Director, Automation & Digital Transformation, Biologics Drug Substance Development

Purpose

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 establish and drive an integrated digital ecosystem that connects laboratory automation, data infrastructure, advanced analytics, process modeling, machine learning, knowledge management, and AI-enabled workflows across Drug Substance Development. Working across Process Development, Analytical Development, Manufacturing Sciences, Quality, BTS, and enterprise digital organizations, this individual will drive adoption of scalable digital capabilities that increase development speed, improve process understanding, enhance productivity, and enable data-driven decision making.

This role will lead a multidisciplinary team of scientists, engineers, automation specialists, and digital experts while influencing senior leaders across R&D, Operations, and Information Technology to establish industry-leading capabilities that position AbbVie at the forefront of digital biologics development.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership

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 that enables 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 position in digital biologics development.

Organizational Leadership

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 critical future 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.

Lab-in-a-Loop and Advanced Technologies

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.

Enterprise Collaboration and Influence

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.

Data and Digital Ecosystem

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.

Portfolio Management and Business Impact

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 spe…