Scientific Associate Director, Human Disease Biology, Inflammation Research

Amgen US - California - South San Francisco Updated 18 September 2026
PharmaBiotechClinical ResearchQuality Assurancecroinform

Job description

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. 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. 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. Scientific Associate Director, Human Disease Biology, Inflammation Research What you will do Let’s do this. Let’s change the world. In this vital role you will work at the intersection of disease biology, multi-omic profiling, computational analysis, and drug discovery, generating insights that advance therapeutic opportunities in respiratory, dermatologic, and/or rheumatologic diseases. The successful candidate will combine deep expertise in human disease biology with experience translating discoveries into therapeutic hypotheses and drug discovery programs. They will serve as a scientific leader who integrates data across human genetics, transcriptomics, proteomics, spatial biology, and single-cell technologies to identify disease mechanisms, patient subsets, biomarkers, and novel therapeutic opportunities. Key Responsibilities: Develop and execute a disease-focused discovery strategy leveraging multi-omic and human data to deepen mechanistic understanding of respiratory, dermatologic, or rheumatologic diseases. Continuous adoption of technology, AI/computation and innovation to improve efficiency and quality of work. Integration of systems immunology, multi-omics, AI-enabled biology, and human disease research to bring unique insights and innovative approaches to Amgen's discovery efforts. Lead cross-functional scientific initiatives that integrate human genetics, single-cell biology, spatial biology, proteomics, and computational analyses to identify and validate first/best-in-class therapeutic targets, patient segments and biomarker strategies. Drive generation and interpretation of multimodal datasets and translate findings into actionable hypotheses for target discovery and program prioritization/advancement. Partner closely with computational biology, translational sciences, human genetics, pathology, and disease-area biology teams to build integrated disease models and prioritize therapeutic opportunities. Serve as a scientific leader for disease-focused discovery efforts and provide expertise in human tissue biology, disease pathogenesis, and emerging technologies. Design and oversee internal and external collaborations with academic investigators, clinical researchers, consortia, and technology partners. Contribute to advancement of programs through target validation, indication selection, biomarker identification, and patient stratification strategies. Mentor scientists and foster rigorous, collaborative, and innovative scientific practices across project teams. Leads multiple cross-functional projects and scientific initiatives focused on disease understanding and target discovery. Influences the direction of several discovery programs through generation of disease insights and translational hypotheses. Serves as a recognized expert in disease biology and multi-omic analysis within the department. Contributes to departmental strategy related to human biology, disease understanding, and technology deployment. Builds productive collaborations across research functions and external scientific communities. What we expect of you We are all different, yet we all use our unique contributions to serve patients. The Associate Director we seek is an accomplished leader with these qualifications. Basic Qualifications: Doctorate degree PhD OR PharmD OR MD [and relevant post-doc where applicable] and 4 years of relevant scientific experience OR Master’s degree and 7 years of relevant scientific experience OR Bachelor’s degree and 9 years of relevant scientific experience Preferred Qualifications: Significant experience in both academic research and biopharmaceutical drug discovery. Experience integrating human genetics, transcriptomics, proteomics, single-cell, spatial, imaging, and clinical datasets to generate actionable biological insights that inform target validation, biomarker strategies, patient stratification approaches, and drug discovery programs. Strong understanding of the drug discovery and development process, including target identification, validation, translational strategy, and preclinical development. Demonstrated ability to lead matrixed teams and build productive collaborations across scientific disciplines. Record of scientific achievement as evidenced by high-impact publications, presentations, patents, external collaborations, or contributions to advancing therapeutic programs. Curiosity-driven scientist with a passion for understanding human disease biology and leveraging emerging technologies to accelerate discovery. Excellent communication skills and ability to influence scientific strategy across diverse stakeholders. What you can expect of 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 where possible. Refer to the Work Location Type in the job posting to see if this applies. Apply no

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