Lead AI Automation Engineer

About AbbVie

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. For more information about AbbVie, please visit us at www.abbvie.com. Follow @abbvie on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube.

As a Lead AI Automation Engineer, you will drive measurable business impact by designing and implementing AI-powered automation solutions that transform how our Corporate Services and HR business partners operate. You'll serve as the critical bridge between complex business needs and technical execution—deeply understanding current-state processes, translating inefficiencies into innovative automation opportunities, and leveraging enterprise tools and AI agents to deliver rapid ROI. This role uniquely combines hands-on technical leadership with strategic thinking: you'll architect end-to-end solutions, build working prototypes, mentor the team in design thinking and agentic development, and ensure every solution drives tangible efficiency gains and value for stakeholders. 

This role reports to the Director, BTS Corporate Services within the Business Technology Solutions department. We set the vision for how AI and automation enhance our enterprise systems and work closely with business partners to bring that vision to life. This role is on site in Lake County, IL; we're flexible and work from home 2 days/week. 

Ideal Candidates Are: 

• Business-Savvy Technologists: You have a strong ability to quickly learn and understand current-state processes, apply design thinking to ask diagnostic questions that uncover inefficiencies, and design end-to-end solutions that deliver clear ROI and efficiency gains for business partners. 

• Forward Thinkers: Impact-driven pragmatists who stand at the forefront of AI and automation, focused not on what's possible, but on what's practical, measurable, and real 

• Strong Technical Leaders: Rapid learners who stay current with evolving AI technologies, frameworks, and enterprise tools, and code at a detailed technical level  

• Quick-to-Value Developers: Developers who understand that working code is paramount and prioritize rapid prototyping, iteration, and production deployment. 

• Highly Agile: Individuals who prefer to learn by building, experimenting, and iterating—comfortable with ambiguity and evolving requirements. 

• Exceptional Coach & Mentor: As a lead, you'll mentor engineers, architects, and business analysts/consultants in design thinking, agentic workflows, and automation best practices—building capability across the team. 

• Stakeholder Champions: You excel at building relationships, communicating technical concepts to non-technical audiences, and securing buy-in through clear demonstration of value. 

Responsibilities:

Solution Design & Technical Delivery 

• Engage deeply with Corporate Services and HR stakeholders to understand current-state processes, pain points, constraints, to-be business requirements, and success metrics; translate these into technical solution designs that deliver measurable efficiency gains.  

• Engineer and implement scalable AI automation solutions; delivering clean, scalable, production-ready code that integrates with enterprise systems and optimizes business partner workflows. 

• Prioritize rapid prototyping and iterative development, building working MVPs quickly to validate solutions with stakeholders, then refining based on feedback to accelerate time-to-value. 

•  Cultivate cross-team relationships while continuously expanding technical knowledge; identifying existing capabilities, shared platforms, and collaborative opportunities that maximize internal resources and drive productivity gains. 

Technical Leadership & Quality 

• Ensure code quality, maintainability, and adherence to coding standards through thorough code reviews, quality assurance plans, and technical guidance to the development team (when applicable)—setting the standard and resolving complex technical issues. 

 Project & Program Management 

• Manage the Software Development Lifecycle and required documentation, serving as a System Owner 

•  Drive projects to successful completion by resolving key hurdles and assumptions through technical expertise, while tracking milestones and deliverables to ensure timely delivery within scope and goals. 

Mentorship & Organizational Impact  

• Mentor and coach current staff (engineers, architects, analysts/consultants) in design thinking principles, agentic AI development, automation best practices, and modern development methodologies. 

• Support multiple projects simultaneously and advocate for optimal solutions while working within constraints including cost, security, regulatory compliance, and organizational change management. 

• Understand and adhere to corporate standards regarding applicable Corporate and Divisional Policies, including code of conduct, safety, GxP compliance, data security, and the software development lifecycle. 

• Operate with high autonomy and minimal supervision—proactively managing stakeholder expectations and keeping leadership informed through clear, concise verbal and written communication. 

Required:

•  Bachelor's Degree with 7+ years of experience; Master's Degree with 6+ years; or PhD with 2+ years of relevant experience. 

• Python proficiency required — expert-level ability to write production-quality code for automation, AI/ML implementations, and enterprise integrations. 

• Experience with AI/ML frameworks and tools and understanding of LLM orchestration, agentic workflows, and prompt engineering. 

• Proven ability to deliver and maintain production-grade software in enterprise environments, including ongoing support, monitoring, and iterative improvements. 

• Strong ability to translate complex business requirements into technical solutions.  

• Demonstrated track record delivering measurable efficiency gains and ROI through automation and AI implementations. 

• Broad technical proficiency across software development, data integration, cloud platforms, and enterprise systems — with ability to rapidly learn and apply new technologies. 

• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and diagnostic skills with ability to understand business processes and identify automation opportunities. 

• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including ability to communicate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders. 

• Demonstrated ability to mentor technical staff, lead cross-functional teams, and drive initiatives to completion. 

Preferred:

• Experience in the pharmaceutical industry or other highly regulated environments. 

• Understanding of SDLC methodologies, GxP compliance, and validation requirements.  

• Background in process improvement methodologies (Lean, Six Sigma, design thinking). 

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

• 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. ​

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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