About Amgen
Funding & Growth
✓ Pros
- • Biotech pioneer
- • Strong benefits
- • Good work-life balance
- • Multiple therapeutic areas
- • Southern California location
✗ Cons
- • Thousand Oaks location
- • Large company feel
- • Some legacy systems
- • Competitive internally
🏢 Working Here
Amgen, headquartered in Thousand Oaks, CA (Los Angeles area), with major sites in South San Francisco and Cambridge, MA, is the world's largest independent biotech company.
Founded in 1980, Amgen pioneered biologic drugs and maintains leadership in oncology, inflammation, bone health, cardiovascular, and nephrology.
Bioinformaticians work in Research (target discovery), Development (clinical biomarkers), and Process Development (biomanufacturing optimization).
The Thousand Oaks campus is impressive with 1.5 million square feet, state-of-the-art facilities, and extensive amenities.
The South SF location focuses on early research, while Cambridge handles oncology and inflammation programs.
Amgen's culture combines biotech innovation with pharma resources and stability.
Work involves analyzing data from large-scale genetics studies (Amgen's human genetics initiative partners with Decode Genetics in Iceland), clinical trials for drugs like Enbrel, Prolia, and newer oncology assets, and next-generation biologic design.
The computational infrastructure is world-class with dedicated HPC resources and cloud platforms.
Work-life balance is generally good, and the Southern California location (Thousand Oaks) offers excellent weather and lower cost than SF/Boston.
🧬 Bioinformatics Focus
Amgen's computational biology spans human genetics, biologics design, and clinical development. Key areas:
- Human genetics for target discovery - partnership with Decode Genetics provides access to Icelandic population genomics, whole genome sequencing at scale, GWAS for complex traits,
- Antibody engineering and design - computational prediction of antibody-antigen interactions, optimization of therapeutic antibodies for stability and developability,
- Oncology biomarkers - analyzing samples from AMG 510 (KRASG12C inhibitor), BiTE molecules, and other oncology programs,
- Inflammation and autoimmune diseases - multi-omic analysis of RA, psoriasis, and inflammatory diseases for Enbrel, Otezla programs,
- Cardiovascular genetics - identifying targets for lipid-lowering, heart failure, and other CV indications. Amgen has one of the largest pharmaceutical genetics efforts globally. Technical challenges include analyzing whole genomes at population scale, integrating genetics with clinical trial outcomes, predicting antibody properties computationally, and developing biomarkers for novel mechanisms like BiTE therapy. The team publishes regularly in Nature, Science, Nature Medicine.
📈 Career Growth & Development
Career Paths
Scientist Track
Management Track
Compensation
Highly competitive compensation includes 15-20% target bonuses and stock grants that increase significantly at senior levels. Comprehensive benefits also include a pension plan.
Development
Amgen provides extensive professional development through Amgen University, external courses, and conference support.
Mobility
The company encourages internal mobility across therapeutic areas and sites, including Thousand Oaks, SF, and Cambridge.
Network
Amgen alumni are highly sought after and lead computational biology groups at major biotech companies and hold faculty positions at top universities. The Amgen network and reputation carry significant weight in the industry.
Culture
Amgen's stability (42 years, $26B revenue) combined with innovation provides excellent long-term career prospects.
💊 Top Medicines & Blockbuster Drugs
Repatha (evolocumab)
2015Indication: High cholesterol - PCSK9 inhibitor
Reduces cardiovascular events - rapid growth
Annual Revenue (USD)
Prolia (denosumab)
2010Indication: Osteoporosis treatment
Bone resorption inhibitor
Annual Revenue (USD)
Lumakras (sotorasib)
2021Indication: KRAS G12C-mutated non-small cell lung cancer
First KRAS inhibitor approved
Annual Revenue (USD)
Evenity (romosozumab)
2019Indication: Osteoporosis in postmenopausal women at high fracture risk
Novel bone-forming antibody
Annual Revenue (USD)
Blincyto (blinatumomab)
2014Indication: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)
BiTE antibody therapy
Annual Revenue (USD)