AbbVie Posted July 27, 2026

Senior Section Manager, Automation

North Chicago, IL Full-time
Manufacturing & CMC Manager

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

About AbbVie

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 including immunology, oncology and neuroscience - and products and services in our Allergan Aesthetics portfolio. For more information about AbbVie, please visit us at  www.abbvie.com . Follow @abbvie on  LinkedIn,   Facebook ,  Instagram ,  X  and  YouTube.

Job Description

Set, direct, and control all department and financial goals, budget and objectives for the automation area assigned.

Drive and lead the automation department to meet the site/automation business strategies; accountable for cost center expenses, project budgets, and delivery of projects to support required plant/facility projects and programs.

Responsible for compliance with applicable policies and procedures. Ensures quality and effectiveness of key results of major projects within function through sound design, early risk assessments, and implementation of fall back strategies.

Has full awareness of the potential consequences (defects and failure modes) of design changes to established processes.

Mitigates risk within functions through sound design, early risk assessments and implementation of fallback strategies.

Recommend and implement business strategies and automation controls to reduce costs, increase efficiencies, and drive world-class performance.

Collaborate with peers and cross-functional partners to define action plans, timelines and budgets for project goals, and manage/plan/assign automation resources required for execution.

Analyzes business forces (customers, suppliers, competitors, technologies, government regulations) in major markets to identify trends and recommend responses. Independently executes, and/or directs others in the execution of: the design of products/processes/equipment/systems/facilities by applying novel automation theories, concepts, and techniques within the discipline.

Develop and manage staff through hiring, managing performance, developing talent and providing clear expectations.

Provides daily leadership to the Automation Team. These responsibilities include personnel management, training management, department organizational structure and project management. This position directly supervises the activities of Project Engineering personnel consisting of a mix of exempt, nonexempt, and contractors.

Lead the strategic planning of next fiscal year capital plan.

Administer and lead the annual site capital plan and department budget.

Deliver capital plan last best estimates (LBE) as per the established frequency by finance and project accounting.

Makes difficult decisions regarding priorities between projects. Responsible for achieving the projects and capital plan financial targets in support of business objectives and life cycle costs.

Administer asset management, project lifecycle, and energy sustainability Programs.

Drive the site capital long range plan from development to submission.

Assure fulfillments of corporate policies and procedures. Ensure compliance of environmental, health, and safety (EHS) requirements and obligations. Promote continuous improvement and consider EHS aspects during the project design and change process.

Ensure that the required engineering and commissioning documents are filed in the Technical Library and drawing (CAD) repository system is up to date.

Responsible of capital project definition, request capital expenditure (RCE) development, engineering cost estimate, design, project plan integration, construction, and compliance with commissioning and qualification requirements.

#LI-AL1

Qualifications

Bachelor’s Degree in engineering, science, or closely related discipline is desired, or equivalent technical experience plus demonstrated competence, with a desired 10+ years of significant engineering and/or operational experience. A post-graduate education/degree is desired and may contribute towards the desired years of experience.

Business acumen coupled with leadership experience is required to drive high performance.

DeltaV required

Pharmaceutical experience preferred

Change Management expert

Experience with large scale manufacturing expansions and builds

Strong Engineering lead role experience in the Biopharma industry. Demonstrated consistent technical contributions and accomplishments. Significant contribution to product or process development or improvement through creative application of technical effort will equally be recognized.

Able to interact and communicate with Senior Management and other groups within AbbVie engineering and maintains strong working relationships with internal and external stakeholders and collaborators.

Has demonstrated competency with financial systems and in fiscal control.

Computer literate including but not limited to Microsoft Office (Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Project, Outlook), AutoCAD, SAP, among others.

Listens to and understands other’s point of view and articulates tactfully and respectfully one’s own perspective orally, in writing, and in presentations.

Possesses a strong technical knowledge and application of concepts, practices, and procedures. Works on problems of complex scope where analysis of situations or data involves multiple competing factors. Exercises judgment and advises management as to the appropriate actions.

Additional Information

Applicable only to applicants applying to a position in any location with pay disclosure requirements under state or local law: ​

The compensation range described below is the range of possible base pay compensation that the Company believes in good faith it will pay for this role at the time of this posting based on the job grade for this position. Individual compensation paid within this range will depend on many factors including geographic location, and we may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range. This range may be modified in the future. ​

We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including paid time off (vacation, holidays, sick), medical/dental/vision insurance and 401(k)

This job is eligible to participate in our short-term incentive programs. ​

Note: No amount of pay is considered to be wages or compensation until such amount is earned, vested, and determinable. The amount and availability of any bonus, commission, incentive, benefits, or any other form of compensation and benefits that are allocable to a particular employee remains in the Company's sole and absolute discretion unless and until paid and may be modified at the Company’s sole and absolute discretion, consistent with applicable law.

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
Manager
Function
Manufacturing & CMC
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
North Chicago, IL
Employment type
Full-time

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Manufacturing & CMC role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 276 comparable Manager Manufacturing & CMC roles across 50 biopharma companies.

276Comparable roles tracked
256Currently active
50Companies hiring similar roles
23Countries represented

Salary context

94 of 276 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.

This roleSubject $124,500/yr – $236,500/yr
Lowest disclosed · Associate Operator - 2nd Shift · Mylan Technologies, Inc. $30,000/yr – $49,000/yr
Highest disclosed · Associate Director Packaging Development · Gilead Sciences, Inc. $182,070/yr – $235,620/yr
Peer group range $39,500 – $208,845 (median $168,075)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 276 comparable roles

United States171
India39
Ireland14
Singapore7
China's Mainland6
Netherlands5

+ 17 more countries

Seniority mix

276 of 276 peers have a known seniority level

Manager164
Associate68
Associate Director44

Therapeutic area mix

0 of 276 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

No peers with a known therapeutic area yet.

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.

60%similar
AbbVie Manager
Same function Same seniority Same country

Open in 4 locations

North Chicago, United StatesIrvine, United StatesSouth San Francisco, United StatesWorcester, United States
60%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Manager
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
AbbVie Manager
Same function Same seniority Same country

Open in 2 locations

Waltham, United StatesNorth Chicago, United States
60%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Manager
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Manager
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Sanofi Vaccines US Inc. Swiftwater, United States Manager
Same function Same seniority 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.

60%
Senior Manager, Product Development Quality Assurance (CMC Product Lead)
AbbVie · North Chicago, IL · Manager
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Senior Manager, Product Development Quality Assurance (CMC Product Lead)
AbbVie · Worcester, MA · Manager
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Senior Manager Regulatory Affairs, Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (CMC)
AbbVie · North Chicago, IL · Manager
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Manager of Automation
Sanofi Vaccines US Inc. · Swiftwater, United States · Manager
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.