Associate Director, Category Management, Pharma and Contract Packaging

AbbVie; Irvine (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid time off

Medical/dental/vision insurance

401(k)

Job summary

AbbVie in Irvine, CA seeks an Associate Director to lead procurement category strategies for Third Party Manufacturing (TPM), covering bottling, blistering, pouching, and vial packaging. You will partner with Directors and VP-level stakeholders to deliver end-to-end sourcing and procurement execution.

You will drive supplier strategies, manage spend analytics, enable cost savings and risk management, support workforce planning, and promote sustainability while aligning procurement with business

Qualifications

• Category management with market analysis and financial assessment.
• Negotiation and bidding experience with complex projects.
• Experience building and managing collaborative supplier relationships.
• Creative problem-solving and influential communication across levels.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration and teamwork skills.
• High interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence.
• Autonomous work ethic and decisive decision-making.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement strategic procurement category plans for TPM.
• Contribute to annual strategic plans including cost breakdown and TCO.
• Analyze spend to identify cost optimization opportunities.
• Monitor market trends and relay insights for decision-making.
• Drive value through supplier partnerships and cost savings.
• Lead sustainability, compliance, and risk management with suppliers.
• Support end-to-end procurement from sourcing to contract execution.
• Engage stakeholders early to align procurement with business priorities.

Skills

Category management

Negotiation

Supplier relationships

Problem solving

Cross-functional collaboration

Interpersonal skills

Autonomous work ethic

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business Administration/Supply Chain/Engineering

Master's degree preferred

Tools

Microsoft Office (Power Platform)

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, X and YouTube.

Job Description

The Associate Director leads the implementation of procurement category strategies for Third Party Manufacturing (TPM), developed in partnership with Category Directors and VP-level business stakeholder to deliver reliable, end-to-end sourcing and procurement execution across primary and secondary packaging TPM’s (e.g. bottling, blistering, pouching, vial packaging) and drug product. This role drives supplier strategy execution while supporting leadership in workforce planning and organizational effectiveness.

Major Responsibilities

• Partner with Director/VP-level business or functional stakeholders to develop and implement strategic category-specific procurement strategies aligned with business objectives.
• Contribute to the development of a comprehensive annual strategic plan for the relevant category, incorporating category strategies that align with overall business goals including cost breakdown analysis and TCO
• Analyze spend patterns and identify cost optimization opportunities.
• Conduct market research and competitive analysis to monitor and understand industry trends, market dynamics, and emerging technologies to relay insights to Directors and Associate Directors for strategic decision-making.
• Manage strategic value drivers with key category suppliers to secure collaborative partnerships that challenge the status quo to achieve cost savings, revenue growth, innovation, process - optimization, risk mitigation, and enhance overall procurement value.
• Drive and monitor sustainability, compliance and risk management initiatives with suppliers.
• Implement opportunities for process optimization and efficiency gains, leveraging data analytics to develop long-term continuous improvement programs that achieve strategic objectives.
• Assist with the end-to-end procurement process from sourcing strategy to contract negotiation and execution, enabling negotiations with category suppliers and facilitating decisions by conducting required analysis and preparation.
• Ensure effective business partnering with stakeholders by engaging early in strategic planning, aligning procurement strategies with functional priorities connecting procurement insights to business value, and delivering sourcing solutions that balance business needs, risk, cost, quality, and speed.
• Build trusted relationships, provide clear recommendations, and drive cross-functional collaboration to support innovation, operational excellence, and enterprise value.

Qualifications

• Specific and tactical expertise in category management, including market analysis, cost engineering and financial assessment, ensuring strategic and informed procurement decisions.
• Ability to assist in negotiation and bidding, adept in implementing complex projects with a focus on effective change management.
• Strong capacity and experience building and managing collaborative supplier relationships, aligning procurement activities with business needs.
• Innovative problem-solving skills combined with a solution-oriented mindset, enabling creative approaches and influential communication without authority at all organizational levels.
• High cross-functional collaboration abilities and teamwork skills, effectively navigating and coordinating diverse team dynamics.
• Strong interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence, facilitating empathetic interactions, effective communication, and robust relationship-building across a matrixed organization.
• Impactful executive functioning abilities and autonomous work ethic, maintaining efficient performance in challenging situations and building consensus in decision-making.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain Mgmt, Engineering, or related field. Master’s degree is preferred.
• Minimum of 7 years of experience in procurement, supply chain, or related business or operations function.
• Previous experience managing teams in a procurement function and leading supplier relationships.
• Strong proficiency in Microsoft Office suite (Power Platform).
• Knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry is preferred.

Additional Information

• 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