AbbVie Posted September 3, 2026

Senior Principal Pathologist

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

Job Description

The primary function is to assess the safety of experimental compounds by evaluating their effects across available nonclinical safety models. Act as a scientific subject matter expert for preclinical safety data for other AbbVie departments as a member of cross-functional project teams. Develop and conduct those portions of study protocols that deal with anatomic and clinical pathology including not only the collection and evaluation of data regarding gross, microscopic, ultra-structural, and clinical pathology but, lastly, the preparation of comprehensive reports correlating these data. Integrate data sourced from in vivo studies as well as in vitro models and in silico predictions to generate a comprehensive safety assessment for early drug development programs.

Responsibilities

Provide scientific expertise to scientific staff of other departments as a member of cross-functional teams.

In cooperation with the Toxicology Department, design, direct, and evaluate in vivo studies to determine the potential toxicity of experimental compounds in different species of animals. This includes advanced endpoints (molecular pathology, ultrastructure, imaging, -omics, etc)

Integrates the anatomic pathology data, clinical pathology data and other study findings to generate a pathology report as a component of the Toxicology report.

Partner with toxicologists, pathologists and other functions to develop optimal strategies to address specific toxicology issues as well as select and advance Development compounds.

Ability to function in multidisciplinary teams to address regulatory queries.

Serves and/or leads issue resolution teams and participates in due diligence teams.

Responsible for compliance with applicable Corporate and Divisional Policies and procedures.

Qualifications

Qualifications

Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM or equivalent) plus post graduate training in veterinary pathology.

Board Certification in Veterinary Anatomic Pathology (ACVP or equivalent) strongly preferred.

Candidates with a Ph.D. in pathology or related discipline are strongly preferred.

Familiarity with related fields: pharmacology, toxicology and drug development.

Seasoned experience in biological research, supervisory abilities, and the ability to work effectively with other people.

Excellent oral and written skills with a proven record of scientific contributions to the scientific community.

At least 5-15 years of experience as a veterinary pathologist in the pharmaceutical business is required.

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

Seniority
Principal
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 467 comparable Principal Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research roles across 55 biopharma companies.

467Comparable roles tracked
429Currently active
55Companies hiring similar roles
21Countries represented

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.

This roleSubject $160,500/yr – $305,000/yr
Lowest disclosed · Senior Animal Behaviorist - Primate · Labcorp $70,000/yr – $80,000/yr
Peer group range $75,000 – $322,000 (median $167,150)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 467 comparable roles

United States347
China22
India17
United Kingdom12
Germany10
Switzerland10

+ 15 more countries

Seniority mix

467 of 467 peers have a known seniority level

Senior235
Principal170
Director62

Therapeutic area mix

61 of 467 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Immunology21
Oncology19
Neuroscience14
Cardiovascular / CVRM3
Vaccines & Infectious Disease1
Respiratory1
Gastroenterology1
Dermatology & Aesthetics1

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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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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.

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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.