Senior Director, Development Sciences: Ops & Strategy

Allergan; Chicago, Northern (IL, KY); Hybrid; USD 190,000 - 270,000; Full time

Job summary

AbbVie seeks a senior strategic and operations leader to partner with the VP of Development Sciences, translating strategy into disciplined execution and governance for a global function.

The role leads business operations, chief-of-staff activities, and cross-functional collaboration across R&D, Finance, Procurement, Quality, Legal, HR, and Communications, including Ludwigshafen site operations.

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 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.

Responsibilities

• Advise the VP and Leadership Team on priorities, trade-offs, decisions, and follow-through; convert strategic objectives into operating plans, milestones, risks, and performance indicators.
• Shape clear, timely communications for leadership forums, organization-wide updates, executive materials, and key external interactions; ensure consistent strategic narrative.
• Design and facilitate leadership-team rhythms, agendas, decision forums, and off-sites; strengthen accountability and collaboration.
• Lead internal and external financial planning, rolling forecasts, investment tracking, vendor/resource oversight, and scenario analysis.
• Establish governance, controls, policies, decision records, and inspection-ready processes; partner with functions to identify, escalate…
• Lead continuous-improvement initiatives to simplify processes and strengthen organizational capability across Development Sciences.
• Build trusted cross-functional partnerships to remove barriers and align dependencies.
• Provide core business-operations leadership for Ludwigshafen site and local engagement.

Skills

Strategic thinking

Operational execution

Financial acumen

Governance discipline

Executive communication

Change management

Leadership

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Advanced degree

Job description

AbbVie seeks a senior strategic and operations leader to partner with the VP of Development Sciences, translating strategy into disciplined execution and governance for a global function.

The role leads business operations, chief-of-staff activities, and cross-functional collaboration across R&D, Finance, Procurement, Quality, Legal, HR, and Communications, including Ludwigshafen site operations.