Senior Principal Engineer, Factory of the Future

AbbVie

North Chicago, IL

Pay: $124,500-$236,500/yr

Shift: Full time

**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 Senior Principal Engineer, Factory of the Future, is the technical authority for designing next-generation AbbVie factories and manufacturing operations that integrate Industry 4.0/5.0, robotics, automation, and AI technologies. The role leads concept-through-detailed design and technology selection across biotechnology, aseptic fill/finish, packaging, medical device, and chemical production, setting the global reference designs, standards, and business cases for new facilities and major site transformations. The incumbent partners with Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, PDS&T, Supply Chain, BTS, and Security to deliver compliant, flexible, highly automated, and data-driven plants that raise safety, quality, speed, and cost performance.

**Factory Design and Technology Strategy**

• **Future-state factory design:** Lead Factory of the Future elements of conceptual and basic design of new factories and major expansions, integrating process, facility, automation, material and personnel flow, and digital architecture across biologics/biotech, aseptic and sterile manufacturing, packaging and device assembly, and chemical production.
• **Technology roadmap:** Define and maintain the Factory of the Future technology roadmap and reference architectures covering robotics, isolators/RABS and closed-system processing, autonomous material handling (AMRs/AGVs), vision inspection, continuous and modular manufacturing, and AI-enabled operations.
• **Industry 5.0 principles:** Embed human-centric, sustainable, and resilient design principles (ergonomics, operator-robot collaboration, energy and waste reduction) into factory concepts.

**Automation, Robotics, and AI**

• **Automation and robotics:** Specify and drive adoption of advanced automation and robotics for high-risk and repetitive operations (e.g., aseptic filling and set-up, sampling, inspection, packaging, warehouse and logistics), including contamination-control and GMP considerations.
• **Digital and AI integration:** Partner with BTS and Operations AI to design the OT/IT stack: MES/MOM, process control, historians, shopfloor integration layer, digital twins and simulation, predictive quality and maintenance, advanced scheduling, and GenAI/agentic AI use cases, with cybersecurity by design.

**Delivery and Technical Leadership**

• **Business case and risk management:** Develop technology evaluations, pilots, proofs of concept, and business cases (capex/opex, throughput, OEE, yield, labor, quality) and transition proven solutions into standard designs and capital projects.
• **Compliance and quality:** Ensure designs meet cGMP, FDA/EMA Annex 1 and Annex 11/Part 11, data integrity, medical device (e.g., 21 CFR 820/ISO 13485), and EHS requirements; support commissioning, qualification, and validation strategies using risk-based approaches (CSA, ASTM E2500).
• **Technical authority and mentoring:** Serve as a recognized subject matter expert and mentor for engineers across Global Engineering, sites, and external partners; review designs and provide technical governance for major projects.
• **External ecosystem:** Engage equipment OEMs, automation integrators, technology startups, A&E firms, and industry groups (e.g., ISPE) to benchmark best practices and shape capabilities.

**Qualifications**

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Chemical, Mechanical, Biomedical, Electrical, Automation, Industrial, or related) required; Master’s or PhD preferred.
• Minimum of 10 years of experience in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or medical device manufacturing engineering, including 5+ years in greenfield/brownfield facility design or technical leadership of capital projects.
• Deep expertise in aseptic and sterile manufacturing (e.g., fill/finish, isolators/RABS, lyophilization) and/or biologics drug substance; working experience in packaging, device assembly, or chemical/API production is highly desirable.
• Demonstrated experience implementing Industry 4.0/5.0 technologies: robotics, advanced automation (PLC/DCS/SCADA), MES/MOM, IIoT, vision systems, digital twins, and AI/ML in a GMP environment.
• Strong knowledge of cGMP, Annex 1, data integrity, computer system validation/assurance, and equipment qualification requirements.
• Proven ability to develop conceptual designs, URS, technology assessments, and business cases and to lead cross-functional design teams through to execution.
• Working unders