Lean in a Great Way - Senior Engineer Amgen Employee Review

5.0
Jun 6, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

West Greenwich site was an extremely well run, well lead, and well oiled machine yet still was able to pivot on a dime. It was impressive how coordinated initiatives and manufacturing campaigns would be executed at the facility. As a member of the process development organization it was empowering how much you could do as an engineer. It is a very science driven organization and they heavily pressed on their Lean agenda so you could implement a lot of innovative changes in an actually agile manner. Teams were really collaborative and cordial even in the most heated of technical situations which made it a great meaningful working environment.

Cons

It took forever to get promoted. The general attitude was that you needed to do several rotations at the same level as well as move you and your family around the world multiple times before you get considered for the next level. Because that's how a lot of the senior leadership got there, there was an expectation that the rank and file would do the same. The leanness of the company has a negative impact on the illusion of work-life balance. There were a lot of single points of failure because so many things would run through one individual who hadn't taken a vacation day in months.

Explore other reviews about Amgen

5.0
Jul 4, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great culture and benefits (401k)

Cons

Not very nimble with regards to decision making.

3.0
Jul 14, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Company itself is stable and financially strong. Average pay, and nice people to work with. Exposure to Global, Cross-Functional Work 2 automatic weeks of vacation (aka shutdowns).

Cons

1. Large-Scale Layoffs & Offshore Transition: Most of US IT was laid off AFTER transitioning work to India, what I saw: “Five India resources doing what one US resource was doing, if even 25% gets delivered post transition.” This creates: Knowledge gaps / Quality inconsistencies / Overloaded remaining US staff / Loss of institutional knowledge. 2. Long Hours & International Time Zone Burden: EST Employees frequently work: Early morning calls - starting sometimes 2-4am EST and then still required for Late-night calls in PST time (for headquarters) Even weekend and vacation hours required o support global teams — with no additional compensation. This leads to burnout and morale issues. 3. Severe Workload Imbalance Across Teams: This imbalance is a major cultural and leadership blind spot. Some teams: Have large staffing Very little work Operate comfortably - even can hit the gym during work day While others: Work 16+ hours a day Have no hope of additional staffing Are constantly escalated Carry the weight of global programs. 4. Slow Decision-Making & Heavy Bureaucracy Enterprise governance slows: Approvals / Architecture reviews / Intake processes / Cross-functional alignment Even with SOME light Agile adoption, legacy processes dominate. 5. Vendor Dependency Creates Inconsistency - Reliance on large consulting partners leads to: Reduced internal ownership (Funny that Employees do not want ownership, nor to be held accountable when efforts fail or take longer than expected) Competing priorities with inconsistent delivery quality. 6. Organizational Silos & Resistance to Change - Despite modernization: Teams remain siloed with a “This is how we’ve always done it” persists Agile maturity varies widely Process adoption is inconsistent 7. High Visibility = High Pressure Enterprise programs bring: Frequent escalations Constant stakeholder management Pressure to deliver quickly despite reduced resource constraints This environment is not sustainable without strong leadership support.

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