What is a Data Engineer at Amgen?

At Amgen, our shared mission is simple but profound: to serve patients living with serious illnesses. As a Data Engineer specializing in IS Data Center Operations, you are the critical link that ensures the technological heartbeat of our biotech innovations remains strong, resilient, and uninterrupted. You will bridge the gap between Information Technology (IT) and the Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing (MEP) systems that power and cool our enterprise data centers.

Your work directly impacts Amgen’s ability to research, manufacture, and deliver life-saving medicines. By maintaining operational continuity, optimizing infrastructure, and proactively mitigating risks, you ensure that our scientists, engineers, and business leaders have the reliable computational power and data storage they need. This role is not a traditional software engineering position; it is a highly specialized infrastructure and operations role that demands a unique blend of IT hardware expertise and facility systems awareness.

You will be stationed at our New Albany, OH facility, working hands-on with enterprise infrastructure like Dell PowerEdge, Nutanix, NetApp, and Cisco platforms. Whether you are tracing fiber optic cables, interpreting electrical one-line diagrams, or leveraging AI-enabled monitoring tools to predict outages, your expertise will safeguard the data that ultimately transforms patients' lives. Expect a dynamic, hands-on environment where your analytical skills and customer service orientation will be tested daily.

Common Interview Questions

The questions below represent the patterns and themes frequently encountered by candidates interviewing for data center and infrastructure roles at Amgen. Use these to practice structuring your thoughts, rather than memorizing exact answers.

Hardware & Cabling

• Walk me through the exact steps you take when racking and cabling a new high-density server.
• How do you differentiate between various fiber optic cable types, and when would you use Outside Plant (OSP) fiber?
• Explain your methodology for tracing a complex cabling issue across multiple IDF closets.
• What are the most critical factors to consider when planning cable management for a new row of racks?
• How do you handle hardware lifecycle management and secure decommissioning of enterprise storage arrays?

Facilities & Diagram Interpretation

• Describe a time you had to read a mechanical or electrical drawing to solve an IT problem.
• How does a CRAC or CRAH unit function, and how does it integrate with hot/cold aisle containment?
• If a facilities vendor needs to shut down a specific power distribution unit (PDU) for maintenance, how do you determine which IT systems will be impacted?
• Can you explain the basic flow of power from the utility feed down to a server's dual power supplies?
• How do you navigate a disagreement between an IT network engineer and a facilities manager regarding rack placement?

Troubleshooting & Automation

• Tell me about a time you used a monitoring or alerting tool to prevent a major outage.
• Have you ever used AI-enabled platforms for predictive analytics in a data center? If so, how?
• Explain how you would use Python or Ansible to automate a routine data center task.
• Walk me through your incident response process when you receive a critical temperature alert at 2:00 AM.
• Describe your role in a recent capacity planning initiative.

Getting Ready for Your Interviews

Preparation is the key to demonstrating that you can handle the high-stakes environment of a mission-critical data center. Your interviewers will look for a blend of technical capability, cross-functional communication, and a proactive mindset.

Focus your preparation on these key evaluation criteria:

• Infrastructure & Hardware Expertise – Your hands-on ability to install, rack, cable, and support enterprise IT systems. Interviewers will assess your familiarity with structured cabling standards and hardware lifecycle management.
• MEP Systems Literacy – Your ability to read, interpret, and act upon electrical one-line diagrams, distribution drawings, and cooling schematics. You must demonstrate that you can "speak the language" of facilities teams without necessarily being a licensed tradesperson.
• Troubleshooting & Problem-Solving – How you approach connectivity issues, trace cabling faults, and respond to monitoring alerts. We evaluate your logical progression from symptom to root cause.
• Collaboration & Culture Fit – Your capacity to serve as a liaison between IT teams, facilities staff, and vendor partners. We look for clear communication, a safety-first mindset, and an alignment with Amgen’s science-based, collaborative culture.

Interview Process Overview

The interview process for the IS Data Center Operations Engineer role is designed to assess both your hands-on technical knowledge and your ability to navigate complex, cross-functional environments. You will typically begin with a recruiter phone screen to verify your core qualifications, experience level, and alignment with the onsite requirements in New Albany.

Following the initial screen, expect a technical deep-dive with the hiring manager. This conversation will focus heavily on your past experience with data center environments, your familiarity with specific hardware platforms, and your ability to read facility diagrams. The process usually culminates in a panel interview featuring stakeholders from both IT and Facilities teams. Because this role requires you to bridge these two worlds, the panel will test your communication skills, your troubleshooting methodology, and your understanding of disaster recovery and capacity planning.

