AI Engineer

AbbVie; North Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 5,900 - 104,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical/dental/vision insurance

401(k) plan

Paid time off

Job summary

AbbVie is seeking an entry-level AI Engineer to apply growing expertise in software engineering and Generative AI. You will work under close supervision on smaller projects and independently on larger ones, designing and deploying AI-enabled software solutions including LLM-powered apps and RAG pipelines.

You will transform data with Python and SQL, build ETL steps, and serve models through REST APIs and containers, while following deployment runbooks and maintaining documentation.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in CS, Data Science, Engineering, Math, or related STEM.
• Strong ability to decompose problems and communicate results to non-technical audiences.
• Proficiency in Python and software fundamentals as listed in the job description.
• Experience with APIs, web services, and model serving concepts.
• Familiarity with basic MLOps, CI/CD, and deployment workflows.

Responsibilities

• Apply developing technical knowledge in software engineering and Generative AI to small projects.
• Design, build, and deploy AI-enabled software solutions including LLM-powered apps.
• Develop retrieval-augmented generation pipelines and model-serving APIs.
• Transform and analyze data with Python, SQL, and data libraries; build ETL steps.
• Execute unit tests and model evaluations; reproduce issues and track results.
• Serve models via REST APIs and containers; follow runbooks and deployment practices.
• Document work and maintain tickets and knowledge base entries.
• Collaborate via pairing, code reviews, and cross-functional teamwork.
• Monitor experiments, model versions, and CI/CD processes.

Skills

Python programming

Data analysis

APIs and web

LLM integration

RAG pipelines

Containerization

CI/CD

Experimental tracking

Communication

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related STEM

Tools

GitHub

Docker basics

FastAPI or Flask

SQLAlchemy

Pandas

NumPy

Jupyter

VS Code

PyTest

REST concepts

MLflow

Job description

• Compensation: USD 58,656 - USD 103,500 - yearly

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

This entry-level AI Engineer will work under close supervision to apply developing technical knowledge in Software Engineering and Generative AI, performing analytic, testing, modeling, and development tasks on smaller projects, and independently on larger, more complex assignments. The role will help design, build, and deploy AI-enabled software solutions, including LLM-powered applications, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines, and model-serving APIs, to meet business requirements.

Responsibilities:

• Perform assigned technical and analytic tasks using established methods and tools, documents methods and results, and elevate novel or ambiguous issues.
• Support development of AI-enabled applications and fix straightforward defects under close supervision.
• Build and maintain components of LLM-based solutions, including API integrations, prompt and tool/function-calling workflows, and basic RAG pipelines (chunking, embeddings, vector search).
• Clean, transform, and analyze data with Python, SQL, and data libraries; build simple ETL steps and visualizations.
• Execute assigned test cases, including unit tests and basic retrieval or model evaluations, and help reproduce reported issues.
• Serve models and AI services through RESTAPIs and containers, prepare simple configuration changes, and follow deployment runbooks.
• Track experiments and model versions and support monitoring and CI/CD processes.
• Document work and escalation steps in tickets and knowledge base entries.
• Learn codebase, development workflows, and platform fundamentals through pairing and code reviews.
• Produce reliable technical outputs, follow quality and safety standards (including AI guardrails), document reproducible methods and records, and communicate progress and risks to project leads.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or relevant STEM certification.
• Problem decomposition, clear communication, reading documentation, collaborating through code review, and explaining results to non-technical people.
• Python and Software Fundamentals
  • Core language: data types, control flow, functions, OOP, comprehensions, generators, decorators, exceptions, file I/O, virtual environments (venv, pip / uv)
  • Data libraries: NumPy, pandas (cleaning, joins, groupby, time series)
  • Visualization: Matplotlib, Seaborn, Plotly
  • Code quality: type hints, unit testing (pytest), logging, PEP 8, packaging
  • APIs and web: requests, REST concepts, FastAPI or Flask to serve models, async basics
  • Tooling: Git/GitHub, Jupyter, VS Code, Docker basics
• Databases
  • SQL (essential): SELECT, WHERE, JOINs, GROUP BY, HAVING, subqueries, CTEs, window functions, indexes, query optimization
  • Relational databases: PostgreSQL, MySQL, or SQLite; schema design, normalization, primary and foreign keys, transactions
  • Python connectivity: SQLAlchemy, psycopg2, pandas.read_sql
  • NoSQL: MongoDB (documents), Redis (caching)
  • Vector databases (AI-specific): embeddings, similarity search, and tools such as pgvector, Chroma, FAISS, Pinecone
  • Data pipelines: ETL basics, data warehouses, Airflow concepts
• Modern GenAI Skills
  • LLM APIs: Anthropic, OpenAI, structured outputs, tool/function calling
  • RAG: chunking, embeddings, vector search, retrieval evaluation
  • Frameworks: LangChain or LlamaIndex (know the basics, but understand what's underneath)
  • Agents: tool use, multi-step workflows, basic evaluation, and guardrails
• MLOps and Deployment
  • Model serving: FastAPI, Docker
  • Experiment tracking: MLflow, Weights & Biases
  • Cloud basics: AWS, Azure, or GCP
  • CI/CD basics, monitoring, model versioning

Additional Information

Applicable only to applicants applying to a position in any location with pay disclosure requirements under state orlocal law:

• The compensation range described below is the range of possible base pay compensation that the Companybelieves ingood faith it will pay for this role at thetimeofthis posting based on the job grade for this position.Individualcompensation paid within this range will depend on many factors including geographiclocation,andwemayultimatelypaymore or less than the posted range. This range may bemodifiedin thefuture.
• We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including paid time off (vacation, holidays, sick),medical/dental/visioninsurance and 401(k) to eligibleemployees.
• This job is eligible toparticipatein our short-term incentiveprograms.

Note: No amount of payis considered to bewages or compensation until such amount is earned, vested, anddeterminable.Theamountandavailabilityof anybonus,commission, incentive, benefits, or any other form ofcompensation and benefitsthat are allocable to a particular employeeremainsin the Company'ssoleandabsolutediscretion unless and until paid andmay bemodifiedat the Company’s sole and absolute discretion, consistent withapplicable 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 applicants seeking a reasonable accommodation, click here to learn more: