Principal Scientist – Preclinical Imaging

Career Category

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.

Principal Scientist – Preclinical Imaging

What you will do

Let’s do this. Let’s change the world. Amgen Comparative Medicine is seeking a Preclinical Imaging Scientist in our Thousand Oaks, CA location. As part of the Comparative Medicine department, you will have a chance to advance the development of novel medicines with a state-of-the-art imaging laboratory, generate decision making data packages cross the pipeline (oncology, cardiometabolic disease, inflammation, rare disease, and biomarkers), and have high visibility across the discovery research organization.

Key responsibilities:

• Leverage and manage a state-of-the-art preclinical imaging laboratory (PET, CT, MRI, and radiochemistry) and external CRO capabilities to answer critical scientific questions
• Partner with multiple therapeutic area researchers to advance the pipeline by running model development, biodistribution, biomarkers, and pharmacodynamic imaging studies
• Design studies, acquire images and analyze images, interpret data, author study reports, and present to study teams
• Independently determine laboratory operations including laboratory calendar, maintain an IACUC protocol, radiopharmacy contracts, and safety of all staff
• Set project timeframes and priorities that allocate imaging resources to align with Amgen’s strategy
• Represent Comparative Medicine through internal and external presentation and the submission of manuscripts for publication
• Mentor junior professional team members, interns, and post-docs
• Serve on the Comparative Medicine Thousand Oaks Leadership Team with a special focus on fostering and integrating the imaging capabilities into the larger organization
• If a veterinarian, serve on call for clinical coverage on a rotating basis

What we expect of you

We are all different, yet we all use our unique contributions to serve patients. The [vital attribute] professional we seek is a [type of person] with these qualifications.

Basic Qualifications:

DVM or Doctorate degree PhD OR PharmD OR MD [and relevant post-doc where applicable] in imaging, pharmacology, biomedical engineering, or related field and 2 years of relevant experience

Or

Master’s degree in imaging, pharmacology, biomedical engineering, or related field and 5 years of relevant experience

Or

Bachelor’s degree in imaging, pharmacology, biomedical engineering, or related field and 7 years of relevant experience

Preferred Qualifications:

• DVM with advanced training such as MS, ACLAM (American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine) eligible or ACVR (American College of Veterinary Radiology) eligible
• 3+ years leading or mentoring scientific staff and managing project portfolios in pharmaceutical or contract research organizations (CRO) setting
• Hands-on preclinical imaging experience with demonstrated mastery of PET, CT, and/or MRI
• Strong in vivo rodent skills (IV dosing, anesthesia, sample collection)
• Proficient in quantitative image analysis packages (e.g. Amira, VivoQuant, OsiriX, 3D Slicer, AMIDE, PMOD, etc)
• Expertise in oncology, cardiovascular, or immune/inflammatory rodent disease models
• Working knowledge of statistical and data presentation packages (e.g., GraphPad Prism)
• Familiarity with translational imaging and early clinical development data packages for imaging biomarkers
• Proven track record of peer-reviewed publications and influential conference presentations, demonstrating collaboration and high-level contribution to this area of research
• Working knowledge of data integrity, data management, and AI-automation of image analysis

What you can expect of us

As we work to develop treatments that take care of others, we also work to care f