diff --git a/nipype/pipeline/engine/utils.py b/nipype/pipeline/engine/utils.py
index 007a694ac2..8a3f6f2ce3 100644
--- a/nipype/pipeline/engine/utils.py
+++ b/nipype/pipeline/engine/utils.py
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
     from funcsigs import signature
 import os
 import re
+import pickle
 import numpy as np
 from nipype.utils.misc import package_check
 from functools import reduce