Director, Automation & Digital Transformation

Job title: Director, Automation & Digital Transformation

About the Role The Director, Automation & Digital Transformation will lead the Automation and Digital Transformation organization within Biologics Drug Substance Development and serve as the strategic leader for AbbVie's Lab-in-a-Loop vision. This role is responsible for defining and executing the long-term automation, data, AI, digital, and modeling strategy to accelerate process development, enhance scientific decision-making, and transform the way biologics processes are developed. The leader will drive an integrated digital ecosystem across lab automation, data infrastructure, analytics, modeling, and AI-enabled workflows.

What You'll Do

• Develop and execute a comprehensive automation, data, AI, and digital transformation roadmap for Biologics Drug Substance Development.

• Define and advance the organizational vision for Lab-in-a-Loop, integrating experimental automation, predictive modeling, digital twins, and AI-enabled decision support.

• Establish a future-state digital architecture enabling seamless connectivity of scientific workflows, instrumentation, laboratory systems, manufacturing systems, and knowledge repositories.

• Ensure alignment of automation and digital initiatives with biologics development priorities and enterprise digital strategies.

• Benchmark emerging technologies, industry best practices, and competitive capabilities to maintain AbbVie's leadership in digital biologics development.

• Lead and develop a high-performing Automation & Digital Transformation team consisting of automation engineers, digital scientists, data scientists, software developers, and technology specialists.

• Establish talent and capability strategies to build skills in AI, advanced analytics, process modeling, laboratory automation, and data engineering.

• Foster a culture of innovation, continuous improvement, collaboration, and data-driven decision making.

• Mentor leaders and technical experts while ensuring sustainable organizational growth and succession planning.

• Drive implementation of closed-loop experimental platforms integrating automation, high-throughput experimentation, mechanistic modeling, machine learning, and process optimization.

• Champion adoption of digital twins, predictive analytics, advanced process control concepts, and AI-enabled scientific workflows.

• Identify and prioritize high-value use cases that accelerate development timelines and improve process robustness.

• Partner with scientific teams to translate emerging technologies into scalable business capabilities.

• Serve as the primary business leader representing Biologics Drug Substance Development in partnerships with BTS, Information Research, Data & Digital Science, Manufacturing, Quality, Operations, and external technology partners.

• Influence senior leadership investment decisions and develop business cases supporting strategic digital and automation initiatives.

• Drive governance processes for digital investments, technology prioritization, data standards, and capability deployment.

• Represent AbbVie externally through industry consortia, conferences, collaborations, and strategic partnerships.

• Lead development of integrated data platforms supporting end-to-end data capture, contextualization, visualization, analytics, and knowledge management.

• Establish data governance, standards, and business processes that ensure high-quality, reusable scientific data.

• Enable scalable deployment of AI and machine learning technologies across biologics development workflows.

• Partner with enterprise teams to ensure secure, compliant, and sustainable digital solutions.

• Establish prioritization frameworks and governance processes to maximize value delivery from automation and digital investments.

• Define and track key performance indicators demonstrating business impact, adoption, operational efficiency, and scientific productivity improvements.

• Manage technology roadmaps, budgets, resource allocation, and multi-year investment strategies.

• Deliver measurable improvements in development speed, process understanding, productivity, decision quality, and organizational effectiveness.

What We're Looking For

• MS or PhD in Chemical Engineering, Biochemical Engineering, Biotechnology, Data Science, Computer Science, Life Sciences, or related scientific discipline.
• 15+ years of pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or advanced technology industry experience, including significant experience in biologics process development, manufacturing sciences, digital transformation, or related functions.