Amgen Inc. Posted June 26, 2026

Director - PKDM - Small Molecule Portfolio Strategy & Leadership

South San Francisco, United States Full time
Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research Director

Amgen Inc. is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

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.

Director - PKDM - Small Molecule Portfolio Strategy & Leadership

What you will do

Let’s do this. Let’s change the world. In this vital role you will serve as a strategic PKDM-BA leader on cross-functional teams, driving the advancement of small molecule programs from candidate discovery through clinical development and regulatory submission. You will combine deep scientific expertise with strong project leadership skills to influence portfolio strategy, support critical development decisions, and maximize the potential of small molecule therapeutic candidates.

Key Responsibilities:

Provide strategic PKDM-BA leadership for small molecule discovery and development programs, enabling informed decision-making and successful advancement of portfolio assets.

Drive the progression of cross-functional project teams through scientific innovation, risk assessment, and proactive problem solving.

Lead PKDM-BA contributions to regulatory submissions, including INDs, NDAs, and interactions with global health authorities.

Define and execute scientific strategies that support candidate selection, optimization, development, and registration of small molecule therapeutics.

Identify, evaluate, and implement emerging technologies and approaches that enhance understanding of drug disposition and improve development outcomes.

Partner closely with business development teams to assess external opportunities and support scientific due diligence activities.

Build strong collaborative relationships across therapeutic areas and partner functions to advance portfolio objectives.

Recruit, develop, mentor, and inspire scientific talent while fostering a culture of scientific excellence and innovation.

Contribute to organizational strategy and help shape the future direction of small molecule PKDM-BA capabilities at Amgen

What we expect of you

We are all different, yet we all use our unique contributions to serve patients. The Director we seek is a seasoned leader with these qualifications.

Basic Qualifications:

Doctorate degree PhD

OR

PharmD

OR MD [and relevant post-doc where applicable] and 5 years of industry experience in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pharmacokinetics, Drug Metabolism, Pharmacology, Chemistry, or a related discipline

OR

Master’s degree and 8 years of industry experience in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pharmacokinetics, Drug Metabolism, Pharmacology, Chemistry, or a related discipline

OR

Bachelor’s degree and 10 years of industry experience in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pharmacokinetics, Drug Metabolism, Pharmacology, Chemistry, or a related discipline.

Preferred Qualifications:

A demonstrated track record of scientific and strategic leadership across multiple small molecule discovery and development programs.

Extensive experience supporting regulatory submissions for small molecule therapeutics, including INDs and NDAs.

Deep expertise in drug disposition, pharmacokinetics, and translational strategies that inform candidate progression and development decisions.

Proven success accelerating project advancement and influencing key portfolio decisions within a matrixed environment.

Prior experience in direct people management, including recruiting, coaching, developing, and leading high-performing scientific teams.

Experience working across multiple therapeutic areas and/or drug modalities.

Strong external scientific presence through publications, presentations, and engagement with the broader scientific community.

Excellent communication, collaboration, and leadership skills with the ability to influence stakeholders across functions and organizational levels.

Experience developing and mentoring scientists and building high-performing teams.

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 now and make a lasting impact with the Amgen team.

careers.amgen.com

In any materials you submit, you may redact or remove age-identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation. You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.

Application deadline

Amgen does not have an application deadline for this position; we will continue accepting applications until we receive a sufficient number or select a candidate for the position.

Sponsorship

Sponsorship for this role is not guaranteed.

As an organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for people around the world, Amgen fosters an inclusive environment of diverse, ethical, committed and highly accomplished people who respect each other and live the Amgen values to continue advancing science to serve patients. Together, we compete in the fight against serious disease.

Amgen is an Equal Opportunity employer and will consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, or any other basis protected by applicable law.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

Amgen will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. Salary Range

209,656.75USD -283,653.25 USD

Job details

Seniority
Director
Function
Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
South San Francisco, United States
Employment type
Full time

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 94 comparable Director Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research roles across 23 biopharma companies.

94Comparable roles tracked
89Currently active
23Companies hiring similar roles
8Countries represented

Salary context

41 of 94 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.

This roleSubject Not listed on this posting
Peer group range $129,125 – $322,650 (median $224,445)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 94 comparable roles

United States82
China3
India2
China's Mainland2
United Kingdom2
Spain1

+ 2 more countries

Seniority mix

94 of 94 peers have a known seniority level

Principal57
Director25
Senior Director12

Therapeutic area mix

22 of 94 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology11
Immunology4
Cardiovascular / CVRM4
Vaccines & Infectious Disease1
Neuroscience1
Respiratory1

Similar opportunities

The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.

60%similar
Lilly San Francisco, California, United States of America Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Louisville, Colorado, United States of America Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Gilead Sciences, Inc. Foster City, United States Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Gilead Sciences, Inc. Foster City, United States Director
Same function Same seniority Same country

How we calculate "similar"

No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.

Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.

60%
Director / Sr / Exec Dir - Applied Intelligence for Discovery (AI4D)
Lilly · San Francisco, California, United States of America · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director, Medicinal Chemistry
Lilly · Louisville, Colorado, United States of America · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director, Research Systems
Gilead Sciences, Inc. · Foster City, United States · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director, Statistical Genetics
Cambridge Discovery Hub · Cambridge Crossing, United States · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.