Operational Technology (OT) Senior Security Engineer
About this opportunity
Company Description
About AbbVie
AbbVie'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. For more information about AbbVie, please visit us at www.abbvie.com . Follow @abbvie on LinkedIn, Facebook , Instagram , X and YouTube.
Job Description
AbbVie is seeking a Senior OT Security Engineer to support Manufacturing and Research Technology initiatives by embedding cybersecurity best practices across Operational Technology (OT) and Industrial Control Systems (ICS) environments. In this role, you will help design, assess, harden, and support OT systems and their subsystems through strong knowledge of OT/ICS technologies, industrial control environments, and plant systems.
You will apply secure-by-design principles to improve reliability, resilience, and cybersecurity across manufacturing and research operations. You will identify and implement OT security capabilities, controls, and practices that reduce risk, strengthen visibility, and support secure operations. As a technical lead in OT cybersecurity, you will evaluate emerging threats, vulnerabilities, and technologies, and incorporate appropriate security controls into OT solutions and operational processes.
This role is focused on Operational Technology cybersecurity and supports AbbVie’s Manufacturing and Research Technology initiatives by driving enterprise-wide OT security improvements.
Responsibilities
Conceive, design, engineer, and implement OT security solutions by studying operational requirements, collaborating with users and technical teams, reviewing system and network flows, and investigating problem areas.
Resolve key project challenges and assumptions by using available information, technical expertise, and OT cybersecurity principles.
Provide comprehensive consultation to business unit and IT management and staff on OT security practices, industrial control environments, network architectures, and supporting technologies across diverse computing environments.
Demonstrate understanding of the pharmaceutical business and apply that knowledge to develop agile, impactful, and cost-effective solutions that support secure, reliable, and resilient OT environments.
Work with a high degree of autonomy while maintaining awareness of cybersecurity, system reliability, operational continuity, and risk considerations.
Research and evaluate alternative solutions and recommend the most efficient and cost-effective OT security solution.
Configure, adapt, or integrate existing technologies and purchased solutions to support secure operations, monitoring, and risk reduction.
Build and maintain relationships with affiliates, subsidiaries, vendors, and industry peers in alignment with AbbVie Values, Vendor Management Office, and Purchasing requirements.
Mentor and/or supervise team members as needed and support performance management, including adherence to security and operational standards.
Understand and adhere to corporate standards, including applicable Corporate and Divisional Policies, code of conduct, safety, GxP compliance, data security, and secure development and operational practices.
OT Cybersecurity Responsibilities
Support OT security aspects of AbbVie’s Manufacturing and Research Technology initiatives through architecture, engineering, design, implementation, deployment, and operational transition of secure technology solutions.
Lead OT cybersecurity and secure-by-design assessments, including detailed design reviews, network topology reviews, and mapping of data flows to ports, protocols, and services.
Contribute to OT/ICS cybersecurity guardrails to ensure OT architectures, solutions, and technologies are designed and implemented using secure-by-design methodology.
Utilize industry standards and frameworks such as NIST SP 800-53, NIST SP 800-82, and ISA/IEC 62443 to identify security capabilities and technologies that strengthen OT defenses.
Support cybersecurity risk assessments to determine system criticality, exposure, and risk gaps.
Provide recommendations and mitigation plans for issues identified through OT/ICS cybersecurity reviews, risk assessments, and vulnerability assessments.
Provide subject matter leadership during cyber incidents, including response, containment, and remediation.
Some travel, up to 20%, may be required.
Qualifications
Demonstrated understanding of OT/ICS environments in pharmaceutical or similar regulated industries, including threats, vulnerabilities, attack paths, and exploitation techniques relevant to OT/ICS systems.
Proficiency in OT/ICS network design and the creation of network architecture drawings.
Demonstrated ability to influence others, work effectively, and communicate clearly at all levels with operations, engineering, projects, vendors, and peers.
Knowledge of techniques and tools that support effective analysis, root cause identification, and issue resolution.
Ability to communicate clearly, concisely, and effectively both orally and in writing.
Bachelor’s degree with 7 years of experience, Master’s degree with 6 years of experience, or PhD with 2 years of experience in related technical work.
In-depth knowledge of the systems development life cycle and technical solution alternatives.
Proven implementation of creative technology solutions that advanced the business.
Excellent written and oral English communication skills.
Preferred
Familiarity with cloud and OT/ICS integration.
Work experience in the pharmaceutical industry.
Experience in regulated environments supporting manufacturing or research operations.
Additional Information
Some travel, up to 20%, may be required.
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 https://www.abbvie.com/join-us/equal-employment-opportunity-employer.html
US & Puerto Rico applicants seeking a reasonable accommodation, click here to learn more:
https://www.abbvie.com/join-us/reasonable-accommodations.html
Job details
How this role compares
Computed from every other active Information Technology role in our database, not just this employer's listings.
We currently track 378 comparable Senior Information Technology roles across 34 biopharma companies.
Salary context
45 of 378 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)
Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.
Where these roles are based
Top locations among the 378 comparable roles
+ 15 more countries
Seniority mix
378 of 378 peers have a known seniority level
Therapeutic area mix
0 of 378 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden
No peers with a known therapeutic area yet.
Similar opportunities
The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.
How we calculate "similar"
No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.
Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.
0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.