Staff Software Engineer

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

Benefits offered by this job

HIP PPO medical plan

Excellent retirement savings plan

Tuition reimbursement

FreeU education benefit

Diversity and equal opportunity

Job summary

Abbott Laboratories in Plano, Texas seeks a Staff Software Engineer to lead automation, integration, and quality across the full software lifecycle for safety-critical medical devices. This hands-on leadership role emphasizes scalable test automation and continuous verification, with human oversight and responsible AI practices.

You will set technical direction, mentor teams, and collaborate with software, systems, quality, cybersecurity, and product teams to raise the engineering bar while

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science or related field.
• 10+ years of software engineering experience with automation and quality.
• Hands-on experience designing test automation architecture and CI/CD‑integrated quality.
• Ability to apply risk-based coverage, traceability, and measurable evidence across lifecycle.
• Strong Python programming for production-grade tools and automation.

Responsibilities

• Define automation strategy and roadmap for scalable verification across product lines.
• Design reusable frameworks, services, simulators, and tooling for tests.
• Embed automated quality controls and traceability into CI/CD pipelines.
• Develop integration capabilities across embedded devices and applications.
• Apply responsible AI principles and maintain governance, privacy, and oversight.
• Lead technical quality, mentor engineers, and align with safety standards.

Skills

Python

Automation

Software quality

System integration

CI/CD

Mentoring

Education

Bachelor's degree in computer science or related field

Tools

CI/CD tooling

Test automation frameworks

Simulation tools

Job description

JOB DESCRIPTION

Job Title Staff Software Engineer Working at Abbott. 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.

Benefits

• Career development with an international company where you can grow the career you dream of.
• Employees can qualify for free medical coverage in our Health Investment Plan (HIP) PPO medical 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 judgment. 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.

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.

JOB FAMILY: Product Development DIVISION: NM Neuromodulation LOCATION: United States > Texas > Plano : 6901 Preston Road ADDITIONAL LOCATIONS: WORK SHIFT: Standard TRAVEL: Not specified MEDICAL SURVEILLANCE: Not Applicable SIGNIFICANT WORK ACTIVITIES: Continuous sitting for prolonged periods (more than 2 consecutive hours in an 8 hour day), Continuous standing for prolonged periods (more than 2 consecutive hours in an 8 hour day), Continuous walking for prolonged periods (more than 2 hours at a time in an 8 hour day)

Abbott is an Equal Opportunity Employer of Minorities/Women/Individuals with Disabilities/Protected Veterans. EEO is the Law link - English: http://webstorage.abbott.com/common/External/EEO_English.pdf EEO is the Law link - Espanol: http://webstorage.abbott.com/common/External/EEO_Spanish.pdf

Abbott is about the power of health. For more than 135 years, Abbott has been helping people reach their potential - because better health allows people and communities to achieve more. With a diverse, global network serving customers in more than 160 countries, we create new solutions - across the spectrum of health, around the world, for all stages of life. Whether it’s next-generation diagnostics, life‑changing devices, science‑based nutrition, or novel reformulations, we are advancing some of the most innovative and revolutionary technologies in healthcare, helping people live their best lives through better health.

We invite you to explore opportunities at Abbott, to see if your talents and career aspirations may fit with our openings. An equal opportunity employer, Abbott welcomes and encourages diversity in our workforce.