AbbVie Posted August 24, 2026

Method Development Scientist II / Senior Scientist I - Small Molecule / Peptides

North Chicago, IL 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

AbbVie Analytical Research & Development (Analytical R&D) is a global analytical scientific organization responsible for all CMC analytical activities related to the development of AbbVie's pharmaceutical products.  Our scope includes AbbVie's diverse pipeline of innovative small molecule medicines and spans from the selection of Discovery candidate molecules to Late Stage Clinical.  We are building a world-class team of scientists and leaders who will drive the advancement of industry-leading analytical capabilities and make meaningful contributions to advance AbbVie's pipeline of innovative medicines.  Careers in AbbVie Analytical R&D provide unique opportunities to work with global and cross-functional teams to drive exceptional science and innovative product development strategies.  We are looking for diverse candidates with strong scientific experience to join the AbbVie Analytical R&D team and can offer exciting and rewarding career opportunities for these candidates.

Position Description: 

For the Scientist II position, we are seeking a highly motivated candidate who can independently develop and optimize new methods and techniques to generate reliable and reproducible data in a timely manner, demonstrate broad and versatile technical expertise. Continuously seek to improve existing laboratory methods and processes. They should demonstrate mastery of broad range of experimental techniques and support early phase development of New Chemical Entities (NCEs) drug substance and drug product in both preclinical and clinical programs. Collaborate within the global Analytical R&D organization and with R&D cross-functional partners such as Pre-Clinical Safety (PCS), Process Chemistry, Process Engineering, Drug Product Development (DPD), and Quality Assurance (QA) and CMC-Regulatory.

Responsibilities:

Performs method development, testing procedures, and implementation of analytical control strategies to help the advancement of drug discovery candidates with some guidance.

Apply analytical separation and detection modes for complex impurity profiling of pharmaceutical products to further the understanding of emerging cGMP manufacturing processes.

Responsible for contributing to the analytical aspects of a project while working with other functional areas to advance projects through the development pipeline.

Utilize understanding of a range of analytical techniques to conduct research and development studies related to small-molecule drug products, active pharmaceutical ingredients, intermediates, starting materials, impurities, and impurity profiling.

Support new product development with method development and validation, technical transfer packages, and generation of technical data in support regulatory requirements with some guidance.

Autonomous and productive in performing laboratory research or method development, requiring only minimal direction from or interaction with supervisor.

Formulate conclusions and design follow-on experiments based on multidisciplinary data.

Process, interpret, and visualize data to facilitate project team decisions.

Communicate and collaborate with cross-functional groups and departments.

Demonstrate scientific rigor, initiative and creativity in research or development activities and maintain a high level of productivity in the lab.

Raises the bar and is never satisfied with the status quo.

Understand and adhere to corporate standards regarding code of conduct, safety, appropriate handling of materials, controlled drug and radioactive compounds, and GxP compliance, where applicable.

Qualifications

Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, or equivalent education, with typically 7 or more years’ experience or Master’s Degree or equivalent education, with typically 5 or more years’ experience.

Strong technical background in analytical chemistry, excellent analytical problem-solving skills. Capable of developing and troubleshooting analytical methods with minimal guidance.

Well versed with hands-on experience with chromatography (HPLC, UPLC, GC) and spectroscopic techniques.

Self-motivated, hard-working, detail-oriented individual able to work in a fast-paced team environment.

Software Proficiency - Expert knowledge of Waters Empower CDS and experience with SLIMS (or similar LIMS systems) for electronic data management.

Experience in the use of computerized data handling systems.

High-quality written and oral communication skills and ability to interact effectively with interdisciplinary scientists and engineers.

Practical knowledge of organic structure, functional groups, chemistry, and modern spectroscopic techniques as applied to small-molecule analytical analysis.

Builds strong relationships with peers and cross functionally with partners outside of team to enable higher performance.

Learns fast, grasps the "essence" and can change course quickly where indicated.

Creates a learning environment, open to suggestions and experimentation for improvement.

Embraces the ideas of others and speaks up with innovative ideas.

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 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
Senior
Function
Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
North Chicago, IL
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 389 comparable Senior Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research roles across 57 biopharma companies.

389Comparable roles tracked
368Currently active
57Companies hiring similar roles
21Countries represented

Salary context

175 of 389 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 $78,500/yr – $141,000/yr
Lowest disclosed · Senior Primate Behavior Specialist · Labcorp $70,000/yr – $80,000/yr
Highest disclosed · Toxicology Senior Research Fellow · Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (US) $232,000/yr – $348,000/yr
Peer group range $75,000 – $290,000 (median $159,125)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 389 comparable roles

United States291
China15
India15
United Kingdom11
Germany10
Switzerland9

+ 15 more countries

Seniority mix

389 of 389 peers have a known seniority level

Senior209
Principal152
Associate Director28

Therapeutic area mix

38 of 389 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology16
Immunology9
Neuroscience8
Cardiovascular / CVRM4
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
Pharmacia & Upjohn Company Groton, United States Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Pharmacia & Upjohn Company Groton, United States Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Gilead Sciences, Inc. Foster City, United States Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Gilead Sciences, Inc. Foster City, United States Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Amgen Inc. Thousand Oaks, United States Senior
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 Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research 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%
Senior Scientist Mass Spectrometrist
Pharmacia & Upjohn Company · Groton, United States · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Sr. Associate Scientist
Gilead Sciences, Inc. · Foster City, United States · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Senior Associate Scientist, RNA Therapeutics
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) · Tarrytown, United States · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Senior Toxicologist
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) · Cambridge, United States · Senior
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.