Data Science Lead Visa Sponsorship Jobs in Illinois
Illinois is a strong market for data science lead roles, with major employers across Chicago's tech, finance, and healthcare sectors, including companies like Morningstar, Zebra Technologies, and Tempus. The Chicago metropolitan area anchors most sponsorship activity, supported by a dense concentration of Fortune 500 headquarters and a steady pipeline from universities like the University of Chicago and Northwestern.
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Get Access To All JobsABOUT 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.
JOB DESCRIPTION
As Data Science and AI Lead overseeing Platform, Governance, and Delivery for Data Science and AI solutions at AbbVie, you will lead a diverse team of data scientists responsible for designing, executing, and scaling data science solutions across the enterprise. Reporting into Operations Business Insights (OBI), you will establish and execute the vision and roadmap for a robust, agile, and compliant data science platform, ensuring strong governance practices and operational excellence in delivering impactful data science to drive innovation, performance, and agility company wide.
Leading a multifaceted team, you will have end-to-end accountability for platform strategy, stakeholder engagement, project delivery, and talent development. You will be expected to set the standard for technical and consulting excellence, foster a culture of continuous learning, and promote effective collaboration within and outside your group, including functional data scientists, business partners, academic collaborators, and technology leaders.
Key Responsibilities:
- Provide leadership in developing, maintaining, and governing the data science platform to enable secure, scalable, and compliant analytics throughout AbbVie’s global operations, spanning Supply Chain, Quality, Procurement, Manufacturing, and Science & Technology.
- Oversee the delivery lifecycle from requirements discovery, solution design, and modeling through deployment and monitoring of productionized data science applications, studies, and proofs of concept by leading teams of diverse data scientists and analysts.
- Lead and champion best practices in data governance, stewardship, and quality, ensuring compliance with regulatory and organizational standards (e.g., GxP, master data management, data lineage, model validation, etc.).
- Push forward with semantic engineering and agentic engineering, best practices and capability delivery to support more advanced AI use cases. Oversee architects involved in semantic and agentic engineering and solutioning.
- Develop and promote advanced analytics capability, including supervised/unsupervised machine learning, deep learning, AI/ML platform services, and the enablement of novel AI applications such as RAG and semantic layering for human-in-the-loop systems.
- Foster strategic partnerships with senior functional leaders, technology stakeholders, and external collaborators to accelerate the transfer of advanced methods into high-value business solutions.
- Collaborate on group strategy and roadmap, enable cross-functional GenAI initiatives, and serve as a thought leader for education, awareness, and innovation in enterprise data science.
- Ensure robust consulting, communication, and change management plans are in place to drive adoption of data science solutions at all organizational levels, including executive leadership.
- Mentor, coach, and develop a diverse team, building a pipeline of talent that can take on increasingly complex projects and lead education initiatives (journal clubs, technical upskilling, peer review, etc.).
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor's Degree with 9 years’ experience; Master's Degree with 8 years’ experience; PhD with 4 years’ experience.
- Significant experience leading multi-disciplinary teams delivering enterprise-scale data science platforms and applications, preferably in regulated industries such as pharmaceuticals, life sciences, or healthcare operations.
- Deep expertise in data science methods (ML, AI, statistics), modern data engineering (cloud, big data, pipeline orchestration), and business analytics, with mastery of tools such as Python, R, Dataiku, AWS SageMaker, Spark, Tableau, etc.
- Demonstrated ability to define and execute governance frameworks for data quality, master data, model lifecycle management, and regulatory compliance.
- Extensive consulting and stakeholder management experience, including effective communication of complex technical solutions to executive audiences and cross-functional business partners.
- Proven ability to drive innovation (strategy, whitepapers, roadmaps), develop cross-functional partnerships, and lead technology transfer initiatives to embed analytics into core business processes.
- Experience mentoring and growing diverse teams, with a focus on inclusion, equity, and continuous learning.
- Self-driven, highly adaptable, and able to quickly master new domains and tools in response to emerging business or technology trends.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Experience delivering data science solutions in industry (non-academic settings strongly preferred), with demonstrated progression in leadership roles.
