2027 Synthetic Chemistry Intern (PhD)
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
Synthetic Chemistry Internship Overview
Envision spending your summer working with energetic colleagues and inspirational leaders, all while gaining world-class experience in one of the most dynamic organizations in the pharmaceutical industry. This is a reality for AbbVie Interns.
We are seeking a motivated summer intern with experience in synthetic organic chemistry and reaction development to develop next-generation chemical processes for late-stage and commercial small-molecule assets. This role will center on a collaborative effort between Product Development, Science, and Technology (PDS&T) and Process Chemistry in the development of process improvements to commercial processes. The intern will be responsible for planning, executing, and analyzing the results of experiments spanning reaction scales from microgram to decagram using a vast array of modern scientific reaction monitoring and analysis platforms.
Key responsibilities include:
High-throughput experimentation and reaction screening
High-throughput data collection and analysis
Mechanistic analysis of organic reactions
Collaborative experimentation between colleagues in PDS&T and Development Sciences
Reaction design, planning, and scale up
Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications
Currently enrolled in university, pursuing a PhD in Synthetic Chemistry or other related field
Must be enrolled in university for at least one semester following the internship
Experience in the discovery and optimization of chemical reactions
Experience with common analytical techniques used in organic synthesis such as NMR and HPLC
Preferred Qualifications
Expected graduation date between December 2027 – June 2028
Experience with air-free chemistry and glovebox handling
Experience with developing transition metal-mediated reactions
Experience with enantioselective catalysis
Strong collaboration skills and comfort working cross-functionally
Strong writing and communication skills
Additional Information
Benefits and Amenities
Competitive pay
Relocation support for eligible students
Select wellness benefits and paid holiday / sick time
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) to eligible employees.
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
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 130 comparable Intern/Fellow/Postdoc Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research roles across 34 biopharma companies.
Salary context
36 of 130 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.
Where these roles are based
Top locations among the 130 comparable roles
+ 5 more countries
Seniority mix
130 of 130 peers have a known seniority level
Therapeutic area mix
18 of 130 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden
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.
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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.
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.