Associate Director, Strategy and Operations (Chief of Staff) Irvine, CA

AbbVie Inc.; Lake Forest (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

401(k) plan

Paid time off

Job summary

AbbVie Inc. in Irvine, California, seeks an Associate Director, Strategy & Operations, Practice Economics to shape the structure, strategy, and operating discipline for a growing Practice Economics office.

The role partners with the VP and leadership to translate priorities into plans, governance, and measurable business impact, requiring executive communication skills and a track record of cross-functional leadership in a matrixed environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required.
• MBA or advanced degree preferred.
• 10+ years in strategy, business ops, or related fields.
• Experience leading cross-functional initiatives in a matrixed environment.

Responsibilities

• Define and translate strategic priorities into plans and roadmaps.
• Establish governance, cadence, and accountability across the function.
• Lead cross-functional initiatives spanning consulting, accounts, planning, marketing, and analytics.
• Develop dashboards and scorecards to track performance and risks.
• Prepare executive communications and strategic narratives for leadership.
• Influence stakeholders and manage ambiguity through disciplined execution.
• Travel up to 20% as needed.

Skills

Strategic planning

Operational leadership

Executive communication

Cross-functional collaboration

Data-driven problem solving

Education

Bachelor’s degree

MBA or advanced degree

Tools

PowerPoint

Job description

About AbbVie

At Allergan Aesthetics, an AbbVie company, we develop, manufacture, and market a portfolio of leading aesthetics brands and products.

Our aesthetics portfolio includes facial injectables, body contouring, plastics, skin care, and more.

Our goal is to consistently provide our customers with innovation, education, exceptional service, and a commitment to excellence, all with a personal touch.

For more information, visit https://global.allerganaesthetics.com/ . Follow Allergan Aesthetics on LinkedIn.

Position Overview:

The Associate Director, Strategy & Operations, Practice Economics is responsible for helping build the structure, strategy, and operating discipline for a newly evolving Practice Economics organization within Allergan Aesthetics.

This role will support the Vice President, Practice Economics and partner closely with the leadership team to translate strategic priorities into clear plans, governance, execution, and measurable customer and business impact.

This role is based in Irvine, California and will require close collaboration with Practice Economics leadership, cross-functional partners, and field-facing teams.

The ideal candidate will be a strategic, operationally strong leader who is comfortable operating in ambiguity, creating clarity, influencing across a matrixed organization, and driving disciplined follow-through on complex priorities. This individual will bring strong business judgment, executive communication skills, and the ability to connect strategy, governance, insights, cross-functional execution, and leadership communication in support of a newly evolving organization.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Planning & Business Insights: Partner with the VP, Practice Economics and leadership team to define, refine, and execute Practice Economics strategic priorities, including annual planning, long-range planning, goal setting, prioritization, roadmaps, milestones, owners, and measurable outcomes.
• Business Operations & Governance: Establish and manage the Practice Economics operating cadence, including leadership team meetings, business reviews, prioritization forums, governance mechanisms, decision-making processes, initiative tracking, and accountability routines.
• Cross-Functional Initiative Leadership: Lead high-priority, cross-functional initiatives from strategy through execution by coordinating workstreams across Practice Consulting, National Accounts, Strategic Planning, Marketing, Analytics, Finance, Operations, and Field teams.
• Organizational Effectiveness & Ways of Working: Help define and evolve the Practice Economics operating model, including workstream ownership, governance, decision rights, team interfaces, leadership alignment, role clarity, and repeatable processes that move the team from reactive work toward proactive planning and disciplined execution.
• Executive Communications & Special Projects: Develop concise, executive-ready communications, presentations, briefing documents, strategic narratives, recommendations, decision points, and action plans for senior leadership audiences, business reviews, board-level discussions, and major stakeholder engagements.
• Performance Management & Accountability: Develop and maintain dashboards, scorecards, operating tools, and progress updates that clarify performance, risks, dependencies, decisions, and execution status across key Practice Economics priorities.
• Stakeholder Alignment & Influence: Facilitate alignment across stakeholders with different priorities, timelines, and decision rights while anticipating execution risks, removing barriers, escalating issues, and ensuring initiatives remain connected to broader Practice Economics strategy and customer and business impact.

Education: Bachelor’s degree required. MBA or advanced degree preferred.

Experience: 10+ years of experience in strategy, business operations, commercial operations, management consulting, project leadership, or related functions. Experience leading complex cross-functional initiatives in a matrixed environment. Healthcare, aesthetics, pharmaceutical, medical device, commercial excellence, or customer success experience preferred. Experience supporting senior leadership teams or helping build and scale a new function, center of excellence, or transformation capability preferred.

Skills: Strong business acumen, analytical capability, executive communication skills, and ability to influence without authority. Experience developing operating rhythms, governance processes, executive updates, and performance management tools. Strong PowerPoint, storytelling, executive-level synthesis, and data-driven problem-solving skills.

Attributes: Strategic thinker with operational discipline. Proven ability to manage ambiguity, prioritize competing demands, and convert strategic ideas into disciplined execution. Ownership, accountability, high follow-through, executive presence, curiosity, flexibility, and a solution-oriented mindset. Ability to build trust and drive alignment across teams.

Travel : Some travel may be required through the year, up to 20% of the time.

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