Senior Associate - Agentic AI in Discovery Chemistry

Career Category

Research

Job Description

Join Amgen’s Mission of Serving Patients

ABOUT AMGEN

Amgen harnesses the best of biology and technology to fight the world’s toughest diseases, and make people’s lives easier, fuller and longer. We discover, develop, manufacture and deliver innovative medicines to help millions of patients. Amgen helped establish the biotechnology industry more than 40 years ago and remains on the cutting-edge of innovation, using technology and human genetic data to push beyond what’s known today.

ABOUT THE ROLE

Amgen is seeking an Associate Scientist to help advance discovery chemistry through the application of agentic AI. This role sits at the intersection of medicinal chemistry, computational science, with a focus on developing and applying AI-enabled workflows that accelerate molecular design, scientific data interpretation, and research decision-making.

The ideal candidate will hold a Master’s degree in Chemistry or a related discipline, bring a strong scientific foundation, and preferably have relevant pharmaceutical, biotechnology, CRO, or other industry research experience. A PhD is not required.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with discovery chemists, computational scientists, data scientists, and automation teams to identify and implement valuable agentic AI applications in discovery chemistry.
• Develop, test, and refine AI-enabled workflows supporting molecule ideation, literature and patent intelligence, synthesis planning, experimental-data interpretation, and scientific knowledge management.
• Organize, curate, and assess chemical, biological, and assay data to support reliable AI-enabled analysis and decision-making.
• Evaluate AI-generated outputs for scientific validity, relevance, reproducibility, and practical value in discovery chemistry programs.
• Translate scientific questions and laboratory needs into structured workflows, prompts, evaluation approaches, and usable tools.
• Support adoption of agentic AI tools within discovery chemistry teams while maintaining rigorous standards for data integrity, documentation, confidentiality, and scientific quality.
• Work with laboratory scientists to incorporate experimental results and user feedback into iterative workflow and tool improvements.
• Contribute to the development of best practices for the appropriate use of generative AI and agentic systems in research.
• Stay current with advances in AI, cheminformatics, laboratory automation, and computational drug discovery.
• Communicate results, workflow performance, and recommendations clearly to cross-functional scientific stakeholders.

Basic Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chemical Biology, Computational Chemistry, Data Science, or a closely related scientific field.
• Strong understanding of small-molecule discovery, organic synthesis, medicinal chemistry, analytical chemistry, or an allied area.
• Experience working with scientific data, including chemical structures, reaction data, assay data, or experimental results.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze problems systematically, document work clearly, and maintain high standards of scientific rigor.
• Ability to work effectively in a collaborative, cross-functional research environment.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior industry experience in pharmaceutical R&D, biotechnology, CROs, chemical research, medicinal chemistry, discovery chemistry, or a related setting.
• Familiarity with AI/ML tools, large language models, generative AI, agentic workflows, or data-driven approaches for scientific research.
• Experience with cheminformatics, chemical databases, molecular representations, or structure and reaction data.
• Familiarity with tools or concepts such as SMILES, SDF, RDKit, electronic laboratory notebooks, reaction informatics, generative AI in chemistry and computational quantum chemistry.
• Experience assessing computational, AI, or software-generated recommendations against experimental evidence or scientific criteria.
• Ability to learn new technologies quickly and apply them thoughtfully to real-world discovery chemistry problems.

Preferred Experience:

• Bachelor's with 5–9 years of experience.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT

Amgen is an Equal Opportunity employer and will consider you without regard to your race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, or disability status.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided with 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.

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