AbbVie Posted June 24, 2026

Internship (all genders) in Organic and Medicinal Chemistry

Ludwigshafen, RP Contract
Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research

AbbVie is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

Company Description

AbbVie's mission is to discover and deliver innovative medicines and solutions that solve serious health issues today and address the medical challenges of tomorrow. We strive to have a remarkable impact on people's lives across several key therapeutic areas – immunology, oncology, neuroscience, and eye care – and products and services in our Allergan Aesthetics portfolio. For more information about AbbVie, please visit us at  www.abbvie.com . Follow @abbvie on  X ,  Facebook ,  Instagram ,  YouTube  and  LinkedIn .

Job Description

We are looking for an enthusiastic, passionate and proactive intern to join our Global Medicinal Chemistry department at AbbVie Ludwigshafen for a 6-month internship (or longer) in 2027. In this role you will be able to expand your knowledge and experience in:

Organic synthesis: preparation of novel pharmaceutically active molecules (focus on CNS research)

Characterization of synthetized molecules and interpretation of analytical data

Documentation and evaluation of experiments

These activities will support the medicinal chemistry efforts to discover, synthesize and progress the development of life-changing medicines.

Qualifications

Chemistry students (enrolled at a university in 2027, preferably in master’s programs) with demonstrated knowledge in the field of organic synthesis

Previous industrial or academic work experience in a synthesis lab is preferred.

Interest in synthetic chemistry and drug discovery

Good command of written and spoken English

Additional Information

AbbVie is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to operating with integrity, driving innovation, transforming lives, serving our community and embracing diversity and inclusion.  It is AbbVie’s policy to employ qualified persons of the greatest ability without discrimination against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy), physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, status as a protected veteran, or any other legally protected group status.

AbbVie is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to operating with integrity, driving innovation, transforming lives and serving our community.  Equal Opportunity Employer/Veterans/Disabled.

US & Puerto Rico only - to learn more, visit  https://www.abbvie.com/join-us/equal-employment-opportunity-employer.html

US & Puerto Rico applicants seeking a reasonable accommodation, click here to learn more:

https://www.abbvie.com/join-us/reasonable-accommodations.html

Job details

Seniority
Not listed
Function
Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Ludwigshafen, RP
Employment type
Contract

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 383 comparable Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research roles across 47 biopharma companies.

383Comparable roles tracked
345Currently active
47Companies hiring similar roles
16Countries represented

Salary context

137 of 383 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function. This posting doesn't list a seniority level, so peers aren't narrowed by seniority either -- the range below may span more levels than usual.

This roleSubject Not listed on this posting
Lowest disclosed · Scientist 1, Oncology | Drug Discovery · AbbVie $0/hr – $0/hr (≈ $0–$0/yr)
Highest disclosed · Head, Oncology Drug Discovery – San Diego · Novartis $248,500/yr – $461,500/yr
Peer group range $0 – $355,000 (median $165,300)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 383 comparable roles

United States304
India17
Germany12
United Kingdom9
Canada9
Switzerland6

+ 10 more countries

Seniority mix

297 of 383 peers have a known seniority level

Senior111
Principal57
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc34
Director26
Associate23
Associate Director21
Senior Director12
Executive/VP8
Manager5

Therapeutic area mix

54 of 383 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology31
Cardiovascular / CVRM10
Immunology6
Neuroscience4
Vaccines & Infectious Disease2
Respiratory1

Similar opportunities

The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.

40%similar
Roche Penzberg, Bavaria, Germany Senior
Same function Same country
40%similar
Amgen Research (Munich) GmbH Munich (Research), Germany Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Same function Same country
40%similar
Boehringer Ingelheim Biberach, Germany
Same function Same country
40%similar
Boehringer Ingelheim Biberach, Germany Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Same function Same country
40%similar
Boehringer Ingelheim Biberach, Germany
Same function Same country
40%similar
Bayer Wuppertal-Aprath, Germany Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Same function Same country

How we calculate "similar"

No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.

Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.

40%
Senior Science / People Lead in Bioconjugation and Protein Engineering (m/f/d)
Roche · Penzberg, Bavaria, Germany · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
Postdoc - NMR Spectroscopy (Biberach, Germany, Baden-Württemberg)
Boehringer Ingelheim · Biberach, Germany · Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
Senior Scientist (all genders) - Biophysics and Analytics (Wuppertal-Aprath, North Rhine Westfalia, DE)
Bayer · Wuppertal-Aprath, Germany · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
Associate Director (m/f/d), Computational Pathology Biomarker Lead (Oncology/BioPharma)
AstraZeneca · Munich, Germany · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.