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Company Description 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.
Job Description
The Multispecifics Engineering group at AbbVie is seeking a highly skilled, self-motivated scientist to join a dynamic team supporting Discovery Biotherapeutics. In this role, the successful candidate will drive the engineering, production, and characterization of multispecific biopharmaceutical products across multiple projects. The ideal candidate has extensive experience in biologics and multispecifics design, with a proven track record of applying multispecific engineering to advance discovery-stage programs, as well as experience in people and project management. We are looking for an enthusiastic, creative scientist ready to make tangible contributions to the pipeline.
Key responsibilities:
- Design, engineer, and produce multispecific biologics supporting multiple therapeutic areas.
- Serve as the Multispecifics Engineering representative and subject matter expert on cross-functional teams—including Therapeutic Areas, Discovery Biotherapeutics, and Development Sciences—providing project updates, analysis, and recommendations.
- Serve as Biologics Lead on 1–2 projects, managing molecule-related activities, building timelines with the TA Lead, contributing to key decision-making, and ensuring timely transitions from hit generation through candidate nomination.
- Identify and solve technical problems independently; conceive and implement innovative research ideas that advance the group's and AbbVie's mission.
- Ensure the consistency and quality of technical reports.
- Present original work internally across departments and at internal and external scientific conferences; may author or co-author peer-reviewed papers or patents.
Qualifications Minimum Qualifications:
- PhD or MS degree in Biochemistry, Biochemical Engineering, or a related discipline.
- 6+ (PhD) or 12+ (MS) years of experience in multispecific or antibody engineering
- Experience with the design, expression, and purification of proteins, biologics, fragments, or multispecifics (e.g., bispecifics, trispecifics, bispecific protein fusions).
- In-depth knowledge of the multispecific landscape, including design trends and technologies, and the application of the multispecific modality across therapeutic areas such as immunology, oncology, and neuroscience.
- Ability to recognize emerging areas of interest in multispecific and antibody engineering and related fields, connecting research ideas to build next-generation molecules and advance platforms and programs.
- Excellent organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
- Strong team player able to operate effectively in a fast-paced, multidisciplinary environment.
- Goal-oriented team player with excellent verbal and written communication skills and a strong can-do attitude.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience coordinating with CROs for protein production.
- Expert understanding of protein expression, separation, and analytical technologies including mass spectrometry analysis of multispecifics.
- Experience with technologies beyond recombinant protein production for generating multispecifics, enabling high-throughput screening to support agonist programs or screen combinatorial multispecific space (e.g. mammalian display).
- Knowledge of biologic pipeline progression from exploratory through candidate nomination; program management experience preferred.
Key AbbVie Competencies:
- Builds strong relationships with peers and cross functionally with partners outside of the team to enable high performance.
- Learns fast, grasps the “essence” and can change the 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.
- Continuous sitting for prolonged periods (more than 2 consecutive hours in an 8 hour day)
- Experience managing direct reports, including performance evaluations and development planning.
- Recognized in the scientific community through a sustained record of peer-reviewed publications and patents.
Additional Information
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 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.
US & Puerto Rico only - to learn more, visit https://www.abbvie.com/join-us/equal-employment-opportunity-employer.html
US & Puerto Rico applicants seeking a reasonable accommodation, click here to learn more:
https://www.abbvie.com/join-us/reasonable-accommodations.html
Salary Context
This $124K-$236K range is below the median for Research Scientist roles in our dataset (median: $197K across 82 roles with salary data).
Role Details
About This Role
Research Scientists push the boundaries of what AI can do. They design experiments, develop novel architectures, publish papers, and translate research breakthroughs into production capabilities. This is where the fundamental advances happen, from attention mechanisms to diffusion models to reasoning chains.
The work is intellectually demanding and often ambiguous. You might spend months on an approach that doesn't pan out. The best research scientists combine deep mathematical intuition with engineering pragmatism. They know when to go deep on theory and when to run experiments. They read papers voraciously and can spot incremental contributions from genuine breakthroughs.
Across the 9,653 AI roles we're tracking, Research Scientist positions make up 2% of the market. At AbbVie, this role fits into their broader AI and engineering organization.
Research Scientist roles are concentrated at major AI labs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta FAIR) and well-funded AI startups. The competition is intense. PhD is effectively required for most positions, and publication track record matters. Compensation is among the highest in AI, reflecting both the scarcity of talent and the strategic importance of research breakthroughs.
What the Work Looks Like
A typical week includes: reading and discussing recent papers with your team, designing and running experiments on multi-GPU clusters, analyzing results and iterating on hypotheses, writing up findings for internal review or publication, and collaborating with engineering teams to productionize promising results. The ratio of thinking to coding is higher than in engineering roles.
Research Scientist roles are concentrated at major AI labs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta FAIR) and well-funded AI startups. The competition is intense. PhD is effectively required for most positions, and publication track record matters. Compensation is among the highest in AI, reflecting both the scarcity of talent and the strategic importance of research breakthroughs.
Skills in Demand for This Role
PhD strongly preferred for most roles. Deep expertise in a specific area (NLP, computer vision, reinforcement learning, multimodal) is expected. PyTorch is the standard. Publication track record matters. Strong mathematical foundations in linear algebra, probability, optimization, and information theory are assumed.
Beyond the fundamentals, companies value experience with large-scale distributed training, novel architecture design, and the ability to bridge theory and practice. Understanding of current frontier topics (reasoning, multimodal, long-context, alignment) is essential. Code quality matters more than many researchers expect. Labs want researchers who can implement their ideas cleanly.
