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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.

Senior Director Medicinal Chemistry

What you will do

Let’s do this. Let’s change the world.

Amgen is hiring in the department of Medicinal Chemistry at our Research and Development facility in South San Francisco CA (ASF) where we are building brand new state-of-the art chemistry lab.

This Senior Director role will assume a significant leadership position in a rapidly growing medicinal chemistry group of emerging small molecule drug discovery programs at our South San Francisco site.

Responsibilities

• Build and lead a high-performing medicinal chemistry team, augmented by computational chemistry and external contract research organizations (CROs) to deliver clinical candidates
• Lead as a PTL (Project Team Lead) of small molecule (SM) programs across multiple Therapeutic Areas (TAs) and modalities
• Lead a group of scientists and develop high performing teams with an inclusive and innovative culture in a modality agnostic manner
• Partner with biology, pharmacology, and development teams to translate biological insights into actionable clinical strategies
• Define roles and responsibilities within medicinal chemistry and program teams, ensuring efficient project management and optimal allocation of resources to support drug discovery objectives
• Stay abreast of the latest advancements in medicinal chemistry, finding opportunities for external partnerships, collaborations, and integration of new technologies
• Participate as an engaged member of a highly interactive Medicinal Chemistry department, contributing scientific knowledge and leadership across projects and geographic locations
• Provide clear, concise and impactful communications to colleagues and senior leadership describing project objectives and results
• Partners with Legal team to protect Amgen’s estate of innovative small molecules
• Participate in evaluation of external assets, platforms and technologies
• Partner with site leadership and be responsible for the daily operations of a medicinal chemistry laboratory

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 Senior Director with these qualifications.

Basic Qualifications:

Doctorate degree PhD OR PharmD OR MD [and relevant post-doc where applicable] and 7 years of medicinal chemistry experience or

Master’s degree and 10 years of medicinal chemistry experience or

Bachelor’s degree and 12 years of medicinal chemistry experience

Preferred Qualifications:

• PhD in Organic Chemistry, or a related field
• Minimum of 18 years of experience in medicinal chemistry within pharmaceutical or biotech industry, with at least 6 years in a departmental leadership role and as a manager of project team leads and medicinal chemistry team leads
• Demonstrated expertise in small molecule drug discovery, structure- and property-based design, and lead optimization, including project leadership roles
• High level knowledge of current medicinal chemistry enabling technologies including parallel synthesis, screening techniques, DNA encoded libraries, targeted protein degradation & induced proximity concepts and ML/generative chemistry
• Strong record of medicinal chemistry patent applications and peer review publications
• Consistent track record of advancing compounds from discovery through clinical stages
• Outstanding leadership and team-building skills, with a collaborative mindset and the ability to mentor and develop scientific talent
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to convey complex scientific concepts to diverse audiences
• Experienc