Jobs / United States / Abbvie INC
Senior Scientist I-II, ML Molecular Optimization
Abbvie INC · 🇺🇸 North Chicago, IL, US
Sponsorship verdict
Sponsorship possible
One solid signal, not two — worth applying, and worth asking about sponsorship early.
- Employer is on a government sponsor recordThe US Department of Labor certified 177 H-1B/E-3 labor condition applications for this employer between Oct 2025 and Jun 2026 (latest Jun 2026) — the step every H-1B hire needs first. USCIS also records 94 H-1B approvals in FY2023. Source: LCA disclosure data (US Department of Labor (OFLC)).
- The posting doesn’t mention sponsorshipSilence isn’t a refusal — ask the recruiter before investing much time.
- No salary bar for this routeH-1B has no fixed salary bar: the employer must pay at least the prevailing wage for the role and area. Cap-subject employers enter a lottery weighted by wage level. Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/12/29/2025-23853/weighted-selection-process-for-registrants-and-petitioners-seeking-to-file-cap-subject-h-1b, rules effective 2026-02-27.
- What Abbvie INC paid sponsored hires in similar roles4 certified filings for “PRINCIPAL RESEARCH SCIENTIST I” (Molecular and Cellular Biologists) in IL: $105k–$155k, median $120k. Most were filed at wage level III (50%) — 3 lottery entries, ≈46% projected selection odds for cap-subject employers. Source: US Department of Labor LCA disclosure data (Oct 2025 – Jun 2026).
- Confirmed live todayWhen a source last listed this job as open.
US H-1B: cap-subject employers enter a lottery weighted by wage level — Level I gets 1 entry, Level IV gets 4 (DHS projected selection odds ≈15% at Level I to ≈61% at Level IV). Universities and non-profit research employers are cap-exempt. The $100,000 fee for new petitions from abroad is currently blocked by a court order (appeal pending).
A verdict summarises public evidence; it is not legal advice and never a guarantee — the employer and the immigration authority decide. Sign in to factor in where you can already work.
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Sponsor Radar — Abbvie INC
The US Department of Labor certified 177 H-1B/E-3 labor condition applications for this employer between Oct 2025 and Jun 2026 (latest Jun 2026) — the step every H-1B hire needs first. USCIS also records 94 H-1B approvals in FY2023. Source: LCA disclosure data (US Department of Labor (OFLC)).
Past sponsorship or register membership never guarantees sponsorship for this vacancy or for you. Full Sponsor Radar for Abbvie INC →
About the role
This position brings an opportunity to make innovative contributions that will define how AbbVie leverages AI-enabled drug discovery across our small molecule portfolio. The key responsibilities of this position are to identify, develop, optimize, validate, and deploy innovative machine learning approaches to guide molecular optimization. This role will collaborate closely with project teams comprising medicinal chemists, structural biologists, biochemists, cell biologists, and other computational chemistry / chemoinformatics experts. Responsibilities: • Consult with project team to establish quantitative targets for driving optimization • Identify suitable models to predict small molecule binding affinities for protein targets, and to predict pharmacological properties (PK parameters, etc.) • Build predictive models for each project endpoint, and carefully benchmarking to evaluate performance and domain of applicability for each model • Decisively identify the model that should be used for each project team query molecule, using data-driven approaches that take account of model uncertainty and heteroscedasticity • Clearly communicate to the project team the rationale for model selection and why the selected models are best suited for the task at hand • Deploy models to ensure accessibility for the project team, facilitating collaborative ideation and optimization • Senior Scientist I : Degree in relevant field (chemistry / computer science / machine learning / cheminformatics / chemical engineering) with experience developing machine learning models related to chemical and biological data (10+ years of experience for BS, 8+ years for MS, 0+ years for PhD). Leveling will be commensurate to experience. • Senior Scientist II : Degree in relevant field (chemistry / computer science / machine learning / cheminformatics / chemical engineering) with experience developing machine learning models related to chemical and biological data (12+ years of experience for BS, 10+ years for MS, 4+ years for PhD). Leveling will be commensurate to experience. • Expertise with developing, implementing and deploying programs and computational solutions employing Machine Learning/Deep learning and Cheminformatics • Expertise in AI/ML-enabled molecular generation, pose prediction, affinity prediction and/or prediction of pharmacological properties (e.g. PK) • Strong programming skills in Python and experience with data science stack including numpy, pandas, scikit-learn, and other related scientific libraries • Ability to implement, debug, and maintain computational tools in common programming languages (Python, etc…) and proficiency with cloud computing capabilities • Familiarity with modern deep learning architectures including GNN, CNN, RNN, Transformer, GCNN and MPNN, and machine learning paradigms such as generative models, GAN, and active learning • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with demonstrated ability to think critically and creatively, and provide solutions both individually and collaboratively with internal experts • Excellent ability to communicate clearly and concisely with colleagues and collaborators including an ability to explain complex ideas to non-specialists 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 modifie