Machine Learning Visa Sponsorship Jobs in Illinois
Illinois is one of the Midwest's strongest markets for machine learning talent, with Chicago anchoring hiring across finance, healthcare, and enterprise software. Major employers like Discover Financial, Relativity, and Tempus actively recruit ML engineers and researchers. The city's dense university pipeline from University of Chicago, Northwestern, and Illinois Institute of Technology supplies internationally trained candidates who frequently require visa sponsorship.
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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.
Job Description
Purpose
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.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent education and typically 12+ years of experience, Master’s Degree or equivalent education and typically 10+ years of experience, PhD and typically 4+ years of 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.
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 long-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 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

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.
Job Description
Purpose
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.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent education and typically 12+ years of experience, Master’s Degree or equivalent education and typically 10+ years of experience, PhD and typically 4+ years of 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.
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 long-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 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
Machine Learning Job Roles in Illinois
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Search Machine Learning Jobs in IllinoisMachine Learning Jobs in Illinois: Frequently Asked Questions
Which companies sponsor visas for machine learning roles in Illinois?
Several Illinois employers have established H-1B sponsorship patterns for machine learning roles. In Chicago, Discover Financial Services, Morningstar, and Outcome Health have appeared in DOL disclosure data for ML-related positions. Healthcare AI companies like Tempus and Avant also sponsor for data science and machine learning engineers. Large consulting firms with Chicago offices, including Accenture and Deloitte, regularly sponsor ML practitioners as well.
Which visa types are most common for machine learning roles in Illinois?
The H-1B is the most common visa for machine learning professionals in Illinois, as ML engineering and research roles typically qualify as specialty occupations requiring at least a bachelor's degree in computer science, statistics, or a related field. Candidates with exceptional publication records or industry recognition may qualify for the O-1A. Australian citizens working in ML can pursue the E-3 visa as an alternative to the H-1B lottery.
Which cities in Illinois have the most machine learning sponsorship jobs?
Chicago accounts for the overwhelming majority of machine learning sponsorship jobs in Illinois. The River North and Fulton Market tech corridors host a concentration of AI and data-driven startups, while the Loop is home to financial firms actively hiring ML engineers. Evanston, adjacent to Northwestern University, sees some spillover hiring, and Champaign-Urbana has a smaller but active ML employer base connected to the University of Illinois.
How to find machine learning visa sponsorship jobs in Illinois?
Migrate Mate filters job listings specifically for visa sponsorship, so you can browse machine learning roles in Illinois without sifting through positions that don't offer sponsorship. Search by role and state to surface employers in Chicago and across Illinois who have a documented history of sponsoring ML engineers and researchers. This saves significant time compared to manually cross-referencing job postings with DOL disclosure data.
Are there state-specific considerations for machine learning sponsorship jobs in Illinois?
Illinois employers filing H-1B Labor Condition Applications must pay the prevailing wage for the specific ML role and location, which is benchmarked to the Chicago metropolitan area for most positions. The University of Illinois system and Chicago's research hospitals are cap-exempt H-1B employers, meaning they can file year-round without entering the annual lottery. Illinois's active fintech and healthtech sectors also create consistent ML demand outside the traditional software industry.
What is the prevailing wage for sponsored machine learning 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.
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