- Experience with data-driven transformation in Quality, Supply Chain, Procurement, or Central Operations within a large pharmaceutical or life sciences organization, and deep understanding of GxP practices.
- Background in technology innovation, MLOps, platform architecture, or boutique/strategy consulting with measurable stakeholder impact.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
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 modified in the future.
- We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including paid time off (vacation, holidays, sick), medical/dental/vision insurance and 401(k) to eligible employees.
- This job is eligible to participate in our short-term incentive programs.
Note: No amount of pay is considered to be wages or compensation until such amount is earned, vested, and determinable. The amount and availability of any bonus, commission, incentive, benefits, or any other form of compensation and benefits that are allocable to a particular employee remains in the Company's sole and absolute discretion unless and until paid and may be modified at the Company’s sole and absolute discretion, consistent with applicable law.
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
US & Puerto Rico applicants seeking a reasonable accommodation, click here to learn more:
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.
JOB DESCRIPTION
As Data Science and AI Lead overseeing Platform, Governance, and Delivery for Data Science and AI solutions at AbbVie, you will lead a diverse team of data scientists responsible for designing, executing, and scaling data science solutions across the enterprise. Reporting into Operations Business Insights (OBI), you will establish and execute the vision and roadmap for a robust, agile, and compliant data science platform, ensuring strong governance practices and operational excellence in delivering impactful data science to drive innovation, performance, and agility company wide.
Leading a multifaceted team, you will have end-to-end accountability for platform strategy, stakeholder engagement, project delivery, and talent development. You will be expected to set the standard for technical and consulting excellence, foster a culture of continuous learning, and promote effective collaboration within and outside your group, including functional data scientists, business partners, academic collaborators, and technology leaders.
Key Responsibilities:
- Provide leadership in developing, maintaining, and governing the data science platform to enable secure, scalable, and compliant analytics throughout AbbVie’s global operations, spanning Supply Chain, Quality, Procurement, Manufacturing, and Science & Technology.
- Oversee the delivery lifecycle from requirements discovery, solution design, and modeling through deployment and monitoring of productionized data science applications, studies, and proofs of concept by leading teams of diverse data scientists and analysts.
- Lead and champion best practices in data governance, stewardship, and quality, ensuring compliance with regulatory and organizational standards (e.g., GxP, master data management, data lineage, model validation, etc.).
- Push forward with semantic engineering and agentic engineering, best practices and capability delivery to support more advanced AI use cases. Oversee architects involved in semantic and agentic engineering and solutioning.
- Develop and promote advanced analytics capability, including supervised/unsupervised machine learning, deep learning, AI/ML platform services, and the enablement of novel AI applications such as RAG and semantic layering for human-in-the-loop systems.
- Foster strategic partnerships with senior functional leaders, technology stakeholders, and external collaborators to accelerate the transfer of advanced methods into high-value business solutions.
- Collaborate on group strategy and roadmap, enable cross-functional GenAI initiatives, and serve as a thought leader for education, awareness, and innovation in enterprise data science.
- Ensure robust consulting, communication, and change management plans are in place to drive adoption of data science solutions at all organizational levels, including executive leadership.
- Mentor, coach, and develop a diverse team, building a pipeline of talent that can take on increasingly complex projects and lead education initiatives (journal clubs, technical upskilling, peer review, etc.).
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor's Degree with 9 years’ experience; Master's Degree with 8 years’ experience; PhD with 4 years’ experience.
- Significant experience leading multi-disciplinary teams delivering enterprise-scale data science platforms and applications, preferably in regulated industries such as pharmaceuticals, life sciences, or healthcare operations.
- Deep expertise in data science methods (ML, AI, statistics), modern data engineering (cloud, big data, pipeline orchestration), and business analytics, with mastery of tools such as Python, R, Dataiku, AWS SageMaker, Spark, Tableau, etc.
- Demonstrated ability to define and execute governance frameworks for data quality, master data, model lifecycle management, and regulatory compliance.
- Extensive consulting and stakeholder management experience, including effective communication of complex technical solutions to executive audiences and cross-functional business partners.
