AbbVie Posted September 8, 2026

Director, Process Engineering (Hybrid)

Durham, NC Full-time
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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 Process Engineering department supports technical and scientific activities related to the manufacture of pharmaceutical products in AbbVie facilities or in contract facilities. The Director, through his/her section managers and direct reporting lines, will manage a technically diverse staff of highly specialized engineers and scientists. He/she is a key link between development organizations and operations/third party contract manufacturers and ensures a seamless link between pilot scale and full-scale manufacture. The director is accountable for all the activities of the department and provides technical/scientific and business leadership for the department. The director partners with manufacturing and quality in the identification, definition, and execution of projects and delivers technical requirements for the launch of products and supports the development of innovative solutions to problems and opportunities.

Responsibilities

Communicates and collaborates with internal (manufacturing, quality, engineering, S&T and other areas) and external partners to provide effective technical and business leadership in line with site goals and objectives.

Maintain and direct a highly diversified cross functional staff of professionals to ensure that all aspects of CMC life cycle management are completed on time, within budget and meet highest scientific, regulatory, quality, marketing and commercial standards

Develops engineering objectives and strategies that advance the site, and continually looks for opportunities for process optimization, cost avoidance and cost reduction.

Develop and communicate cost estimates, business plans, timelines and contingency plans to accomplish project and departmental objectives within agreed time scope.

Participate in capital plan input and capital project execution to advance manufacturing capabilities

Make final decisions related to project responsibilities

Represent AbbVie during audits to regulatory agencies (US/ROW as appropriate) by supplying verbal or written information with active participation.

Responsible for ensuring that all members of the Engineering team follow all Company guidelines related to Health, Safety and Environmental practices and that all resources needed to do so are available and in good condition.

Provide leadership, coaching, training, and mentoring to direct reports. Negotiates, secures, oversees and ensures that all resources are available to meet the demands of the projects and site goals.

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in engineering discipline (Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical) is required to provide technical expertise.

10 + years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry formulation, including at least 4+ years of managerial experience.

Knowledge of AbbVie Engineering standards.

Demonstrated leadership and team building skills.

Strong problem-solving abilities.

Proven track record of managing projects through to completion.

Excellent communication skills with layers of management.

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
Director
Function
Manufacturing & CMC
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Durham, NC
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 307 comparable Director Manufacturing & CMC roles across 48 biopharma companies.

307Comparable roles tracked
287Currently active
48Companies hiring similar roles
19Countries represented

Salary context

164 of 307 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 $160,500/yr – $305,000/yr
Lowest disclosed · Principal Project Engineer- Design Lead · Lilly $90,000/yr – $132,000/yr
Highest disclosed · Senior Director Process Engineering · AbbVie $206,500/yr – $393,000/yr
Peer group range $111,000 – $299,750 (median $196,100)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 307 comparable roles

United States231
Netherlands15
Ireland13
India9
Germany8
Switzerland5

+ 13 more countries

Seniority mix

307 of 307 peers have a known seniority level

Principal138
Director112
Senior Director57

Therapeutic area mix

5 of 307 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Vaccines & Infectious Disease3
Oncology1
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.

60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Director
Same function Same seniority Same country

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%
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Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director - BRD Analytical Development
Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director, Process Engineer - Parenteral Drug Product Development
Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director-Engineering Design Lead
Lilly · Huntsville, Alabama, United States of America · 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.