Director, Automation

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.

About the role

The Director, Automation position has global responsibility for providing reliable, safe, and efficient operations and maintenance of AbbVie’s automated process control systems. This role is responsible for designing and implementing strategic technical programs and initiatives and global processes to assure consistent service delivery and compliance for the Manufacturing and Engineering Services organization.

The Director is the point of contact within manufacturing for automation topics including data integrity; system risks, mitigations, and standardization; and the leader guiding long-term technology decisions and investments in automated process control for the company.

Responsibilities

• Build and lead a virtual Community of Practice team made up of Site Automation leaders and a direct staff of global automation engineers; be the thought leader with experience managing a comprehensive, industry-leading automation program.
• Establish the position of Global Leader - Automation as the internal leader for all technical process control operations globally; provide the technical skills and expertise to guide the company’s automation standards to the next level of reliability, proactive performance, and compliant practices.
• Lead a team of engineering experts in supporting Site Automation Managers and Operations Managers; ensure technical support is provided as required to maintain the standards and performance expectations at all AbbVie Operations manufacturing sites.
• Oversee the development and implementation of technical training programs for Automation.
• Support Global Sourcing in the area of global and regional contracts for Automation Process Control Systems including DCS, PLC, SCADA, OSI-PI, and other alliance and master service agreements.
• Provide audit support to site Automation teams and ensure consistent practices and globally consistent remediation, if applicable, are applied.
• Research and implement innovative cost reduction, reliability improvement, and user interface standardization initiatives in driving human error reduction.
• Achieve all KPIs (budget, schedule adherence in achieving project milestones meeting user requirements, etc.).
• Manage all aspects of AbbVie’s Talent Management process; coach and deliver ongoing performance feedback, set goals that drive outcomes, and model AbbVie behaviors to assess performance accordingly.
• Build a high-performing team & culture that demonstrates the AbbVie Way of Working.
• Work with virtual/remote teams on a regular basis; adapt work schedules to accommodate early and late-day conference calls.
• Travel estimated at 20% of time, including some global travel.

Requirements

• B.S. in Engineering required.
• Minimum of 15 years of technical experience; demonstrated expertise and practice in Automation Engineering including successfully running a large global initiative or large capital project.
• Minimum of 5 years leading technical teams – regionally or globally preferred.
• Experience in leading virtual teams and roll-out of regional or global initiatives.
• Understanding of pharmaceutical/biotechnology operational best practices and regulatory expectations.
• Subject matter expertise in distributed control systems, SCADA systems, PLC, instrumentation/controls.
• Thorough understanding of data integrity and network security highly desirable.
• Strong communication skills.

Benefits

• Comprehensive package of benefits including paid time off (vacation, holidays, sick).
• Medical/dental/vision insurance.
• 401(k) to eligible employees.
• Eligibility to participate in long-term incentive programs.