Technical Lead Forward Deployed Engineering

The Technical Delivery Lead for Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) leads a small high-velocity engineering team that embeds directly with frontline business partners across product development manufacturing Quality and Finance. Working side by side with scientists operators quality professionals and finance teams at our sites this leader identifies critical business problems then uses data science AI and modern software engineering to design and ship working prototypes in weeks not quarters. 

This is more than an individual contributor engineering role. The successful candidate is accountable for the technical direction quality and delivery pace of FDE engagements leads and develops the engineers on each engagement and is a hands-on builder who sets the technical bar for the team. 

Responsibilities: 

Technical delivery leadership 

• Serve as technical delivery lead for a portfolio of fast-paced FDE engagements owning scope architecture technical risk timelines and outcomes from problem framing through prototype and handoff. 
• Lead coach and assign work to a team of forward deployed engineers data scientists and partner resources; set engineering standards review designs and code and build team capability. 
• Run short iterative delivery cycles (e.g. discovery sprints weekly demos) that move rapidly from hypothesis to a working solution in users hands. 
• Make clear build/buy/scale decisions and define the path from prototype to production with BTS platform product and support teams. 

Frontline partnership 

• Travel to AbbVie sites to work directly with frontline employeeson the manufacturing floor in labs in Quality and in Financeto observe workflows understand pain points and co-design solutions. 
• Translate ambiguous operational and financial problems into well-defined technical problems with measurable success criteria (e.g. cycle time yield right-first-time deviation reduction close timeliness). 
• Build trusted relationships with site leaders and business stakeholders; communicate progress trade-offs and results clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences including senior leadership. 

Hands-on solution development 

• Rapidly develop prototypes using data science machine learning generative AI / LLM and agentic tools analytics and application development frameworks. 
• Integrate with enterprise and operational data sources such as MES LIMS QMS ERP (e.g. SAP) historians and data lake / cloud platforms. 
• Apply AI-assisted development practices to accelerate delivery while maintaining code quality security and maintainability. 
• Ensure solutions are designed with appropriate data integrity privacy cybersecurity and responsible AI considerations and engage Quality/CSV partners early where GxP impact exists. 

Scale and impact 

• Capture reusable patterns components and playbooks so successful solutions can be replicated across sites and functions. 
• Quantify and report business value delivered by FDE engagements; help shape the FDE engagement model and pipeline with BTS Operations & Finance leadership. 

Qualifications :

Required:

• Bachelors Degree in Computer Science Engineering Data Science a physical/life science or related field with 7 years of relevant experience; Masters Degree with 6 years of experience; or PhD with 2 years of experience.
• Demonstrated experience delivering data analytics AI or software solutions in the life sciences industry (pharmaceutical biotech or medical device) across one or more of: product development manufacturing Quality or Finance. 
• Proven track record leading technical teamssetting direction mentoring engineers and accountable for delivery of multiple concurrent projects. 
• Strong hands-on engineering skills in Python and SQL with experience building and deploying ML/AI solutions including generative AI / LLM applications. 
• Experience with cloud data and compute platforms (e.g. AWS Azure Databricks Snowflake) and modern software practices (Git CI/CD APIs containerization). 
• Experience working in rapid iterative delivery environmentstaking ambiguous problems to working prototypes on short timelines. 
• Working knowledge of regulated environments (GxP data integrity computerized system validation) and how they shape solution design. 
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills; comfortable working directly with frontline staff and presenting to senior leaders. 
• Willingness and ability to travel to sites up to 20% of the time. 

Preferred:

• Prior forward deployed solutions engineering technical consulting or internal innovation skunkworks team experience. 
• Familiarity with manufacturing and quality systems and data (MES LIMS QMS historians such as OSIsoft PI) and/or finance systems (SAP planning and close tools). 
• Experience with agentic AI frameworks retrieval-augmented generation computer vision or optimization/simulation methods. 
• Experience with full-stack or low-code application development for rapid user-facing tools (e.g. React Streamlit Power Apps). 
• Experience moving prototypes to scaled supported production solutions in partnership with platform and product teams. 

Additional Information :

Applicable only to applicants applying to a position in any location with pay disclosure requirements under state or local law: 

• 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. 

Note: No amount of pay is considered to be wages or compensation until such amount is earned vested and determinable. The amount and availability of any bonus commission incentive benefits or any other form of compensation and benefits that are allocable to a particular employee remains in the Companys sole and absolute discretion unless and until paid and may be modified at the Companys sole and absolute discretion consistent with applicable law.

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. 

US & Puerto Rico only - to learn more visit  & Puerto Rico applicants seeking a reasonable accommodation click here to learn more:

Work :

No

Employment Type :

Full-time