Principal Research Scientist II
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 is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and delivering innovative medicines and solutions that help address serious health needs. We are seeking a Device Technical Lead to join the Injection Device Development group within Operations who will provide technical leadership for the development, evaluation, and lifecycle management of devices and combination products. In this role, you will serve as a key technical expert and cross-functional partner, helping drive robust design, regulatory readiness, and successful delivery of new or improved products.
Responsibilities
Develop and execute technical strategy aligned with functional goals and program priorities.
Lead cross-functional collaboration with key stakeholders in operations, R&D, quality, regulatory, manufacturing, procurement, and device engineering.
Provide expertise in device design, combination product development, design controls, verification and validation, risk management, and human factors.
Ensure strong technical planning, early risk assessment, and effective mitigation strategies for major project outcomes.
Evaluate emerging technologies, standards, and regulatory trends and translate insights into action.
Drive innovation through improved tools, methods, and technologies that enhance performance, usability, manufacturability, and patient safety.
Mentor and influence technical colleagues and project teams.
Present technical concepts, study results, and recommendations to varied audiences.
Contribute to technical decisions by assessing feasibility, risks, tradeoffs, and impacts to deliverables.
Build strong relationships with internal and external collaborators to support successful development and launch.
Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or related field with 16 years of experience; Master’s degree or PhD with commensurate experience strongly preferred.
Experience leading device or combination product development in a regulated environment.
Knowledge of design controls (e.g. 21 CFR 820 / ISO 13485 (Design Controls), risk management, verification and validation, human factors, and product development lifecycle.
Strong ability to turn technical strategy into executable plans.
Demonstrated success with product launches, improvements, or technology implementation.
Strong collaboration and communication skills.
Experience mentoring others and influencing without direct authority.
Working knowledge of regulatory expectations and industry standards.
Ability to manage multiple priorities and make sound decisions even when inputs appear ambiguous.
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
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 423 comparable Principal Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research roles across 59 biopharma companies.
Salary context
192 of 423 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.
Where these roles are based
Top locations among the 423 comparable roles
+ 16 more countries
Seniority mix
423 of 423 peers have a known seniority level
Therapeutic area mix
50 of 423 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden
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.
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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.
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.