Strong research postings specify the research area, mention the team you'd join, and describe the problems they're working on. They often list recent publications from the team. Vague 'AI research' postings without specifics usually mean the company wants to sound impressive but doesn't have a real research agenda.
Compensation Benchmarks
Research Scientist roles pay a median of $222,200 based on 708 positions with disclosed compensation. Senior-level AI roles across all categories have a median of $228,700. This role's midpoint ($180K) sits 19% below the category median. Disclosed range: $124K to $236K.
Across all AI roles, the market median is $213,400. Top-quartile compensation starts at $264,230. The 90th percentile reaches $319,400. For comparison, the highest-paying categories include AI Safety ($253,100) and Research Engineer ($252,000). By seniority level: Entry: $110,408; Mid: $193,200; Senior: $228,700; Director: $272,275; VP: $235,000.
AbbVie AI Hiring
AbbVie has 7 open AI roles right now. They're hiring across AI/ML Engineer, Research Scientist, AI Architect. Positions span Mettawa, IL, US, Worcester, MA, US, Mettawa, IL. Compensation range: $236K - $393K.
Location Context
Across all AI roles, 6% (568 positions) offer remote work, while 9,010 require on-site attendance. Top AI hiring metros: New York (2,878 roles, $221,000 median); San Francisco (2,413 roles, $264,500 median); Los Angeles (1,340 roles, $210,000 median).
Career Path
Common paths into Research Scientist roles include PhD Student, Research Engineer, Postdoc.
From here, career progression typically leads toward Research Lead, Distinguished Scientist, VP of Research.
The PhD is the entry point for most paths. Choose your advisor and research area carefully since they'll define your first industry position. Publish consistently, contribute to open-source projects in your area, and build relationships at conferences. Industry research offers better compensation and compute resources than academia, but the pressure to show product impact is real.
What to Expect in Interviews
Research interviews are multi-stage: a research talk (present your best paper), technical deep-dives on your methodology, and often a 'research proposal' exercise where you design an experiment to test a hypothesis. Coding rounds test implementation ability alongside theoretical knowledge. Be prepared to implement a paper from scratch and discuss the design choices the authors made. Strong candidates can critique papers constructively and identify gaps in experimental methodology.
When evaluating opportunities: Strong research postings specify the research area, mention the team you'd join, and describe the problems they're working on. They often list recent publications from the team. Vague 'AI research' postings without specifics usually mean the company wants to sound impressive but doesn't have a real research agenda.
AI Hiring Overview
The AI job market has 9,653 open positions tracked in our dataset. By seniority: 193 entry-level, 4,500 mid-level, 3,455 senior, and 1,505 leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level). Remote roles make up 6% of the market (568 positions). The remaining 9,010 roles require on-site or hybrid attendance.
The market median for AI roles is $213,400. Top-quartile compensation starts at $264,230. The 90th percentile reaches $319,400. Highest-paying categories: AI Safety ($253,100 median, 57 roles); Research Engineer ($252,000 median, 419 roles); AI Engineering Manager ($251,622 median, 51 roles).
Research Scientist roles are concentrated at major AI labs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta FAIR) and well-funded AI startups. The competition is intense. PhD is effectively required for most positions, and publication track record matters. Compensation is among the highest in AI, reflecting both the scarcity of talent and the strategic importance of research breakthroughs.
The AI Job Market Today
The AI job market spans 9,653 open positions across 16 role categories. The largest categories by volume: AI/ML Engineer (7,301), Data Scientist (441), AI Software Engineer (438). These three account for the majority of open positions, though smaller categories often have higher per-role compensation because of specialized skill requirements.
The seniority mix tells a story about where AI teams are in their maturity. Entry-level roles (193) are outnumbered by mid-level (4,500) and senior (3,455) positions, reflecting that most companies are past the 'build a team from scratch' phase and need experienced engineers who can ship production systems. Leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level) total 1,505 positions, representing the bottleneck between technical execution and organizational strategy.
Remote work availability sits at 6% of all AI roles (568 positions), with 9,010 requiring on-site or hybrid attendance. The remote share has stabilized after the post-pandemic correction. Senior and specialized roles (Research Scientist, ML Architect) are more likely to be remote-eligible than entry-level positions, partly because experienced hires have more negotiating power and partly because these roles require less hands-on mentorship.
AI compensation is structured in clear tiers. The market median sits at $213,400. Top-quartile roles start at $264,230, and the 90th percentile reaches $319,400. These figures include base salary with disclosed compensation. Total compensation (including equity, bonuses, and sign-on) runs 20-40% higher at companies that offer those components.
Category matters for compensation. AI Safety roles lead at $253,100 median, while Prompt Engineer roles sit at $141,440. The spread between highest and lowest-paying categories reflects the premium on specialized technical skills versus broader analytical roles.
The most in-demand skills across all AI postings: Python (1,605 postings), Aws (916 postings), Azure (724 postings), Rag (634 postings), Gcp (522 postings), Pytorch (495 postings), Kubernetes (384 postings), Claude (383 postings). Python dominates, appearing in the vast majority of role descriptions regardless of category. Cloud platform experience (AWS, GCP, Azure) is the second most common requirement. The newer entrants to the top skills list (RAG, vector databases, LLM APIs) reflect the shift from traditional ML toward generative AI applications.
Frequently Asked Questions
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