Senior Principal Research Scientist, Computational Drug Discovery Optimization Team Lead Full-time

AbbVie Computational Lead Optimization Team Lead

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.

This position brings an opportunity to make innovative contributions that will define how AbbVie leverages AI-enabled drug discovery across our small molecule portfolio. Reports to Head of Computational Drug Discovery (CDD) and will lead the computational Lead Optimization team. Will implement and enable collaborative design between members of the Optimization team and Global Medicinal Chemistry (GMEC) teams. Must possess strong expertise in modern medicinal chemistry, including a deep understanding of modern computational and experimental strategies, property-based drug design, and pharmacology needed to develop low-dose small molecule drug candidates. The ideal candidate will have a strong and established background in drug discovery from exploratory through candidate nomination including an established external footprint, and network as well as a proven track record of successfully leading diverse project teams to identify novel drug candidates. Past experience will have included mentorship of early/mid-career scientists in matrixed and/or direct reporting relationships.

Responsibilities:

• Consult with project team and GMEC leadership to establish quantitative targets for driving optimization, and assigning an Optimization team member to the project team that can execute these goals for accelerated identification of low dose drug candidates
• Guide Optimization team members in benchmarking experiments to evaluate models' performance and domain of applicability
• Clearly communicate to project teams the rationale behind the selection of specific models and why they are best suited for the task at hand
• Lead the development of a cohesive collection of internal models and workflows, to comprehensively address AbbVie's small molecule portfolio needs (suitable models to predict small molecule binding affinities for protein targets, and to predict pharmacological properties (PK parameters, etc.)
• Partner closely with the GMEC leadership team to identify and address gaps where computational predictions are needed
• Advance scientific expertise within the Optimization team and collaborates with cross-disciplinary teams from CDD and Information Research to advance programs and ensure computational capabilities are best implemented across programs
• Proactively demonstrate leadership by providing expert advice and shared knowledge with direct reports, peers, and senior management
• Identify and integrate emerging scientific trends from internal and external sources into functional objectives
• Present program updates and research strategies to functional and non-functional leaders as well as potential and existing partners
• Maintain awareness of emerging literature and science in the field and author scientific disclosures/publications
• Maintain scientific presence outside AbbVie with appropriate publications and conference abstract submission highlighting innovative learnings in computational medicinal chemistry

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent education in Science related field with extensive (typically > 18 years) of related work; Master's Degree or equivalent education with extensive (typically > 16 years) of related work; PhD in Science or related field with typically 10+ years of related work experience
• Highly organized and self-directed, experience leading multiple complex simultaneous research programs or initiatives
• Extensive knowledge and experience in applying data science approaches for medicinal chemistry optimization
• Extensive knowledge and experience in modern computational approaches for medicinal chemistry
• Excellent written and verbal communication, as well as critical evaluation and data-driven decision making, particularly including an ability to explain complex ideas to non-specialists
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with demonstrated ability to think critically and creatively, and provide solutions both individually and collaboratively with internal experts
• Proven team leadership and management abilities, including experience mentoring, guiding, supervising, and developing scientific personnel with various backgrounds and training levels
• Highly collaborative, team-oriented, and considerate of the needs of others
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to collaborate with diverse groups within the organization and external partners
• Ability to create an inclusive environment where diverse ideas, viewpoints and backgrounds are valued; willingness and ability to lead inclusively and demonstrate a commitment to listen and consider all points of view
• Preferred: has served as Project Lead for a campaign resulting in candidate nomination
• Preferred: track record of driving design of early to late-stage discovery programs with inventive contributions to advanced programs

Additional Information:

• 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.

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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Pay Range: $160500 – 305000 USD

Where We Work

Role is exclusively performed at a site or office and onsite presence is required. Employees who are site/office-based and can occasionally perform their role virtually work both in the office and remotely*, following the policies and regulations in place at their location. US Employees must be in the office on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday with flexibility to work remotely on Mondays and Fridays. Three days in the office is the minimum; some individuals or teams may require more in-office days due to meetings, business/project needs or their role.