Amgen Inc. Posted July 16, 2026

Scientist - Medicinal Chemistry

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. 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.

Scientist – Medicinal Chemistry

What you will do

Let’s do this. Let’s change the world. In this vital role you be part of an innovative Medicinal Chemistry group with responsibilities including (but not limited to) the design, synthesis, and purification of novel compounds for potential clinical drug development. This will also include the opportunity to work within Amgen’s Induced Proximity Platform (IPP), which is focused on novel and innovative approaches to modulate intractable targets in diseases using the emerging PROTAC modality.

This is an onsite laboratory position at our Thousand Oaks, CA site.

Responsibilities:

The Scientist will work in teams to develop, implement and perform organic reactions for ongoing Medicinal Chemistry teams, including troubleshooting of synthetic routes and reactions, scouting of new synthetic routes and performing high difficulty synthetic chemistry.

Furthermore, you will contribute to the design of new compounds and the development of structure-activity relationships.

This individual will perform structural determinations using NMR and mass spectral techniques and purify compounds using a variety of techniques.

They will be recognized as a lab leader and should demonstrate excellent verbal and written communication skills.

Additional responsibilities include maintaining laboratory notebooks, participating in group and project meetings and, as needed, presenting to groups and aiding in the writing of papers and patent applications

What we expect of you

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

Basic Qualifications:

Doctorate Degree

Master’s degree and 2 years of laboratory experience OR

Bachelor’s degree and 4 years of laboratory experience

Preferred Qualifications:

Track record of accomplishments (e.g., peer-reviewed publications)

Demonstrated ability to scout and troubleshoot synthetic routes, and perform high difficulty synthetic chemistry

Clear understanding of structural determination using NMR and Mass Spectral techniques as well as knowledge of purification methods

Demonstration of good lab practices, with particular attention to safety

Excellent communication skills (both written and oral), leadership skills and the ability to work well in teams

What you can expect from 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, including remote and hybrid work arrangements, where possible

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.

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. Amgen is an Equal Opportunity employer and will consider you without regard to your race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, or disability status.

. Salary Range

111,695.10USD -151,116.90 USD

Job details

Seniority
Not listed
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 431 comparable Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research roles across 56 biopharma companies.

431Comparable roles tracked
408Currently active
56Companies hiring similar roles
19Countries represented

Salary context

161 of 431 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function. This posting doesn't list a seniority level, so peers aren't narrowed by seniority either -- the range below may span more levels than usual.

This roleSubject Not listed on this posting
Highest disclosed · AVP/ Head, Quantitative Pharmacology & Pharmacometrics - Oncology · Merck $282,200/yr – $444,200/yr
Peer group range $0 – $363,200 (median $183,250)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 431 comparable roles

United States333
India15
United Kingdom13
Canada11
Switzerland9
Germany8

+ 13 more countries

Seniority mix

352 of 431 peers have a known seniority level

Senior97
Principal75
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc67
Director39
Associate22
Associate Director22
Senior Director14
Executive/VP8
Manager8

Therapeutic area mix

59 of 431 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology27
Immunology11
Neuroscience7
Cardiovascular / CVRM6
Vaccines & Infectious Disease2
Rare Disease2
Respiratory2
Ophthalmology1
Gastroenterology1

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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.

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Notify me about similar jobs

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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.

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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.