Principal Scientist I, Chemistry
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 Product Development Science & Technology (PDS&T) is seeking a Principal Research Scientist I to conduct late-stage development and commercialization of small molecule therapies, from registration through commercialization and the product lifecycle. We are seeking a highly motivated candidate with a proven track record of accomplishment in the field of pharmaceutical manufacturing development, to work in a cross-functional team environment at our North Chicago, IL location.
Key Responsibilities:
The candidate will contribute to and/or lead cross-functional project teams associated with manufacturing process development, process characterization/justification, transfer of technology to manufacturing sites, and support manufacturing activities for AbbVie’s small molecule pipeline.
Design and execute laboratory experiments to support program development and commercial manufacture.
Set project strategies, define project responsibilities and timelines
Provide leadership in a matrixed team setting, while acting as an SME for manufacturing processes, interacting with various cross-functional groups and stakeholders and contributing to AbbVie’s manufacturing strategies.
Author and review key technical and regulatory documents.
The position involves multi-disciplinary interactions with organic chemists, analytical chemists, engineers, and solid-state scientists.
The position also entails interfacing with many groups external to PDS&T, for example: Manufacturing Operations, Regulatory Affairs, Quality Assurance, etc.
Responsibilities:
Effectively function as a principal investigator, generating original technical ideas and demonstrating creative 'out of the box' thinking to solve difficult problems and champion new technologies to achieve project goals. Make significant contributions to project team through lab-based activities. Independently responsible for project science within their area of expertise on one or more project teams.
Author and/or review technical reports, manufacturing batch records and regulatory documents concerning Chemistry, Manufacturing and Control (CMC) subjects. Primary author of publications, presentations, and/or primary inventor of patents.
Potential to mentor/supervise a team of one or more individuals, evaluate the performance of those individuals and be accountable for the effective performance of those individuals.
Generate new scientific proposals and lead those efforts. Anticipate and critically evaluate scientific or regulatory advances or competitive threats and respond with appropriate new strategies.
Qualifications
Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent education and typically 14+ years of experience; master’s degree or equivalent education and typically 12+ years of experience; PhD and typically 6+ years of experience in organic chemistry with a focus on manufacturing process development and scale up. Candidates with less experience may be considered for other opportunities.
A broad range of functional expertise in modern organic chemistry, mechanistic understanding, compound purification, control strategy development and standard analytical methodology (e.g., HPLC, UPLC, LC-MS, NMR).
Demonstrated scientific communication and presentation skills. Experience and demonstrated success as an author of publications, presentations, and/or primary inventor of patents.
Strong interpersonal and communication skills for facilitating collaborations and a demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional process development teams.
Key Leadership Competencies:
Builds strong relationships with peers and cross functionally with partners outside of team to enable higher performance.
Learns fast, understands key objectives, and can change course quickly as needed.
Raises the bar and is never satisfied with the status quo.
Creates a learning environment, open to suggestions and experimentation for improvement.
Embraces the ideas of others, nurtures innovation, and manages the transition from innovation to implementation.
Understands, adheres to and models corporate standards regarding code of conduct, safety, appropriate handling of materials, controlled drug compounds, and GxP compliance.
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
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.