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
Purpose Statement
As a recognized scientific leader in preclinical pharmacokinetics, provides scientific, operational, and people leadership for the US Pharmacokinetics Team within Quantitative, Translational and ADME Sciences (QTAS). Leads the development and execution of strategies that support discovery and development programs through high-quality pharmacokinetic and toxicokinetic study design, analysis, reporting, and scientific consultation. Drives functional excellence through innovation, operational improvements, capability development, and talent growth while ensuring effective support of AbbVie's pipeline priorities.
Major Responsibilities
Lead and develop the Pharmacokinetics Team, including performance management, coaching, recruitment, succession planning, and employee development.
Establish strategic direction and operational priorities for the Pharmacokinetics organization to support current and future portfolio needs.
Provide scientific leadership and oversight for non-clinical pharmacokinetic and toxicokinetic study design, analysis, interpretation, and reporting.
Serve as a pharmacokinetics subject matter expert supporting project teams across therapeutic areas and stages of drug discovery and development.
Ensure delivery of high-quality PK/TK data packages, reports, and regulatory documentation supporting project progression and regulatory submissions.
Drive operational excellence initiatives focused on workflow optimization, automation, scalability, and continuous improvement of PK support activities.
Lead implementation of innovative technologies, data science approaches, visualization tools, and digital solutions that improve decision making and operational efficiency.
Develop and maintain strong cross-functional partnerships with Discovery Sciences, Pharmaceutical Sciences, CMC, and Toxicology stakeholders.
Champion animal welfare, compliance, and best scientific practices associated with preclinical pharmacokinetics activities.
Represent the function to senior leadership and communicate priorities, resource requirements, risks, opportunities, and strategic recommendations.
Qualifications
Required
Bachelor’s degree plus 16 years of experience, or master’s degree plus 14 years of experience, or PhD plus 8 years of experience in pharmacokinetics, pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical sciences, DMPK, toxicology, or a related scientific discipline.
Typically, 10+ years of relevant pharmaceutical industry experience supporting drug discovery and development programs.
Proven experience leading scientific teams and developing talent.
Strong understanding of non-clinical study design, PK/TK analysis, interpretation, and reporting.
Excellent communication, collaboration, and stakeholder management skills.
Preferred
Demonstrated expertise in preclinical pharmacokinetics and toxicokinetics.
Experience supporting regulatory submissions and cross-functional project teams.
Demonstrated success driving organizational change and operational improvement initiatives.
Experience implementing digital, automation, analytics, or data science solutions within a scientific organization.
Experience leading complex cross-functional initiatives spanning multiple functions and therapeutic areas.
Track record of building high-performing teams and developing future leaders.
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 467 comparable Principal Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research roles across 55 biopharma companies.
Salary context
230 of 467 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 467 comparable roles
+ 15 more countries
Seniority mix
467 of 467 peers have a known seniority level
Therapeutic area mix
61 of 467 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.