Senior Director, Business Operations

AbbVie · North Chicago, IL, United States

  • Senior
  • Full-time
  • Posted 2026-09-03
  • Confirmed live on 25 September 2026

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Job description

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

Qualifications
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 cad

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