AbbVie Posted October 13, 2026

Associate Director / Principal Research Scientist II, Precision Medicine Immunology

Waltham, MA Full-time
Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research Immunology Associate Director
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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

The Precision Medicine Immunology group is seeking an experienced translational and biomarker scientist with expertise in immunology to lead the development, planning, execution, and interpretation of precision medicine activities supporting AbbVie’s immunology clinical development portfolio.

Key responsibilities include:

Translational and biomarker strategy: Lead the development and implementation of translational and biomarker strategies for one or more clinical programs, spanning early translational development, mature product life cycle planning, and back-translational research.

Biomarker execution and interpretation: Oversee the design, conduct, interpretation, and reporting of biomarker activities and data in alignment with development, regulatory, and commercial strategies.

Cross-functional leadership: Lead asset-specific translational projects and teams within a matrixed environment.

Operational coordination: Partner with the internal Operations group to coordinate sample management, assay validation at internal laboratories and external CROs, statement-of-work reviews, and data management.

Program planning and compliance: Collaborate with key stakeholders to incorporate translational budgets, timelines, publication strategies, and regulatory compliance requirements into program strategy.

Clinical and regulatory documentation: Author and review the translational medicine components of development plans, study protocols, clinical study reports, regulatory submissions, and other clinical and regulatory documents.

External scientific engagement: Lead scientific collaborations and interactions with therapeutic-area key opinion leaders in partnership with Medical Affairs, Commercial, and other functions.

Scientific expertise: Maintain current knowledge of the primary scientific literature, state-of-the-art technologies, and emerging concepts in immunology.

Qualifications

Education and experience: PhD, PharmD, or MD with at least 6 years of relevant experience, or MS with at least 8 years of relevant experience, in the pharmaceutical industry or an equivalent setting. Substantial knowledge of translational and precision medicine science is required. The position level will be determined based on experience.

Scientific expertise: Strong scientific background in immunology or a related field, supported by a relevant publication record.

Translational leadership and assay development: Demonstrated leadership in translational science, including the use of pharmacodynamic, predictive, and exploratory biomarkers. Experience developing assays, such as ligand-binding assays, IHC/IF, gene expression profiling, or flow cytometry, is preferred.

Data analysis and visualization: Familiarity with data management and visualization tools, with experience collaborating with computational biologists to analyze complex clinical trial data sets.

Therapeutic-area expertise: Expertise in rheumatology is highly desirable.

Clinical development knowledge: Knowledge of clinical trial methodology, protocol design, regulatory requirements governing clinical trials, companion diagnostics, and development strategy is preferred.

Program and team management: Ability to manage clinical translational programs and cross-functional teams with moderate supervision.

Communication and organization: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present results clearly and concisely. Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, effective time management, and adaptability to changing priorities are essential.

Collaboration: Strong interpersonal and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively in a team-oriented, matrixed environment and navigate conflict constructively.

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) to eligible employees.​

This job is eligible to participate in our long-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
Associate Director
Function
Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research
Therapeutic area
Immunology
Location
Waltham, MA
Employment type
Full-time

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 292 comparable Associate Director Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research roles across 47 biopharma companies.

292Comparable roles tracked
265Currently active
47Companies hiring similar roles
18Countries represented

Salary context

141 of 292 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 $141,500/yr – $268,500/yr
Lowest disclosed · Senior Animal Behaviorist - Primate · Labcorp $70,000/yr – $80,000/yr
Peer group range $75,000 – $231,700 (median $145,470)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 292 comparable roles

United States223
India11
United Kingdom8
Switzerland6
Spain5
Japan5

+ 12 more countries

Seniority mix

292 of 292 peers have a known seniority level

Senior227
Associate Director41
Manager24

Therapeutic area mix

27 of 292 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Neuroscience10
Oncology9
Immunology7
Cardiovascular / CVRM1

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.

100%similar
AbbVie Waltham, MA Associate Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Same seniority Same country
100%similar
Merck West Point, Pennsylvania, United States of America Associate Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Same seniority Same country
90%similar
ModernaTX, Inc. Cambridge, United States Senior
Same function Same therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Same country
90%similar
Merck Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America Senior
Same function Same therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Same country
90%similar
ModernaTX, Inc. Cambridge, United States Senior
Same function Same therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Same country
75%similar
IQVIA Livingston, United Kingdom Manager
Same function Same therapeutic area Adjacent seniority

Notify me about similar jobs

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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.

100%
Associate Director / Principal Scientist I, Precision Medicine Immunology
AbbVie · Waltham, MA · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
90%
Sr. Research Associate, ID Immunology
ModernaTX, Inc. · Cambridge, United States · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
90%
Senior Scientist, Translational Immunology
ModernaTX, Inc. · Cambridge, United States · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
60%
Associate Director Preclinical & Translational Pharmacokinetics/Pharmacodynamics
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) · Tarrytown, United States · 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.