Principal Research Scientist II, Process Chemistry

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

AbbVie Process Chemistry is responsible for the chemical development of AbbVie’s clinical candidates. We are looking for a highly motivated Principal Research Scientist II who can make scientific contributions and develop strategies, timelines and key activities across drug substance modalities, including small molecules. The candidate must be able to mentor and develop staff with experimental approaches to solve difficult scientific and technical challenges. The candidate will be an integral part of project teams and will be responsible for developing the synthetic process and executing activities required for drug substance process development. Working with cross-functional colleagues, the candidate will develop productive collaborations and communications with scientific teams.

Responsibilities

• Participate and/or lead project teams associated with drug substance process development and characterization.
• Develop and characterize drug substance processes in the laboratory and translate them to scalable processes.
• Proactively advise and share knowledge and expert opinions with subordinates, peers, and senior management. Mentor staff in troubleshooting strategic and experimental issues.
• Author and review key regulatory documents, laboratory data, technical memos and reports.
• Engage in multi-disciplinary interactions with organic chemists, analytical chemists, engineers, drug product development, and program management.
• Identify and nurture ideas for continuous improvement activities and initiatives within the department.
• Set project strategies, define project responsibilities and timelines, develop control strategies, provide leadership in a matrixed team setting, and develop robust processes for cGMP manufacturing.

Qualifications

• BS (16+ years), MS (14+ years) or PhD (8+ years) in Chemistry or allied field, with 8+ years of previous work experience in a pharmaceutical laboratory setting.
• Proven scientific leadership; strong interpersonal and communication skills for facilitating collaborations and a demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional process development teams.
• Experience with GMP drug substance manufacturing and process development.
• Experience in managing and developing scientific leaders.
• Strong understanding of modern organic chemistry, mechanistic theory, process development, control strategy development, and regulatory starting material strategies.

Skills

• Interacts well with diverse groups within function and maintains strong working relationships with internal and external collaborators to enable higher performance.
• Learns fast, grasps the "essence" and can change course quickly where indicated.
• Raises the bar and is never satisfied with the status quo.
• Creates a learning environment, open to suggestions and experimentation for improvement.
• Embraces the ideas of others, nurtures innovation and manages innovation to reality.

Benefits

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