Automation Validation Engineer
AbbVie · North Chicago, IL
- Level
- Engineer
- Team
- Quality
- Degree
- Preferred
- Experience asked
- 5+ years
- Industry
- Pharma & life sciences
- Posted
- Today
The role in 30 seconds
An engineer-level quality role at AbbVie (pharma & life sciences) in North Chicago, IL.
- They ask for
- 5+ years · degree preferred
- Tools it names
- Validation (IQ/OQ/PQ), PLC, Automation
Read from the posting. The full description is below.
From the plant jobs report · week of October 26, 2026
Quality Engineer roles in Illinois: typical posted base $98k–$136k.
Median of the low and high ends of 40 live postings that list pay, out of 52 quality engineer openings in Illinois, read from manufacturers' own careers sites.
Illinois plant jobs report →Pay by team and state →What moves pay →
How this role compares
Against 51 other live quality postings in Illinois.
- Base pay
- Not listed in this posting
- Experience asked
- More than usual (5+ vs 4+)
Typical $98k–$123k, from 34 postings that list pay.
Similar roles usually ask 4+ years.
Skills these teams ask for most
- ✓ Validation (IQ/OQ/PQ) 46%
- Root cause 46%
- Supplier quality 46%
- ✓ Team leadership 37%
- SPC 35%
- FMEA 33%
✓ = this posting asks for it too. % = share of similar postings that mention it.
Stands out: this posting asks for PLC, which few similar roles mention. If you have it, lead with it.
At a glance
Pulled from the posting text. If it's not listed here, the posting didn't say.
How to get in at this plant
Five moves over a week or two. The first one takes ten minutes.
- 1
Pick 2–3 people on the Quality team at AbbVie
Engineers who joined in the last year or two reply the most. Use the team search on this page to find them.
- 2
Send a short, curious note
One real question about their work. No favors yet. Each person gets a different note, written for this role.
- 3
Turn a reply into a short call
Questions worth asking about this team:
- What does a normal week look like on your team?
- Which standards drive the work here: ISO 13485, IATF 16949, AS9100?
- How much of the job is customer complaints versus prevention?
- How did you land the job? What stood out in your interviews?
- 4
Apply with someone vouching for you
If the call went well, ask whether they’d pass your résumé to the hiring manager. Send your résumé link, apply that day, and let them know.
- 5
Bring proof to the interview
One page of before-and-after numbers from projects you led: scrap, OEE, cycle time, cost. Plant managers hire on results.
This plant: AbbVie in North Chicago
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- Associate Director, Midwest Project Engineering · Manufacturing · Director+
Full description from AbbVieAs posted on their careers site.ShowHide
Responsibilities
- ◆This position will be responsible to provide validation support for OT projects, primarily DeltaV and/or Allen-Bradley PLCs, and ongoing manufacturing automation validation support activities.
- ◆Support Factory Acceptance Testing in conjunction with Project Engineers to confirm unit is acceptable.
- ◆The APC Validation Engineer is responsible for ensuring software quality assurance is achieved during OT projects while meeting project objectives and deliverables.
- ◆The position is responsible for working with Project Managers on all phases of the System Development Life Cycle process.
- ◆Position is responsible for managing all validation activities such as protocol writing, identification of risk controls, reviewing of validation documents, storage of controlled documents and providing resolution to problem reports.
- ◆Perform minor troubleshooting of issues encountered during commissioning and documentation of unresolved issues.
- ◆Responsible for implementing Validation Quality Assurance standard into departmental documents and ensuring all departmental training is complete.
- ◆Responsible for ownership of the OT System Periodic Validation Review, Data Integrity, and Data Security lifecycles, including management and execution of remediation task closures.
- ◆The APC Validation Engineer works as a liaison between OT/Automation department and the Validation Quality Assurance department and will be responsible for audit activities such as interacting with auditors.
- ◆The APC Validation Engineer is responsible for completing project tasks within time and budget constraints.
- ◆May supervise contract validation resources in the timely completion of activities in his/her area of responsibility
- ◆Bachelor’s degree in engineering preferred plus 5 years experience, or Master’s degree plus 4 years experience preferred, or sufficient experience to demonstrate technical equivalency.
- ◆Experience in one or more of the following: IS support role, Systems Testing, OT Implementation, Quality Assurance, Supervisory, Project Management
Show full description ↓Show less ↑
Purpose
Provides leadership and direction in software validation activities including: reviewing software requirement documents; writing and reviewing validation documents (test plans/strategy and detailed test cases/instructions); executing and reviewing validation test cases; updating departmental procedures and templates.