Director II, Discovery Biotherapeutics AI/ML

Company Description

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 – immunology, oncology, neuroscience, and eye care – and products and services in our Allergan Aesthetics portfolio. For more information about AbbVie, please visit us at www.abbvie.com. Follow @abbvie on X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Tik Tok.

Job Description

Role Summary

AbbVie is building a best-in-class, AI-enabled antibody discovery engine. We need an industry proven leader to architect, deploy, and continuously improve this platform, applying state-of-the-art machine learning and protein language models to advance large molecule assets from Hit ID through IND.

• Reporting structure: VP of Discovery Research Biotherapeutics. 
• Department: Biotherapeutics & Genetic Medicine (BGM) – Discovery Research

Core Responsibilities

• Provide scientific direction, resource prioritization, and career development for a cross functional computational sciences team.
• Embed AI/ML tools—including protein LLMs, structural prediction, and generative design—into antibody discovery workflows (target assessment, hit generation, affinity maturation, developability).
• Partner with discovery biology, structural biology, preclinical safety, developability, and enterprise AI groups to co-deliver portfolio impact.
• Serve as matrix leader for digital transformation initiatives; track KPIs and communicate progress to executive leadership.
• Scout emerging technologies, benchmark against academic/industry best practice, and position AbbVie as an innovation partner of choice.

Key Outcomes

• Define, socialize, and execute a multiyear AI/ML strategy for antibodies and other biotherapeutic discoveries.
• Hire, mentor, and inspire an interdisciplinary team of computational and experimental scientists.
• Deliver digital transformation “use cases” that shorten design–make–test cycles or improve candidate quality (e.g., ML-driven CDR diversification, developability prediction, in-silico humanization).
• Establish data architecture that makes BGM discovery data FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) and ML-ready.
• Build external research and vendor partnerships that augment internal capabilities.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Computational Biology, Protein Engineering, Bioinformatics, Computer Science, or related field with 8+ years post-PhD industry experience (or M.S. with 14+, B.S. with 16+).
• Deep domain expertise in antibody discovery and engineering (e.g., display technologies, repertoire mining, developability, CMC considerations).
• Proven record inventing or deploying AI/ML methods (protein language models, generative models, deep learning, Bayesian optimization) to solve large molecule R&D problems.
• Demonstrated success hiring, leading, and retaining high-performing scientific teams.
• Track record influencing cross-functional stakeholders and presenting complex ideas to scientific and executive audiences.
• Strong publication and/or patent portfolio in computational antibody/biologics discovery.

Preferred Experience

• Delivery of an antibody therapeutic into pre‑clinical development or beyond.
• Handson experience with cloud-native ML infrastructure and modern data architectures (e.g., MLOps, DataOps).
• Established network within academic/industry AI drug discovery community.

Location & Travel

• Based in Worcester, MA to enable close collaboration with BGM leadership; up to 20 % travel to Abbott Park (IL), South San Francisco (CA), and key external partners.

Additional Information

Applicable only to applicants applying to a position in any location with pay disclosure requirements under state or local law: ​

• This is primarily an on-site opportunity that observes a hybrid working model. Ideal on-site location is AbbVie's ABC Worcester, MA location. 
• The compensation range described below is the range of possible base pay compensation that the Company believes in good faith it will pay for this role at the time of this posting based on the job grade for this position. Individual compensation paid within this range will depend on many factors including geographic location, and we may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range. This range may be modified in the future.​
• We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including paid time off (vacation, holidays, sick), medical/dental/vision insurance and 401(k) to eligible employees.​
• This job is eligible to participate in our short-term incentive programs. ​
• This job is eligible to participate in our long-term incentive programs​

Note: No amount of pay is considered to be wages or compensation until such amount is earned, vested, and determinable. The amount and availability of any bonus, commission, incentive, benefits, or any other form of compensation and benefits that are allocable to a particular employee remains in the Company's sole and absolute discretion unless and until paid and may be modified at the Company’s sole and absolute discretion, consistent with applicable law. 

AbbVie is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to operating with integrity, driving innovation, transforming lives and serving our community.  Equal Opportunity Employer/Veterans/Disabled. 

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