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. For more information about AbbVie, please visit us at www.abbvie.com. Follow @abbvie on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube.
Job DescriptionROLE PURPOSE
Serve as the senior strategic and operational partner to the VP of Development Sciences, enabling the Development Sciences Leadership Team to translate strategy into disciplined execution, effective governance, sound resource stewardship, and a high-performing, inclusive organization. The role leads business operations and chief-of-staff activities across the global function.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
1. Strategic partnership and execution: Advise the VP and Leadership Team on priorities, trade-offs, decisions, and follow-through; convert strategic objectives into integrated operating plans, milestones, risks, and performance indicators.
2. Strategic communications: Shape clear, timely, audience-appropriate communications for leadership forums, organization-wide updates, executive materials, and key external interactions; ensure consistent strategic narrative and message discipline.
3. Leadership-team effectiveness and culture: Design and facilitate effective leadership-team rhythms, agendas, decision forums, and off-sites; strengthen accountability, inclusion, collaboration, and an environment in which teams can perform at their best.
4. Financial planning, forecasting, and resource management: Lead internal and external financial planning, rolling forecasts, investment tracking, vendor/resource oversight, and scenario analysis; provide transparent insights that support responsible resource allocation and delivery.
5. Compliance and governance: Establish and maintain fit-for-purpose governance, controls, policies, decision records, and inspection-ready business processes; partner with relevant functions to identify, escalate, and mitigate operational and compliance risks.
6. Business excellence and organizational improvement: Lead continuous-improvement initiatives that simplify processes, improve operating discipline, enhance data quality, and strengthen organizational capability across Development Sciences.
7. Cross-functional collaboration: Build trusted partnerships across R&D, Finance, Procurement, Quality, Legal, HR, Communications, and other global functions to remove barriers, align dependencies, and advance shared outcomes.
8. Ludwigshafen site operations: Provide core business-operations leadership for the Ludwigshafen site, including site planning, operating rhythms, issue resolution, and local engagement, in close partnership with local site leadership and global partners.
9. Organizational insight and reporting: Maintain a concise view of organizational performance, capacity, risks, decisions, and commitments; deliver actionable reporting and recommendations to the VP and Leadership Team.
KEY STAKEHOLDERS
• VP of Development Sciences and Development Sciences Leadership Team
• Development Sciences colleagues and functional leaders
• Ludwigshafen site leadership, site services, and local employee representatives, as applicable
• Global R&D, Development, Finance, Procurement, Quality, Legal, HR, Communications, and external partners
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
• Bachelor’s degree in a scientific, business, operational, or related discipline.
• 15+ years of progressively responsible experience in business operations, chief-of-staff, strategic planning, finance/resource management, or organizational leadership roles within pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or R&D environments.
• Strong strategic thinking, operational execution, financial acumen, governance discipline, and ability to synthesize complex information into clear recommendations.
• Proven experience in change management, process improvement, and building productive, inclusive leadership-team and organizational cultures.
• Excellent written, verbal, facilitation, and executive communication skills, with sound judgment and high discretion.
• Demonstrated commitment to ethical conduct, quality, compliance, and respectful collaboration.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
• Advanced degree in a relevant scientific, business, or management discipline.
• Experience supporting a senior R&D, Development Sciences, or pharmaceutical functional executive as a chief of staff or business operations leader.
• Working knowledge of drug development, regulated environments, portfolio governance, and external partner management.
LEADERSHIP BEHAVIORS/CAPABILITIES
• Sets direction with enterprise perspective; balances long-term strategy with practical, timely execution.
• Builds trust through integrity, transparency, discretion, and reliable follow-through.
• Leads through influence, creates alignment across differing priorities, and makes thoughtful decisions amid ambiguity.
• Develops inclusive, accountable teams and actively seeks diverse perspectives to improve outcomes.
• Challenges constructively, learns continuously, and drives simplification and sustainable improvement.
SCOPE AND ACCOUNTABILITY
• Accountable for the effectiveness of the Development Sciences business operating model, leadership cadence, strategic communications and execution tracking.
• Owns coordination of functional financial planning, and resource-management processes.
• Operates across a global matrix, influencing outcomes beyond formal authority and ensuring risks, dependencies, and decisions are visible and managed.
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
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in a scientific, business, operational, or related discipline.
- 15+ years of progressively responsible experience in business operations, chief-of-staff, strategic planning, finance/resource management, or organizational leadership roles within pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or R&D environments.
- Strong strategic thinking, operational execution, financial acumen, governance discipline, and ability to synthesize complex information into clear recommendations.
- Proven experience in change management, process improvement, and building productive, inclusive leadership-team and organizational cultures.
- Excellent written, verbal, facilitation, and executive communication skills, with sound judgment and high discretion.
- Demonstrated commitment to ethical conduct, quality, compliance, and respectful collaboration.
- Advanced degree in a relevant scientific, business, or management discipline.
- Experience supporting a senior R&D, Development Sciences, or pharmaceutical functional executive as a chief of staff or business operations leader.
- Working knowledge of drug development, regulated environments, portfolio governance, and external partner management.
AbbVie Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about AbbVie and has not been reviewed or approved by AbbVie.
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Retirement Support — Retirement programs are portrayed as a standout, with a dollar‑for‑dollar 401(k) match up to 6% and an additional annual company contribution based on age and service. Feedback suggests this materially boosts perceived total compensation for many U.S. employees.
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Parental & Family Support — Paid parental and caregiver leave are emphasized, including up to 12 weeks of fully paid parental leave for all parents and 4 weeks of paid caregiver leave in the U.S. Feedback suggests these policies are a meaningful differentiator for employees balancing family needs.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time off is described as extensive, with tiered vacation that scales with tenure, 17 company holidays, and two paid volunteer days in the U.S. Feedback suggests the breadth of leave contributes notably to overall benefits satisfaction.
AbbVie Insights
What We Do
AbbVie is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on creating medicines and solutions that put impact first — for patients, communities, and our world. We aim to address complex health issues and enhance people's lives through our core therapeutic areas: immunology, oncology, neuroscience, eye care, aesthetics and other areas of unmet need.
