.com

In any materials you submit, you may redact or remove age-identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation. You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.

Application deadline

Amgen does not have an application deadline for this position; we will continue accepting applications until we receive a sufficient number or select a candidate for the position.

Sponsorship

Sponsorship for this role is not guaranteed.

As an organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for people around the world, Amgen fosters an inclusive environment of diverse, ethical, committed and highly accomplished people who respect each other and live the Amgen values to continue advancing science to serve patients. Together, we compete in the fight against serious disease.

Amgen is an Equal Opportunity employer and will consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, or any other basis protected by applicable law.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

. Salary Range

126,066.05USD -170,559.95 USD

Job details

Seniority
Senior
Function
Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Thousand Oaks, United States
Employment type
Full time

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 188 comparable Senior Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research roles across 30 biopharma companies.

188Comparable roles tracked
170Currently active
30Companies hiring similar roles
12Countries represented

Salary context

62 of 188 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.

This roleSubject Not listed on this posting
Highest disclosed · Senior Principal Scientist, Pharmacokinetics · Merck $194,100/yr – $305,600/yr
Peer group range $105,700 – $249,850 (median $164,150)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 188 comparable roles

United States153
India8
Germany5
United Kingdom5
Canada4
China's Mainland3

+ 6 more countries

Seniority mix

188 of 188 peers have a known seniority level

Senior110
Principal57
Associate Director21

Therapeutic area mix

29 of 188 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology16
Cardiovascular / CVRM7
Immunology4
Neuroscience1
Respiratory1

Similar opportunities

The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.

60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Merck West Point, Pennsylvania, United States of America Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Merck West Point, Pennsylvania, United States of America Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Merck South San Francisco, California, United States of America Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Merck Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country

How we calculate "similar"

No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.

Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.

60%
Scientist/Sr Scientist, Discovery Strategy and Operations
Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Senior Scientist, Computational Safety & Exploratory Pharmacology
Merck · West Point, Pennsylvania, United States of America · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Sr. Scientist, Primary Pharmacology
Pfizer · Groton, United States · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Senior Scientist, Toxicology II
AbbVie · North Chicago, IL · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.