Scientist - Biochemistry & Pharmacology

Iiabsc - San Francisco, CA

Full-time - Entry Level

Remote - San Francisco, CA

About the position

Amgen is seeking a talented and motivated Scientist specializing in Biochemistry and Pharmacology to support the small molecule drug discovery pipeline. This role involves designing, developing, and optimizing biochemical and cell-based assays to identify and validate potential drug candidates. The successful candidate will work collaboratively in a cross-functional team environment and stay current with advancements in the field.

Responsibilities

• Develop and optimize biochemical assays to support HTS, hits validation, and lead optimization for novel therapeutic targets.
• Develop and execute cell-based assays to assess the effects of small molecules on cellular pathways, receptor activity, and phenotypic outcomes.
• Apply sophisticated bioassay techniques to develop and perform potency, kinetic, and mechanistic assays for hits validation, compound-target engagement, and SAR study.
• Evaluate and implement new technologies to enhance screen capabilities and assay performance.
• Stay current with scientific literature and industry trends related to assay technologies, novel drug modalities, and drug discovery.
• Represent the department in multi-disciplinary project teams to present research results and provide scientific and technical support.
• Collaborate with internal cross-functional teams and external partners to enable project progression.

Requirements

• Doctorate & relevant scientific experience or Master's degree & 2 years of scientific experience.
• PhD in Biochemistry, Pharmacology, Cell Biology, Molecular Biology or a related field, with relevant postdoctoral experience preferred.
• Expertise in quantitative pharmacology, enzymology, and ligand binding kinetics.
• Small molecule drug discovery experience in novel modalities including reversible inhibitors, covalent inhibitors, or degraders.
• A deep and broad understanding of the development, validation & execution of a wide array of binding & functional activity-based assays such as AlphaScreen, TR-FRET, FP, etc.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and implement cellular assays for target validation, hit identification, and lead optimization, such as MesoScale Discovery, HiBIT, NanoBRET, and cell reporter assays.
• Highly skilled in the development & implementation of robust, automated, 384 or 1536-well plate-based assays using a wide range of detection methods (e.g., spectrophotometry, radiometry, luminescence, fluorescence).
• Experience with microplate readers and automated liquid handling systems (e.g., PerkinElmer Envision, Labcyte Echo, Agilent Bravo, etc.).
• Experience with data analysis and visualization software platforms (e.g., Genedata Screener, Tibco Spotfire, GraphPad Prism, etc.).
• Excellent organizational, interpersonal and communication skills, along with the ability to work in a flexible team-oriented environment.

Benefits

• Comprehensive employee benefits package including health and welfare plans for staff and eligible dependents.
• Retirement and Savings Plan with generous company contributions.
• Group medical, dental and vision coverage.
• Life and disability insurance.
• Flexible spending accounts.
• Discretionary annual bonus program or sales-based incentive plan for field sales representatives.
• Stock-based long-term incentives.
• Award-winning time-off plans and bi-annual company-wide shutdowns.
• Flexible work models, including remote work arrangements where possible.