AbbVie Posted November 10, 2026

Postdoctoral Fellow, Peptide Process Development

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

Purpose:

We are seeking a highly motivated postdoctoral researcher to join the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) team in PDS&T to conduct independent, publishable research in peptide synthesis process development. Working under the mentorship of senior process chemists, the successful candidate will apply advanced expertise in organic and peptide chemistry to support platform development for the synthesis and isolation of peptide intermediates and drug substances. The successful candidate will design and execute experiments, analyze and interpret data, collaborate with multidisciplinary partners, and contribute to scientific publications, presentations, and internal knowledge sharing. The goal of this position is to generate new insights, methods, and capabilities that advance peptide process development in PDS&T and support innovation in peptide drug substance manufacturing, while building the candidate's independence as a scientist.

Responsibilities:

Plan and perform solution-phase and solid-phase synthesis of peptides and protected peptide fragments, including coupling, deprotection, resin cleavage, fragment condensation, and isolation.

Design, plan, and execute hypothesis-driven experiments, including mechanistic, kinetic, and design-of-experiment (DoE) studies, to advance platform development and process understanding of peptide synthesis and isolation.

Apply relevant analytical and computational methods, such as HPLC, LC-MS, NMR, solubility studies, and impurity profiling, to advance peptide process development.

Collaborate with engineering and analytical sciences partners to develop robust, scalable processes for peptide manufacture and isolation.

Independently troubleshoot technical challenges and recommend follow-up experiments or alternative approaches.

Communicate scientific plans, progress, results, and recommendations through presentations and written updates.

Publish research in peer-reviewed journals and present at external scientific conferences and contribute to patent filings and internal scientific communications as appropriate.

Maintain awareness of relevant scientific literature, emerging technologies, and external developments in the field.

Ensure work is conducted in alignment with applicable safety, quality, compliance, and documentation expectations.

Participate in mentoring, training, and career-development activities to build independence in research design, project leadership, and scientific communication.

Qualifications

PhD in organic chemistry, peptide chemistry, or a closely related discipline, awarded recently or expected before the start date.

Strong practical experience and theoretical background in organic synthetic techniques, chromatographic separations, and analytical chemistry (e.g., HPLC, LC-MS, and NMR).

Hands-on experience with solution-phase or solid-phase peptide synthesis, protecting-group selection, and peptide isolation, purification, and analysis is strongly preferred.

Strong record of scientific productivity, including publications, presentations, or demonstrated research accomplishments.

Excellent problem-solving skills, including critical thinking, data interpretation, and scientific judgment.

Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to present complex scientific concepts clearly.

Demonstrated ability to work independently while seeking input and feedback from peers and supervisors.

Ability to collaborate effectively in a multidisciplinary, diverse, and fast-paced environment.

Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities and timelines.

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
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
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 339 comparable Intern/Fellow/Postdoc Manufacturing & CMC roles across 56 biopharma companies.

339Comparable roles tracked
315Currently active
56Companies hiring similar roles
25Countries represented

Salary context

69 of 339 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 $75,000/yr – $142,500/yr
Lowest disclosed · Warehouse Associate I (M-F 11am-7:30pm) · AbbVie $16/hr – $29/hr (≈ $33,280–$60,320/yr)
Highest disclosed · Advisor, Bioanalytical Chemistry · Lilly $168,000/yr – $268,400/yr
Peer group range $46,800 – $218,200 (median $82,050)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 339 comparable roles

United States183
France50
Germany28
Belgium16
Switzerland10
Netherlands8

+ 19 more countries

Seniority mix

339 of 339 peers have a known seniority level

Intern/Fellow/Postdoc197
Associate142

Therapeutic area mix

6 of 339 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Vaccines & Infectious Disease6

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
Merck West Point, Pennsylvania, United States Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Same function Same seniority Same country
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Merck Trenton, New Jersey, United States Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
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60%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
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Johnson & Johnson Cincinnati, United States Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
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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.

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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.