Director, Automation & Digital Transformation, Biologics Drug Substance Development

Director, Automation & Digital Transformation, Biologics Drug Substance Development

• Full-time
• Salary Min: 182000
• Salary Max: 346000
• Workday Global Grade: 22
• Compensation: USD 182,000 - USD 346,000 - yearly

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 including immunology, oncology and neuroscience - and products and services in our Allergan Aesthetics portfolio.

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 Abb Vie'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 Abb Vie at the forefront of digital biologics development.

• 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 Abb Vie's leadership position 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 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.

• 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,…