Principal Research Scientist II- Data Architecture, Biotherapeutics and Genetic Medicine at Abb

Principal Research Scientist II – Data Architecture, Biotherapeutics and Genetic Medicine (Worcester, MA)

Abb Vie'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 – immunology, oncology, neuroscience, and eye care – and products and services in our Allergan Aesthetics portfolio.

Biotherapeutics and Genetic Medicine (BGM), a part of Discovery Research within Abb Vie’s R&D, is a global organization responsible for discovering and optimizing drug candidate molecules for biotherapeutic modalities (monoclonal antibodies, multispecifics, proteins, conjugates, etc.) and genetic medicines (AAV, LNPs, siRNA, etc.) across all therapeutic areas.

The Principal Data Architect is a visionary leader in the development and success of our cloud‑native data platform, which supports the development and integration of predictive and generative machine learning solutions in drug discovery scientist workflows. This role requires a strong ability to see both the big picture and the details, and to work cross‑functionally with wet lab scientists, ML engineers, software engineers, data engineers, and data infrastructure engineers.

This position reports to the Head of AI/ML in Biotherapeutics and Genetic Medicine (BGM) and serves as a trusted advisor to senior leadership. It is pivotal in driving the organization toward becoming a leader in the application of artificial intelligence, ensuring that AI and ML initiatives are built on a robust, resilient, and scalable data foundation that grows with the organization.

Key responsibilities:

• Drive the vision, execution, implementation, adoption, and continuous improvement of a robust, scalable data platform as the foundation for Abb Vie’s AI/ML strategy within BGM.
• Define data models and architectures that collect, store, structure, access, and connect datasets generated by numerous lab groups, enabling downstream uses such as ML model development, operational reports, and lab documentation.
• Collaborate closely with wet lab scientists, especially the Head of Lab Data Products, and automation engineers to maximize the utility of data captured by lab automation workflows.
• Collaborate closely with data scientists and deployment engineers to ensure data pipelines support both machine learning model development and deployment into production.
• Co‑develop and execute a strategy that maximizes FAIRfication of BGM data in concert with wider BGM strategic goals.
• Communicate the impact of a robust data platform to Abb Vie’s drug pipeline using user stories and KPIs that measure added value.
• Multiply the platform’s impact by championing and communicating the principles behind connected data, data stewardship, data‑as‑a‑product, and cloud‑first, cloud‑native architectures.
• Collaborate with data infrastructure and data governance experts across Abb Vie to ensure governance principles and policy are optimally implemented.
• Ensure alignment of data infrastructure initiatives with existing Abb Vie initiatives such as Convergence and ARCH.

• BS, MS, or PhD in computer science, data science, computational biology, computational chemistry, computational biophysics, or related field with typically 16+ years, 14+ years, or 8+ years of experience in data architecture, designing enterprise data platforms.
• Deep technical skills in data modeling, data integration, implementation of data storage solutions, data pipelines, and integration with AI/ML.
• Production programming expertise in SQL, Python, or Java.
• Experience building cloud data infrastructure solutions using AWS, Azure, or GCP.
• Familiar with both wet and dry lab scientific principles and processes, able to foresee and prevent data platform‑originated failure modes.
• Experience with cross‑functional team leadership and a track record of collaboration excellence.
• Previous experience in the pharmaceutical or biotechnology sectors.
• Experience managing team member delivery and career development.
• Exceptional interpersonal and communication…