Associate Director, Business Process Owner

AbbVie; Illinois; On-site; USD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

AbbVie is seeking an Associate Director, Clinical Business Process Owner (BPO) to lead optimization of high-complexity clinical processes across their lifecycle, partnering with functional leaders, SMEs and governance forums to deliver standards, documentation, and compliant, scalable solutions.

You will drive change management, training, and process-to-system alignment, manage a small team, and communicate strategic updates to senior leadership while embedding Lean/Six Sigma and digital

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree strongly preferred (life sciences/engineering).
• 8+ years in pharma/regulated industry; 6+ years with Master's; 4+ years with PhD.
• Proven experience owning end-to-end, high-complexity processes.
• Strong cross-functional leadership and stakeholder management.
• Experience with process modeling (BPMN) and Lean/Six Sigma.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end clinical business processes across lifecycle.
• Establish governance model for global execution.
• Monitor KPIs and drive continuous improvement.
• Translate regulatory needs into clear process requirements.
• Lead cross-functional and governance teams.
• Coordinate change management and training.
• Ensure process-to-system alignment with owners.
• Coach domain SME network.
• Ensure readiness and UAT support.
• May manage 0–4 direct reports.

Skills

Cross-functional leadership

Process improvement

Stakeholder management

Change management

Data-driven decision making

Education

Bachelor's degree

Advanced degree (life sciences/engineering)

Tools

BPMN

Lean Six Sigma

Job 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. For more information about AbbVie, please visit us at www.abbvie.com. Follow @abbvie on LinkedIn,Facebook,Instagram,Xand YouTube.

Purpose Statement

The Associate Director, Clinical Business Process Owner (BPO) is accountable for continually optimizing high-complexity, end-to-end clinical business processes — defined as process areas with a high number of cross-functional stakeholders and significant process steps — including leading the cross-functional working teams that identify and define improvement opportunities and ensure accurate documentation, training, compliance, and system alignment. The Associate Director, BPO will identify, plan, and execute opportunities to drive innovative, enterprise-aligned process excellence and deliver on organizational strategies, goals, and objectives. They serve as the primary point of contact for continuous process improvement and change management activities for their assigned processes, and communicate key updates and strategic recommendations to senior leadership for alignment and endorsement.

Major Responsibilities

1. Serve as the accountable owner for assigned high-complexity clinical business processes across their lifecycle (Engage → Evaluate → Execute → Measure → Sustain), defining process scope, intended outcomes, and decision rights; operate with significant independence to partner with functional leaders and SMEs to streamline and optimize complex, cross-functional process areas.
2. Establish and maintain an end-to-end process governance model (standards, forums, escalations, and stakeholder alignment) to ensure consistent global execution and a unified, authoritative voice to the business across high-complexity domains.
3. Own process health and sustainability by defining and monitoring key process signals and KPIs, performing periodic process reviews and listening sessions with stakeholders, identifying emerging risks, and driving timely mitigation and continuous improvement; escalating strategic risks to leadership for decision on alignment.
4. Translate complex business and regulatory needs into clear process requirements and partner with Process Excellence roles (e.g., process design/engineering) to ensure documentation is complete, consistent, and inspection-ready across high-complexity areas.
5. Act as the authoritative point of contact for process questions within the domain; curate and maintain process knowledge content and ensure fit-for-purpose guidance for end users, proactively alerting leadership of trends, knowledge gaps, and remediation plans.
6. Lead cross-functional and GBO working teams to align priorities, trade-offs, and adoption plans; manage competing stakeholder interests and navigate ambiguity to ensure decisions are transparent, strategic, and durable.
7. Partner with stakeholders to ensure change narratives, communications, and role-based training enable effective adoption and sustained performance across complex, multi-stakeholder process domains.
8. Coordinate and coach a domain SME network to support process adherence, identify improvement opportunities, and reinforce standard ways of working; embed innovation and digital/AI enablement into process oversight where appropriate.
9. Partner with system and business owners to ensure process-to-system alignment, impact assessment for changes, and effective implementation support (e.g., acceptance criteria, UAT input, and readiness planning).
10. May manage 0–4 direct reports; responsible for performance management, development planning, and building a high-performing, accountable team culture.

• Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree strongly preferred (e.g., life sciences, engineering, or related discipline).
• Minimum8 yearsin Pharmaceutical, Healthcare, or a regulated industry; 6+ years with Master's, 4+ years with PhD (required); demonstrated experience owning and governing end-to-end business processes in a regulated environment (clinical development, GxP, quality systems, or similar).
• Minimum 5+ years of process management and continuous improvement experience preferred; demonstrated experience managing high-complexity processes with a high number of cross-functional stakeholders.
• Strong understanding of clinical development operations and the regulatory/inspection context; ability to apply this knowledge to process decisions and risk management.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional alignment and stakeholder management, including conflict resolution and escalation when needed; track record of delivering impactful, transformative change in a complex matrixed organization.
• Experience defining process performance measures, monitoring process health, and driving continuous improvement using data and structured problem solving; strong business insight and ability to generate robust business cases and impact analyses.
• Familiarity with process design and documentation standards and methods (e.g., process mapping/BPMN, Lean/Six Sigma concepts), including partnering effectively with process architects/engineers.
• Experience partnering with technology/system owners on process-to-system alignment and change impacts (requirements, readiness, and UAT support).
• Strong change leadership skills, including partnering on communications, training alignment, and adoption/sustainment planning.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to translate complex process topics into clear guidance for diverse audiences, including senior leadership. Understanding of Lean/Six Sigma; Black Belt, BPMP, or similar preferred.

Key Stakeholders

• Clinical Development Operations functional leaders and operational teams (process users)
• Process Excellence partners (process architects/engineers; process experts/domain leads)
• Strategy/portfolio/prioritization partners (as applicable)
• Quality, compliance, and inspection readiness partners
• Change Engagement and change management partners
• Learning/training partners
• Business system owners and technology partners supporting the process domain
• Cross-functional SMEs and governance forum participants

Applicable only to applicants applying to a position in any location with pay disclosure requirements under state orlocal law:

• The compensation range described below is the range of possible base pay compensation that the Companybelieves ingood faith it will pay for this role at the timeof this posting based on the job grade for this position.Individualcompensation paid within this range will depend on many factors including geographic location, andwemayultimatelypaymore or less than the posted range. This range may bemodifiedin thefuture.
• We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including paid time off (vacation, holidays, sick),medical/dental/visioninsurance and 401(k) to eligibleemployees.
• This job is eligible toparticipatein our long-term incentiveprograms.

Note: No amount of payis considered to bewages or compensation until such amount is earned, vested, anddeterminable.The amount and availability of any bonus,commission, incentive, benefits, or any other form ofcompensation and benefitsthat are allocable to a particular employeeremainsin the Company's sole andabsolutediscretion unless and until paid andmay bemodifiedat the Company’s sole and absolute discretion, consistent withapplicable 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