senior research associate

manufacturing associate

associate director

qc technician

director

BioMarin Pharmaceutical

In general, pay and compensation are good. 

However your experience will vary depending on your department and manager. Some are great, others are standard corporate environments, and some are quite frankly toxic. 

Departments related to technical operations and production tend to have management who are bullies. It is a very top-heavy organization. There seems to be multiple " direct managers/directors/schedulers/project managers" for every individual contributor doing actual work. In fact, many meetings seemed to have 4-5 "manager" types and only 1-2 engineers who were responsible for doing the actual work. Hard workers who actually contribute and care about doing a good job are exploited. These workers will never see a promotion or be allowed to transfer because they are "too good" at their jobs. People on the management track tend to have promotions or transfers come fast and easy, on a yearly basis it seems. While the individual contributors will be stuck in their current position for years with no promotions and having their internal transfer requests denied. 

Over the past several years, there have been some unsuccessful re-orgs which changed the company culture. The "Dilbert Effect" seems to be in full force. People from the VP level down to experienced individual contributors such as technicians, associates, analysts, and engineers have walked out the door. 


The management and leadership for the manufacturing group is extremely poor at evaluating individual's performance. This results in nepotism where promotions are given to people who brown nose, are lazy, and have no process knowledge. The knowledgeable hard workers are then forced to deal with the incompetent superiors. This then causes the knowledgeable hard working employees to be overworked and poorly supported eventually ending with them burning out and quitting.

Issues are not addressed in a timely manner. Manufacturing employees often have to bring up an issue half a dozen times before any progress is made on addressing the issue. If the manufacturing employee does not frequently push to have the issue addressed it will likely never be fixed.

Poor management decisions are often made that overburden manufacturing employees. These decisions often request the impossible to be done by the employee or require the employee to work well into overtime.

Each workday was punctuated by typical IT duties of log review, user account management, break-fix mitigation, and meetings.

You learn a ton about operations and scheduling, qualification testing, and validation.

The culture in the office is very relaxed and open with an emphasis on getting the work done.  There are rules to follow, but as long as the work is done according to procedure they are not onerous.

The hardest part of the job is working on cross department projects where the goals are not in alignment.  You may have to stretch a timeline well beyond the desired endpoint to accommodate another department's higher priorities.

The most enjoyable part of the job is the camaraderie of the people within the department.  They will really treat you like family and help you to grow in the field.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The best part of working at BioMarin was inclusivity and an environment that thrived on a spirit of teamwork and support. Unfortunately, their vaccine mandate ended my 11-year career there. I must say, I never felt so discriminated against in my entire life. I trust this great organization will not ever repeat the mandate mistake again. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The most stressful part about working at BioMarin was the commute. Hwy 37 was/is a beast! Lol!!!

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment at BioMarin was pleasant and supportive.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
My typical day was busy and unpredictable at times, but I loved it!

BioMarin is a good company, the people work very hard and there is a wide variety of people with impressive skills. It is easy to talk to people and the culture is largely positive.

I was an RA in the research department, working on developing drug screening assays. The research department is a fun place to work, the RAs have created a community of support and encouragement, it is quite inspiring. 

That said, management is BioMarin’s biggest hurdle. The promotion system is far too subjective and largely undefined. Personally, I found management, especially senior management, are quite out of touch with their employee base. Management needs to listen to their employees and do a much better job of training managers to build up their staff, rather than just hoping they succeed.

Unnecessarily complex environment. Difficult people on many shifts that make the job harder than it has to be. No Quality Associates on the floor which makes the deviation rate astronomical. The deviations are blamed on the employees if they are not machine malfunctions. Operators are held responsible for deviations when there is a clear lack of leadership on the manufacturing floor. High turnover due to lack of training. This company has a "your on your own, responsible for you own training" company has no dedicated trainers on the shifts. Backstabbing is a great way to get ahead. Management sits across the street and has little interaction with employees. Management is clueless in Human Resource issues. No conflict resolution. Easier to fire an employee than solve problems. Shift wars constantly.

Great, motivated coworkers mostly, a few bad apples ruin the culture on some shifts and aren't addressed by management.

Great place to get your foot in the door. Room for advancement depends on who your boss / department is. If you work in a department with a bad reputation don't expect much of a reception from management for new ideas, even if you are successful and save the company hundreds of manhours and money.

Business side has a fool-proof strategy using orphan drug status to grow company exponentially. Only problem with this are the huge growing pains - lack of experienced individuals, decrease in benefits, more corporate workplace, bloating of administrative systems used by staff for upper management to see data 100 different ways.

I am a contractor and am limited to 40 hours per week but my performance is judged based on full-time permanent standards of those who work most nights until 11.  That being said, I work hard, get as much done as I can.  I am mostly allowed to do things the way I believe they should be done.  In my group the flexibility to work remoted is very limited.   Management is very oriented toward progress and is always looking for what can be done to make it.  My immediate boss always listens to my perspective when I need to share it.  He is also realistic and communicates without fuss about reality.  I trust him to do the best he can within his constraints.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Good benefits great facility. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Unhelpful manager uncommunicative higher ups and made to feel like medical emergency I was having was going to get me in trouble. Genuinely don't listen when told about issues then turn around and tell you that you should communicate with them.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
It's hectic and unorganized.They are not prepared for trainings and give little time to learn before throwing you into the mix then blame you for not being able to keep up.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Looking at e-mails reading SOPs making sure machines are operating correctly.

BioMarin is a great place to work. Every day is fast paced, challenging and extremely rewarding.  Coworkers are intelligent, helpful and determined to do things right the first time.  Management is firm on an open door policy, communication and collaboration are essential.  There is room for advancement and plenty of opportunity to learn and develop yourself both, personally and professionally.  

By far the best job I have ever had!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Senior research associate 6 salaries reported	$102,609 per year
Manufacturing associate 3 salaries reported	$27.67 per hour
Associate director 9 salaries reported	$208,222 per year
Qc technician 8 salaries reported	$31.88 per hour
Director 7 salaries reported	$237,470 per year

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