- Proven ability to drive innovation (strategy, whitepapers, roadmaps), develop cross-functional partnerships, and lead technology transfer initiatives to embed analytics into core business processes.
- Experience mentoring and growing diverse teams, with a focus on inclusion, equity, and continuous learning.
- Self-driven, highly adaptable, and able to quickly master new domains and tools in response to emerging business or technology trends.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Experience delivering data science solutions in industry (non-academic settings strongly preferred), with demonstrated progression in leadership roles.
- Experience with data-driven transformation in Quality, Supply Chain, Procurement, or Central Operations within a large pharmaceutical or life sciences organization, and deep understanding of GxP practices.
- Background in technology innovation, MLOps, platform architecture, or boutique/strategy consulting with measurable stakeholder impact.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
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 modified in the future.
- We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including paid time off (vacation, holidays, sick), medical/dental/vision insurance and 401(k) to eligible employees.
- This job is eligible to participate in our short-term incentive programs.
Note: No amount of pay is considered to be wages or compensation until such amount is earned, vested, and determinable. The amount and availability of any bonus, commission, incentive, benefits, or any other form of compensation and benefits that are allocable to a particular employee remains in the Company's sole and absolute discretion unless and until paid and may be modified at the Company’s sole and absolute discretion, consistent with applicable law.
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
US & Puerto Rico applicants seeking a reasonable accommodation, click here to learn more:
Data Science Lead Job Roles in Illinois
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Search Data Science Lead Jobs in IllinoisData Science Lead Jobs in Illinois: Frequently Asked Questions
Which companies sponsor visas for data science leads in Illinois?
Chicago-based employers with consistent H-1B visa sponsorship histories for data science roles include Morningstar, Zebra Technologies, Tempus, Relativity, and large financial institutions like Northern Trust and Discover Financial. Major tech consultancies and healthcare analytics firms operating out of Chicago also sponsor regularly. Sponsorship frequency varies by company size, hiring volume, and whether the organization has an established immigration program.
Which visa types are most common for data science lead roles in Illinois?
The H-1B is the most common visa for data science leads in Illinois, given that the role typically meets specialty occupation requirements with a direct connection to computer science, statistics, or a related technical field. Candidates already in the U.S. on OPT or STEM OPT often transition through employer-sponsored H-1B petitions. L-1B intracompany transfers are also used when candidates are moving from an overseas office of a multinational employer.
Which cities in Illinois have the most data science lead sponsorship jobs?
Chicago accounts for the overwhelming majority of data science lead sponsorship opportunities in Illinois. The broader metro area, including suburbs like Schaumburg, Deerfield, and Naperville, adds meaningful volume through corporate headquarters and technology campuses. Outside the Chicago metro, sponsorship activity drops sharply. Focusing your search on Chicago proper and the North Shore corridor gives the best coverage of active sponsoring employers.
How to find data science lead visa sponsorship jobs in Illinois?
Migrate Mate filters job listings specifically by visa sponsorship availability, making it straightforward to find data science lead roles in Illinois without manually screening hundreds of postings. You can search by state and role to surface employers actively hiring and willing to sponsor. This is particularly useful in Illinois, where sponsorship-open roles are concentrated in Chicago's finance, health tech, and enterprise software sectors.
Are there state-specific factors that affect visa sponsorship for data science leads in Illinois?
Illinois does not impose state-level visa or work authorization requirements beyond federal standards, but the prevailing wage determination for a data science lead in Chicago reflects the metropolitan cost of labor, which is benchmarked by the Department of Labor and factors into the Labor Condition Application your employer files. Chicago's concentration of regulated industries, including financial services and healthcare, means many employers have established legal and HR infrastructure to handle sponsorship, which can make the process more predictable than at smaller regional employers.
What is the prevailing wage for sponsored data science lead jobs in Illinois?
U.S. employers sponsoring a visa must pay at least the prevailing wage, which is what workers in the same role, area, and experience level typically earn. The Department of Labor sets this rate to make sure companies aren't hiring foreign workers simply because they'd accept lower pay than a U.S. worker. It varies by job title, location, and experience. You can look up current prevailing wage rates for any occupation and location using the OFLC Wage Search page.