Staff Software Engineer

Abbott Laboratories; Plano (TX); On-site; USD 99,000 - 199,000; Full time

Job summary

Abbott Laboratories in Plano, TX seeks a Staff Software Engineer to lead software automation and quality for safety-critical medical devices. You will design scalable verification frameworks and integrate quality into CI/CD pipelines.

The role emphasizes hands-on leadership, mentoring, and applying AI responsibly while maintaining traceability, privacy, and compliance with IEC 62304 and ISO standards.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required in CS/Software Engineering or related field.
• 10+ years of software engineering with emphasis on automation, quality, integration, verification or tools engineering.
• Hands-on experience designing test automation architecture and CI/CD-integrated quality
• Ability to integrate quality across requirements, design, implementation and release with traceability
• Strong fundamentals and proficiency in Python for production-grade tools and automation
• Experience using AI copilots/LLMs in engineering with validation of accuracy, security, privacy and oversight
• Track record of setting technical direction and mentoring across teams

Responsibilities

• Define the automation and quality strategy for scalable verification across product lines.
• Design and build reusable frameworks, services, simulators, and tools for verification at multiple levels.
• Embed automated quality controls and traceability into CI/CD pipelines for rapid feedback.
• Develop integration capabilities across embedded devices, clinician apps, interfaces, services, data flows.
• Incorporate Abbott’s AI principles into daily automation and quality engineering with governance and oversight.
• Lead technical quality and mentor engineers while improving architecture and design reviews

Skills

Python

Automation

CI/CD

Test Automation

Leadership

Systems Integration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field

Job description

Abbott is a global healthcare leader that helps people live more fully at all stages of life. Our portfolio of life-changing technologies spans the spectrum of healthcare, with leading businesses and products in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic medicines. Our 122,000 colleagues serve people in more than 160 countries.

Job Title

Staff Software Engineer

Working at Abbott

At Abbott, you can do work that matters, grow, and learn, care for yourself and your family, be your true self, and live a full life. You’ll also have access to:

• Career development with an international company where you can grow the career you dream of.

• Employees can qualify forfree medical coverage in ourHealth Investment Plan (HIP) PPOmedical plan in the next calendar year.

• An excellent retirement savings plan with a high employer contribution.

• Tuition reimbursement, the Freedom 2 Save student debt program, and FreeU education benefit - an affordable and convenient path to getting a bachelor’s degree.

• A company recognized as a great place to work in dozens of countries worldwide and named one of the most admired companies in the world by Fortune.

• A company that is recognized as one of the best big companies to work for as well as the best place to work for diversity, working mothers, female executives, and scientists.

The Opportunity

This position works out of our Plano, Texas location in the Neuromodulation Division. Our Neuromodulation business includes implantable devices compatible with mobile technology to help people who suffer from chronic pain and movement disorders. These non‑opioid therapies allow us to provide interventional pain therapy to patients throughout the pain continuum.

For more than 135 years, Abbott has helped people around the world live fuller, healthier lives through the right combination of science and technology. We are looking for a Staff‑level technical leader to architect and advance software automation, integration, and quality engineering across the full software development life cycle for safety‑critical, connected medical devices.

This is a hands‑on software engineering leadership role centered on scalable test automation and continuous verification—not a traditional, script‑heavy QA position. You will embed quality from requirements and design through implementation, integration, release, and maintenance. You will also apply AI tools responsibly in daily engineering work, using human oversight, traceability, privacy, security, and measurable evidence to improve—not replace—engineering judgement. As a Staff Engineer, you will set technical direction, raise the engineering bar across teams, and mentor others while remaining deeply hands‑on.

What you’ll work on

• Set the automation and quality strategy. Define the vision, reference architecture, and roadmap for scalable automation and continuous verification across product lines, and drive adoption as a recognized technical authority.

• Architect lifecycle automation. Design and build reusable frameworks, services, simulators, and engineering tools that enable requirements‑based and risk‑based verification at the unit, component, integration, system, regression, and release levels.

• Integrate quality into delivery. Embed automated quality controls, traceability, diagnostics, and actionable quality signals into CI/CD pipelines so teams receive rapid, reliable feedback throughout the development life cycle.

• Engineer connected‑system integration. Develop robust integration capabilities across embedded devices, clinician applications, interfaces, services, data flows, and representative hardware or simulated environments.

• Apply AI responsibly. Incorporate Abbott’s Responsible, Safe, Transparent, Fair, and Impactful AI principles into daily automation and quality engineering. Follow established governance and intended‑use boundaries; protect sensitive data; verify generated outputs; preserve source traceability; document limitations; and maintain meaningful human oversight and accountability.

• Advance AI‑enabled engineering. Use AI copilots, large language models, and agentic workflows to improve coverage analysis, automation development and maintenance, failure investigation, and engineering productivity where their use is appropriate, validated, reproducible, and auditable.

• Lead technical quality. Partner with software, systems, quality, cybersecurity, and product teams to improve architecture, prevent defects, close coverage gaps, strengthen design reviews, and make quality measurable across programs.

• Ensure safety, compliance, and continuous improvement. Keep automation and AI‑assisted engineering aligned with applicable medical device standards, including IEC 62304, ISO 14971, ISO 13485, and 21 CFR 820. Evaluate emerging tools, measure their impact on product quality and delivery, scale proven approaches, and mentor engineers in their effective and responsible use.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Software Engineering, or a related technical field; an advanced degree is a plus.

• 10+ years of software engineering experience with a strong focus on automation, software quality, system integration, verification, or platform and tools engineering, including technical leadership of complex initiatives.

• Deep hands‑on experience designing test automation architecture, reusable frameworks, and CI/CD‑integrated quality capabilities for complex software systems.

• Demonstrated ability to integrate quality across requirements, design, implementation, integration, release, and maintenance using risk‑based coverage, traceability, and measurable evidence.

• Strong software engineering fundamentals and proficiency in Python, with the ability to design maintainable production‑grade tools, services, and automation.

• Hands‑on experience using AI copilots, large language models, or agentic workflows in daily engineering work, with disciplined validation of accuracy, security, privacy, traceability, limitations, and appropriate human oversight.

• A track record of setting technical direction, mentoring engineers, leading design reviews, and influencing decisions across teams and product lines.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in regulated, safety‑critical, or high‑reliability software domains such as medical devices, aerospace, automotive, or similar industries.

• Experience with connected products, embedded systems, mobile or desktop applications, cloud services, hardware‑in‑the‑loop environments, or device simulators.

• Familiarity with evaluating AI‑assisted engineering workflows, including output quality, hallucination and bias risks, reproducibility, explainability, and ongoing performance monitoring.

• Strong systems thinking with an emphasis on reliability, observability, traceability, explainability, human oversight, and the ability to influence without authority.

Learn more about our health and wellness benefits, which provide the security to help you and your family live full lives: www.abbottbenefits.com

Follow your career aspirations to Abbott for diverse opportunities with a company that can help you build your future and live your best life. Abbott is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to employee diversity.

Connect with us at www.abbott.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Abbott, and on Twitter @AbbottNews.

The base pay for this position is $99,300.00 – $198,700.00. In specific locations, the pay range may vary from the range posted.