Principal Scientist - Cardiometabolic Disorders

Join Amgen’s mission of serving patients. At Amgen, 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 a 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.

About the role

In this vital role, you will provide scientific leadership for the discovery and preclinical development of next-generation therapeutics for obesity and related cardiometabolic diseases. You will lead the design and execution of translational pharmacology strategies to advance innovative therapeutic candidates from target validation through candidate selection. As a Principal Scientist, you will drive scientific excellence across multiple discovery programs by integrating human biology, in vitro pharmacology, and in vivo efficacy studies to establish a robust pharmacological understanding and enable data-driven decision making. You will work closely with multidisciplinary teams spanning biology, protein engineering, pharmacokinetics, toxicology, biomarker sciences, computational biology, and clinical development.

Responsibilities

• Provide scientific leadership for obesity drug discovery programs from target identification and validation through candidate selection.
• Develop and implement translational pharmacology strategies to evaluate novel therapeutic mechanisms and optimize candidate molecules.
• Design, oversee, and interpret in vitro and in vivo pharmacology studies, including efficacy, mechanism-of-action, PK/PD, and biomarker investigations.
• Lead cross-functional scientific discussions and influence program direction through rigorous data interpretation and critical thinking.
• Identify and implement innovative pharmacology approaches and emerging technologies to advance GPCR-targeted drug discovery.
• Mentor and develop scientists while fostering scientific excellence, innovation, and collaboration.
• Present scientific findings and recommendations to project teams, senior leadership, and external scientific audiences.
• Contribute to publications, presentations, and scientific strategy that strengthen Amgen's obesity research portfolio.

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications

• Doctorate degree (PhD, PharmD, or MD) and 2 years of experience in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or related drug discovery research (including relevant post-doc where applicable), or
• Master’s degree and 5 years of experience in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or related drug discovery research, or
• Bachelor’s degree and 7 years of experience in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or related drug discovery research.

Preferred Qualifications

• PhD in Pharmacology, Physiology, Endocrinology, Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, or a related scientific discipline with 5+ years of experience in pharmaceutical or biotechnology drug discovery.
• Extensive expertise in GPCR biology, pharmacology, and signaling, with a deep understanding of receptor pharmacology, signal transduction, and mechanism-of-action studies.
• Demonstrated experience developing, optimizing, and applying GPCR-based in vitro pharmacology assays, including functional signaling assays, ligand-binding assays, receptor internalization, β-arrestin, cAMP, calcium mobilization, and pathway-selective (biased signaling) analyses.
• Strong expertise in pharmacological characterization of peptide, antibody, multispecific, or other biologic therapeutics.
• Experience designing and interpreting in vivo pharmacology studies to support target validation, mechanism-of-action, and candidate selection.
• Demonstrated ability to integrate in vitro pharmacology, in vivo efficacy, PK/PD, biomarker, and human biology data to guide scientific decisions and advance discovery programs.
• Proven scientific leadership with the ability to independently develop innovative scientific strategies, solve complex biological problems, and influence multidisciplinary project teams.
• Experience mentoring scientists and leading cross-functional collaborations in a fast-paced drug discovery environment.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with a strong track record of publications, presentations, and scientific contributions.
• Demonstrated creativity, scientific curiosity, and a passion for discovering transformative therapies for patients with obesity and related metabolic diseases.

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
  • 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

Pay

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.