Expect a rigorous but conversational process. Amgen values data-driven decision-making and collaborative problem-solving, so be prepared to walk interviewers through specific past incidents where your intervention prevented downtime or optimized operations.

The timeline above outlines the typical progression from initial screening to the final panel and offer stage. Use this visual to pace your preparation, ensuring you review core IT concepts early on and reserve time later to practice articulating your troubleshooting methodologies for the cross-functional panel. Note that because this is a hands-on role, final rounds may include scenario-based questions simulating real-world data center outages.

Deep Dive into Evaluation Areas

To succeed in your interviews, you must demonstrate deep competence across several distinct technical and operational domains.

Enterprise IT Infrastructure & Cabling

This area evaluates your hands-on experience with the physical layer of enterprise IT. You must prove your competence in installing and maintaining the hardware that runs our applications. Strong performance means you can discuss the nuances of different cabling standards and hardware platforms with confidence.

Be ready to go over:

• Structured Cabling – Deep knowledge of Outside Plant (OSP) fiber, CAT6A standards, and campus patching standards.
• Hardware Platforms – Familiarity with racking, stacking, and configuring Dell PowerEdge, Nutanix, NetApp, and Cisco equipment.
• Moves, Adds, and Changes (MACs) – Standard procedures for executing day-to-day operations in building IDFs and VDER environments safely and efficiently.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Cable management capacity planning, DCIM (Data Center Infrastructure Management) platform integration, and hardware lifecycle automation.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Walk me through your process for tracing and troubleshooting a suddenly degraded fiber connection between two IDF closets."
• "How do you ensure proper cable management and documentation when performing a large-scale hardware deployment?"
• "Describe a time you had to rack and stack a high-density storage solution like NetApp. What physical and thermal considerations did you account for?"

MEP Systems & Facility Alignment

While you will not perform electrical or mechanical trade work, you must understand these systems well enough to collaborate with the teams that do. This is a critical differentiator for this role at Amgen.

Be ready to go over:

• Diagram Literacy – Interpreting electrical one-line diagrams and distribution drawings to understand power flow and redundancy.
• Cooling Operations – Awareness of CRAC/CRAH units, hot/cold aisle containment, and chilled water systems.
• Incident Response – Coordinating with facilities teams during power anomalies or cooling failures to protect IT assets.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – UPS and generator failover sequences, calculating thermal loads for new rack deployments.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Here is a sample electrical one-line diagram. Can you identify the redundant power paths to this specific server rack?"
• "If you receive an alert that ambient temperatures in a specific data center zone are rising rapidly, what are your immediate next steps?"
• "How do you communicate a critical IT maintenance window to a facilities team that needs to perform mechanical work in the same area?"

Monitoring, Automation, and Disaster Recovery

Amgen relies on predictive analytics and automation to maintain uptime. You will be evaluated on your ability to move beyond reactive troubleshooting into proactive infrastructure management.

Be ready to go over:

• AI-Enabled Monitoring – Using modern alerting and monitoring platforms to detect anomalies before they cause outages.
• Disaster Recovery – Participating in DR drills and understanding the ITIL practices that govern enterprise incident management.
• Scripting & Automation – Utilizing tools like Python or Ansible to automate repetitive operational tasks.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Integrating AI predictive analytics into standard capacity planning workflows.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Describe your experience using monitoring platforms to proactively identify a failing hardware component."
• "How would you use a scripting language like Python or Ansible to streamline a repetitive data center operations task?"
• "Walk me through your role in a recent disaster recovery drill. What went well, and what needed improvement?"

Key Responsibilities

As an IS Data Center Operations Engineer, your day-to-day work is highly dynamic, balancing routine maintenance with urgent incident response. You will spend a significant portion of your time on the data center floor and in telecom closets, performing fiber and copper patch cabling, racking enterprise servers, and supporting daily MACs (moves, adds, and changes).

Beyond physical installation, you are the primary liaison between Amgen’s IT teams and our Facilities staff. When a mechanical or electrical maintenance event is scheduled, you will review the facility diagrams, assess the potential impact on IT infrastructure, and notify all relevant stakeholders. If an alert triggers regarding power or cooling, you will interpret the schematics, communicate with vendor partners, and ensure IT assets are safeguarded.

