AbbVie Posted November 2, 2026

Associate Director, Project Engineering

North Chicago, IL Full-time
Notify me about similar jobs

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

An engineering leader accountable for setting the direction of Project Engineering and developing and delivering the capital-related portion of the site’s long-range plan. Leads the site capital portfolio across facilities, utilities, and equipment, aligning investment recommendations and project execution with business priorities, financial commitments, asset lifecycle needs, and applicable requirements.

Leads and develops the Project Engineering organization and establishes the governance, capabilities, and partnerships needed to deliver a safe, compliant, and sustainable capital program. Contributes engineering and capital perspectives to broader site planning, including the Site Master Plan, and leads execution of approved capital initiatives within Project Engineering’s scope.

Responsibilities

Set the strategic direction for Project Engineering and translate business and site priorities into the capital-related portion of the site’s long-range plan.

Lead development, prioritization, and submission of the site capital long-range plan and annual capital plan in partnership with relevant site functions.

Contribute engineering assessments, capital needs, and project-execution considerations to broader site plans, including the Site Master Plan.

Oversee the annual site capital plan and department budget, including portfolio-level resource planning, financial governance, and delivery of capital commitments.

Ensure accurate and timely capital plan last best estimates (LBEs), forecasts, and financial reporting in accordance with Finance and Project Accounting requirements.

Establish portfolio-level priorities and make recommendations on investment trade-offs, project sequencing, resource allocation, and changes in scope or timing. Escalate significant risks and decisions to appropriate leadership.

Hold the organization accountable for achieving approved project and capital plan objectives, including cost, schedule, scope, quality, compliance, and lifecycle value.

Provide leadership and direction to Project Engineering personnel, including managers and individual contributors, and build organizational capability through talent development, succession planning, training, and effective organizational design.

Establish and maintain effective project governance, engineering standards, and lifecycle practices for capital project definition, RCE development, estimating, design, execution, construction, commissioning, and qualification.

Oversee the asset management, project lifecycle, and energy sustainability programs, integrating their priorities and outcomes with the capital plan and relevant site plans.

Sponsor continuous improvement in project delivery, engineering practices, and portfolio management. Promote consideration of EHS, sustainability, and lifecycle impacts throughout project design and change processes.

Ensure capital activities fulfill applicable corporate policies and procedures and meet environmental, health, safety, quality, and other regulatory or operational obligations.

Maintain effective oversight of engineering and commissioning documentation, including required Technical Library records and current drawings in the CAD repository.

Represent the site Project Engineering function in relevant enterprise, cross-site, and external forums; build productive relationships with internal and external stakeholders.

Provide engineering and capital input to the Site Master Plan and lead execution of approved capital work assigned to Project Engineering.

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in engineering, science, or a closely related discipline, or equivalent technical experience demonstrating comparable competence. A post-graduate degree is desirable.

Typically 12+ years of significant engineering and/or operational experience, including progressive leadership responsibility. Relevant post-graduate education may contribute toward the experience requirement.

Extensive engineering leadership experience in the biopharmaceutical, medical device, and/or packaging industries, or another regulated industry, with a demonstrated record of delivering complex capital programs and developing technical organizations.

Demonstrated ability to shape and execute the capital-related portion of a site long-range plan and connect investment recommendations to business priorities, asset lifecycle needs, and site requirements.

Experience contributing engineering and capital perspectives to broader, cross-functional site planning.

Experience overseeing a portfolio of projects and making or influencing complex prioritization, resource-allocation, and financial decisions.

Strong knowledge of capital planning, project financial controls, forecasting, project governance, and relevant financial systems.

Demonstrated ability to lead through managers and multidisciplinary teams, develop talent, and establish clear accountability across an organization.

Strong understanding of facilities, utilities, equipment, project engineering, construction, commissioning, and qualification in a regulated environment.

Demonstrated commitment to EHS, quality, compliance, and continuous improvement in project planning and execution.

Able to communicate effectively with senior management and diverse internal and external stakeholders, including presenting complex recommendations and influencing decisions.

Listens to and understands differing perspectives and communicates one’s own perspective tactfully and respectfully in discussions, writing, and presentations.

Exercises sound judgment on complex, consequential matters and provides clear recommendations, including when information is incomplete or priorities compete.

Additional Information

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
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 857 comparable Associate Director Manufacturing & CMC roles across 113 biopharma companies.

857Comparable roles tracked
787Currently active
113Companies hiring similar roles
40Countries represented

Salary context

248 of 857 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 Technician Calibration - Maintenance · Mylan Technologies, Inc. $37,000/yr – $80,000/yr
Highest disclosed · Associate Director / Director - Biologics Drug Product Development · AbbVie $160,500/yr – $305,000/yr
Peer group range $58,500 – $232,750 (median $155,000)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 857 comparable roles

United States467
India81
Ireland42
China26
Japan24
Netherlands22

+ 34 more countries

Seniority mix

857 of 857 peers have a known seniority level

Senior403
Manager351
Associate Director103

Therapeutic area mix

6 of 857 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Rare Disease3
Dermatology & Aesthetics1
Immunology1
Vaccines & Infectious Disease1

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 North Chicago, IL Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Gilead Sciences, Inc. Foster City, United States Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Amgen Inc. Remote, United States Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Lebanon, Indiana, United States of America Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Merck Wilmington, Delaware, United States Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
AbbVie Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country

Open in 2 locations

North Chicago, United StatesWorcester, United States

Notify me about similar jobs

Get an email when we spot other openings like this one – same job function, comparable seniority, roles you'd actually want to see.

Or follow a whole field: get every new Manufacturing & CMC job in the United States, and choose locations and companies.

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%
Associate Director, CMC Portfolio Management
AbbVie · North Chicago, IL · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Associate Director – Biologics Process Engineering, Lilly Medicine Foundry
Lilly · Lebanon, Indiana, United States of America · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Associate Director, External Manufacturing - Small Molecule
AbbVie · Worcester, MA · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Associate Director, Supply Chain
AstraZeneca · Gaithersburg, Maryland, United States of America · 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.