QC Planner

About AbbVie

AbbVie is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and delivering innovative medicines and solutions for serious health conditions. Its work spans key therapy areas such as immunology, oncology, neuroscience, and Allergan Aesthetics. The company is driven by a mission to create meaningful impact for patients and is recognized as a Great Place to Work.

Role Overview

AbbVie is hiring a QC Lab Planner for its Carrigtwohill, Cork site. Reporting to the QC Lab Manager, this role is responsible for building, maintaining, and optimizing testing schedules for raw materials and finished products released from the Cork site. The planner also incorporates non-routine testing requirements such as process validation, customer complaints, non-conformance follow-up, and training-related testing into both short- and long-range schedules.

The role is central to external testing coordination and acts as the main point of contact within QC for internal teams, external stakeholders, and third-party laboratories. It also supports the rollout and day-to-day use of SmartQC, the laboratory planning tool, while ensuring effective use of resources, smooth scheduling, and sound financial control across QC operations.

Key Responsibilities

• Build and maintain mid- to long-term QC testing plans so laboratory work is completed on time for current and future projects.
• Forecast staffing, equipment, and consumable requirements in line with production and business needs.
• Use SmartQC to monitor workloads, prioritize work, and improve laboratory planning and compliance with testing timelines.
• Share ideas for tool improvements and integrations that can increase the value of SmartQC.
• Coordinate people and equipment usage to improve workflow and reduce bottlenecks across the lab.
• Track laboratory capacity and manage periods of overuse or underuse of resources.
• Work with finance and procurement to monitor budgets, review cost drivers, and identify savings opportunities.
• Oversee spending linked to supplies, testing, and staffing to support financial discipline.
• Identify opportunities to simplify QC workflows and improve efficiency, including the use of standard work with supervisors.
• Partner with QC and operations teams on continuous improvement efforts that reduce lead times and improve resource usage.
• Assess scheduling, capacity, and supply risks, then create contingency plans to keep QC work on track.
• Coordinate with production, supply chain, and R&D to ensure QC schedules support broader business plans and product timelines.
• Represent QC in weekly raw materials and operations planning meetings.
• Analyze QC performance metrics and prepare reports for senior leaders, including turnaround time, utilization, and cost efficiency.
• Use data to recommend strategic improvements to planning and laboratory operations.

Requirements

• A bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline such as Quality Management, Operations, Laboratory Sciences, or Business.
• At least 3 years of experience in planning, scheduling, or operations, ideally in a laboratory or manufacturing environment.
• Prior exposure to laboratory planning systems; SmartQC experience is preferred.
• Strong budget awareness and the ability to analyze costs and manage financial performance.
• Highly organized with strong attention to accuracy and detail.
• Comfortable working across functions and balancing multiple priorities in a busy environment.
• Skilled in reporting and data analysis tools such as Excel and Power BI.
• Strong analytical and troubleshooting ability, with a proactive approach to identifying and reducing risk.

Additional Information

AbbVie is an equal opportunity employer and operates with a strong commitment to integrity, innovation, and community impact. The company welcomes applications regardless of protected status and supports veterans and disabled candidates.

For applicants in the US and Puerto Rico, additional information is available regarding equal employment opportunity and reasonable accommodation requests.

Working Arrangement

This position is based onsite in Carrigtwohill, Cork, County Cork, Ireland.