You will also drive continuous improvement. This means maintaining meticulous documentation of cable records and infrastructure layouts, applying AI-enabled monitoring tools to optimize performance, and actively participating in capacity planning and disaster recovery drills. Your ability to provide clear, concise direction to external consultants and internal teams will be crucial to increasing overall productivity.

Role Requirements & Qualifications

To be competitive for this role at Amgen, you must meet specific educational and experiential thresholds while possessing a distinct blend of IT and facilities knowledge.

• Must-have skills – Hands-on experience with rack/stack, structured cabling (fiber/copper), and IT hardware installation. You must be familiar with Dell PowerEdge, Nutanix, NetApp, and Cisco platforms. Crucially, you need an awareness-level competency in reading electrical and mechanical drawings, alongside experience with monitoring and alerting systems.
• Experience level – Requirements vary based on education: a Master’s degree, a Bachelor’s with 2 years of data center ops experience, an Associate’s with 6 years, or a High School diploma/GED with 8 years of relevant experience.
• Soft skills – Exceptional customer service orientation, strong analytical problem-solving skills, and the ability to act as a flawless communicator between highly technical IT groups and specialized facilities tradespeople.
• Nice-to-have skills – Familiarity with DCIM platforms, exposure to cooling system operations (CRAC/CRAH), knowledge of scripting tools (Python, Ansible), an understanding of ITIL practices, and professional certifications like BICSI. Experience with manufacturing systems is also highly valued.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How technical are the interviews for this role? The interviews are highly technical but focused on applied infrastructure rather than software engineering. You will be expected to know physical hardware, cabling standards, and how to read facility diagrams. You won't be asked to code complex algorithms, but scripting knowledge (Python/Ansible) is a strong plus.

Q: Will I be expected to perform electrical work? No. The job description explicitly states you are not responsible for performing electrical or mechanical trade work. However, you must understand these systems well enough to interpret diagrams, assess risks to IT equipment, and converse intelligently with the licensed professionals who do the physical trade work.

Q: Is this role remote or hybrid? Because this is a hands-on Data Center Operations role involving physical rack/stack, cabling, and hardware troubleshooting, it requires a significant on-site presence at the New Albany, OH facility.

Q: What differentiates a good candidate from a great one at Amgen? A great candidate understands the "why" behind the work. They don't just patch cables; they understand how their uptime directly impacts Amgen's ability to manufacture medicines and serve patients. Furthermore, great candidates excel at cross-functional communication, seamlessly translating IT needs to facilities teams and vice versa.

Other General Tips

• Safety and Compliance First: In a biotech manufacturing and enterprise data center environment, safety and regulatory compliance are paramount. Always emphasize your adherence to standard operating procedures (SOPs) and safety protocols when answering scenario questions.
• Master the STAR Method: When answering behavioral questions about past outages or cross-functional conflicts, use the Situation, Task, Action, Result framework. Be specific about the actions you took.
• Bridge the Gap: Actively highlight any past experience where you had to act as a translator between two distinct technical groups (e.g., software engineers and HVAC technicians). This liaison capability is the core of the role.

• Brush Up on Diagram Reading: If it has been a while since you looked at an electrical one-line diagram or a cooling schematic, review the basic symbols and layouts before your technical screen.

Summary & Next Steps

Joining Amgen as an IS Data Center Operations Engineer is an opportunity to anchor the technology that drives life-changing biotechnology. By ensuring our data centers run flawlessly, you directly empower the scientists and researchers working to cure the world's toughest diseases. It is a role that demands technical precision, excellent communication, and a deep respect for the physical systems that support enterprise IT.

As you prepare, focus heavily on your hands-on infrastructure experience, your ability to read and interpret MEP diagrams, and your troubleshooting methodology. Remember that your interviewers are looking for a reliable, safety-conscious team player who can remain calm under pressure and communicate effectively across departments. Take the time to review your past projects, practice your technical explanations, and ensure you can clearly articulate the business impact of your work.

The compensation data above provides a baseline expectation for this level of engineering role within the region. Keep in mind that total compensation at Amgen often includes a mix of base salary, performance bonuses, and comprehensive benefits tailored to support your long-term career growth.

You have the foundational skills and the drive to succeed in this process. Continue exploring additional interview insights and resources on Dataford to refine your approach. Trust in your experience, prepare diligently, and step into your interviews ready to demonstrate how you can help Amgen change the world.