Amgen

What is Amgen?

Amgen is one of the founding biotech companies, headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California. Founded in 1980, Amgen has annual revenue of ~$33B and a market cap of ~$187B (NASDAQ: AMGN). The company is a leader in human therapeutics, with major franchises across oncology, inflammation, cardiovascular disease, bone health, and rare diseases. Landmark medicines include Enbrel, Repatha, Prolia, Otezla, and Kyprolis.

Amgen pioneered the use of recombinant DNA technology for therapeutic protein production, with early breakthroughs in EPO (Epogen) and G-CSF (Neupogen). Today the company invests heavily in human-genetics-driven drug discovery (via the deCODE Genetics acquisition), biosimilars, biologics manufacturing, and AI-augmented R&D.

Where will I work?

Amgen's primary US sites are Thousand Oaks, CA (HQ + R&D), Cambridge MA (research), Tampa FL, Juncos PR (manufacturing), Boulder CO, Rhode Island (manufacturing), and Washington DC. Office-based roles support hybrid arrangements; lab, clinical, and 24/7 manufacturing roles are largely on-site.

What is the Amgen team like?

With ~28,000 employees globally, Amgen is one of the largest pure-play biotechs in the world. The company has been through restructuring as it integrates new acquisitions (Horizon Therapeutics, ChemoCentryx) and rebalances portfolios, but its core scientific culture and benefits structure remain strong.

Work-Life Balance

Amgen offers a distinctive PTO structure unique among large pharma: two company-wide shutdown weeks annually — one in July (around Independence Day) and one in December (Christmas to New Year) — both of which Amgen explicitly markets as "paid, non-PTO" weeks (verified verbatim on Amgen Careers' own Facebook and LinkedIn posts). On top of those shutdowns, US employees get approximately 3 weeks of vacation at hire (scaling with tenure to 5+ weeks), plus standard US holidays. Total at hire is approximately ~30+ paid days off per year, with sick days tracked separately.

Perks and Benefits

• ~3 weeks (15 days) vacation at hire (scales to 5+ weeks with tenure)
• Standard US public holidays
• Summer shutdown (~5 days, July) — paid, non-PTO (Amgen's own wording)
• Winter shutdown (~5 days, Christmas–NY) — paid, non-PTO (Amgen's own wording)
• Separate sick days (own bucket)
• Volunteer time off
• Bereavement leave
• Generous paid parental leave
• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision insurance
• 401(k) with company match
• Equity / employee stock purchase program
• Tuition assistance and professional development
• On-site fitness centres at Thousand Oaks campus
• Adoption assistance + fertility benefits
• Mental health and wellbeing programs