Senior Director, Business Operations
AbbVie· enterprise· Biopharmaceuticals· Sep 3, 2026 · 2mo ago
North Chicago, IL, United States
In office
Full-time
Director
$140K–$175K est.
15+ years exp
Job description
ROLE 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 abbvie.com
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abbvie.com
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Benefits
Benefits detected in the listing.
Dental
Vision
401(K)
Paid Time Off