Amgen Inc. Posted September 17, 2026

Associate Scientist - PKMD - Lab Operations

Thousand Oaks, United States Full time
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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.

Associate Scientist – PKMD – Lab Operations

What you will do

Let’s do this. Let’s change the world. In this vital role you will be responsible for ensuring that laboratory equipment, computerized systems, and associated processes remain compliant, fit for intended use, and inspection-ready throughout their lifecycle. The role provides validation leadership and support for GxP-regulated systems and equipment, including planning, risk assessment, change control, testing, documentation, implementation, maintenance, and retirement activities.

This position partners with system owners, laboratory scientists, IT, automation, Quality, Data Integrity, and external vendors to maintain regulatory compliance and data integrity in alignment with 21 CFR Part 58 and Part 11 requirements. The Associate Scientist also supports equipment setup and assists scientific staff with compliant data generation, quality control, user access, reporting, and SOP adherence.

Key Responsibilities:

Computerized System Validation (CSV)

Lead and support validation activities for computerized systems, laboratory software, and GxP-regulated applications.

Develop validation strategies using risk-based validation principles.

Author, review, and maintain validation deliverables including: Validation Plans (VPR)

Risk Assessments

Requirements Specifications

Qualification Protocols

Traceability Matrices

Validation Summary Reports (VSR)

Coordinate and execute qualification and validation testing activities.

Ensure systems maintain a validated state throughout their lifecycle.

Change Control & Lifecycle Management

Lead validation assessments for equipment and system changes.

Evaluate software upgrades, patches, configuration changes, and system enhancements.

Participate in system implementation, expansion, relocation, and decommissioning activities.

Support periodic reviews and lifecycle documentation maintenance.

Compliance & Data Integrity

Ensure compliance with applicable regulations, including GxP requirements and electronic records controls.

Support audit readiness and regulatory inspections.

Review system security, user access controls, audit trail functionality, and data integrity controls.

Investigate and document validation exceptions, deviations, and corrective actions.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Partner with laboratory operations, system owners, SMEs, IT, automation, quality, and vendors.

Facilitate validation kickoff meetings, testing coordination, and issue resolution.

Provide validation guidance for new technologies, laboratory instruments, and business processes.

Support business continuity and disaster recovery planning for regulated systems.

Documentation & Training

Maintain complete and accurate validation documentation in approved quality systems.

Develop and update validation procedures, work instructions, and templates.

Train users and stakeholders in validation processes and change control requirements.

Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives that enhance efficiency while maintaining compliance.

What we expect of you

We are all different, yet we all use our unique contributions to serve patients. The Associate Scientist we seek is a researcher with these qualifications.

Basic Qualifications:

Master’s degree and 1 year of laboratory experience

OR

Bachelor’s degree and 3 years of laboratory experience

Preferred Qualifications:

Advanced degree preferred.

5+ years of experience supporting equipment, quality, laboratory operations, information systems, or regulated environments.

Experience with computerized system validation and lifecycle management.

Experience working in GLP, GCP, or other regulated environments.

Experience supporting laboratory instruments, data systems, or automation platforms preferred.

Strong understanding of validation methodologies.

Knowledge of risk-based validation approaches.

Familiarity with validation documentation, traceability, testing, and change control.

Understanding of data integrity principles and regulated system requirements.

Excellent technical writing and documentation skills.

Strong organizational, communication, and project coordination abilities.

Ability to work effectively across multiple functions and priorities.

Systems remain inspection ready and in a validated state.

Validation deliverables are completed accurately and on schedule.

Regulatory findings related to validation and data integrity are minimized.

Effective support of system implementations, upgrades, and lifecycle activities.

Strong stakeholder satisfaction and cross-functional collaboration.

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

91,528.00USD -123,832.00 USD

Job details

Seniority
Associate
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 96 comparable Associate Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research roles across 26 biopharma companies.

96Comparable roles tracked
91Currently active
26Companies hiring similar roles
11Countries represented

Salary context

25 of 96 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
Peer group range $75,510 – $155,000 (median $90,600)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 96 comparable roles

United States70
France6
Germany4
Canada4
Switzerland3
Iceland3

+ 5 more countries

Seniority mix

96 of 96 peers have a known seniority level

Intern/Fellow/Postdoc67
Associate21
Manager8

Therapeutic area mix

13 of 96 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology5
Neuroscience4
Immunology3
Cardiovascular / CVRM1

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
Pfizer Cambridge, United States Associate
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Thousand Oaks, United StatesSouth San Francisco, United States
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Notify me about similar jobs

Get an email when we spot other openings like this one – same job function, comparable seniority, roles you'd actually want to see.

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%
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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.