Director, Process Safety and Design

AbbVie•North Chicago, IL

About The Position

AbbVie is seeking a Director, Process Safety and Design to serve as a globally recognized process safety and design subject matter expert across its global manufacturing network. Reporting directly to the Vice President of Global Engineering, the role has high visibility with Operations executive leadership. The Director will bring industry best practices and innovative solutions to help ensure facilities meet high standards of engineering design and process safety. The role establishes and oversees process safety strategy, leads global process safety initiatives and supports sites on design and process safety matters. It partners with site leadership and Site Directors to implement recommendations and continuous-improvement goals, and leads a team of subject matter experts. The position also provides technical review and input for major capital projects, new product introductions, technology transfers, and changes to existing processes and equipment. The role includes approximately 30% travel due to its global scope.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering or another technical field; engineering or life sciences preferred.
15+ years of experience in the pharmaceutical and/or chemical industries in an engineering or manufacturing-support environment.
Demonstrated experience in process engineering, process design, or a technical safety discipline.
Experience leading and coaching a diverse team, adapting leadership style as needed.
Ability to partner with, influence, and guide decision-making at the global senior leadership level.
Willingness to travel approximately 30%.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree preferred.

Responsibilities

Establish process safety strategy for the global manufacturing network and provide leadership with regular updates on site status and continuous-improvement initiatives related to Process Safety Management (PSM).
Engage across global manufacturing sites and collaborate with site leadership to establish timelines for implementing process safety recommendations and improvement goals; share responsibility with Site Directors for achieving those timelines.
Lead, with a team of subject matter experts, global Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) efforts, capital project design reviews, process safety training, and other process safety initiatives.
Design, develop, implement, and monitor the global network process safety roadmap, emphasizing standardized processes, risk reduction, elimination of failure modes, and global compliance.
Provide technical support to sites on design and process safety issues.
Drive a continuous-improvement process safety culture across the network and visibly champion AbbVie’s Zero. Believe it. Achieve it. (ZBA) philosophy.
Lead process safety reviews during design and start-up for major capital projects across the global network.
Provide technical input for Requests for Capital Expenditure (RCE) to integrate significant safety and environmental considerations into Front-End Planning for new product introductions, product transfers between sites, and changes to existing processes and equipment.
Lead hazard screening for technology transfers and new product introductions.
Develop a network dashboard of process safety-related KPIs to measure continuous-improvement progress.
Maintain knowledge of industry best practices, Best Available Technologies (BAT), and trends, and share that knowledge with peers and leadership.
With the team, support the process safety element of internal EHS audits to assess compliance with applicable standards and policies, adoption of best practices for identifying and managing risk, and conformance to company directives.
Select, develop, coach, and manage the performance of talent.