Senior Principal Engineer, Pharma Process Leadership

AbbVie; North Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid time off

Medical/dental/vision insurance

401(k)

Long-term incentives

Job summary

AbbVie is seeking a senior technical professional in North Chicago, IL to lead site-level manufacturing projects and drive process improvements across pharmaceutical formulation processes. You will design operating ranges, validate methods, and guide engineers through critical technical decisions to ensure quality and compliance.

The role requires 8+ years in pharma formulation, strong leadership, and excellent communication with management.

Qualifications

• 8+ years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry formulation.
• Knowledge of Engineering standards.
• Demonstrated leadership and team building skills.
• Strong problem-solving abilities.
• Proven track record of managing projects through to completion.
• Excellent communication skills with layers of management.

Responsibilities

• Designs site-level processes and improvements by defining operating ranges, critical parameters, and acceptance criteria that support efficient, high-quality production.
• Leads process improvement and optimization workstreams, defining the technical approach, coordinating trial execution with production, and documenting results.
• Conducts process validation and troubleshooting for manufacturing processes by analyzing performance data, investigating deviations, and drafting corrective actions and supporting documentation for review and approval.
• Establishes technical standards for process documentation and change execution, ensuring methods, assumptions, and evidence are complete.
• Guides engineers through technical decisions by running working sessions, documenting decision logic, and tracking actions to closure.
• Delivers high-quality technical outputs for complex projects and programs; defines and validates methods, documents results and key assumptions, ensures adherence to applicable standards and controls, and communicates technical progress, impacts and recommended mitigations to project leads and stakeholders.

Skills

Pharma formulation experience

Engineering standards

Leadership and team building

Problem-solving abilities

Project management

Excellent communication skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical)

Job description

AbbVie is seeking a senior technical professional in North Chicago, IL to lead site-level manufacturing projects and drive process improvements across pharmaceutical formulation processes. You will design operating ranges, validate methods, and guide engineers through critical technical decisions to ensure quality and compliance.

The role requires 8+ years in pharma formulation, strong leadership, and excellent communication with management.