Senior Specialist, R&D Procurement

ABBVIE; North Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 85,000 - 162,000; Full time

Job summary

AbbVie is seeking a Senior Specialist, R&D Procurement in the United States to drive source-to-contract activities for Real World Evidence, clinical research, and related studies. You will partner with Clinical, Epidemiology, HEO, Medical Affairs, Legal, Finance and other teams to craft clear statements of work, budgets and contracting structures.

This role ensures timely contract execution, supports risk mitigation, and helps build team capabilities while aligning with procurement policies and

Qualifications

• 5+ years in procurement, strategic sourcing, or clinical research operations
• Experience supporting end-to-end contracting activities
• Understanding of RWE, observational studies, and related data sources

Responsibilities

• Execute source-to-contract activities for RWE and clinical research
• Support end-to-end contracting including RFPs, budgets, and amendments
• Collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders to translate requirements into SOWs and contracts
• Review budgets, pricing, timelines, and deliverables for alignment with scope

Skills

Stakeholder management

Negotiation

Contract drafting

Sourcing and CLM

Education

Bachelor’s degree in business administration or related field

Tools

Power Platform

Microsoft Office

Job description

• Compensation: USD 84,500 - USD 162,000 - yearly

Company 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

Purpose:

The Senior Specialist, R&D Procurement is responsible for executing source-to contract procurement processes in alignment with business goals, industry best practices, and applicable procurement policies. The role will support contracting activities for Real World Evidence (RWE), clinical research, and related evidence-generation work, partnering with internal stakeholders – including Clinical, Epidemiology, Health Economics and Outcomes Research, Medical Affairs, Legal, Finance, and other business functions – to source, contract with, and manage external suppliers and research partners. This role contributes to supplier selection, proposal and budget evaluation, contract development, negotiation, and execution. The position also supports supplier diversity and sustainability objectives, continuous improvement initiatives, risk mitigation, and day-to-day supplier excellence.

Responsibilities:

• Execute source-to-contract procurement activities for Real World Evidence, clinical research, and related evidence-generation services in alignment with category strategies, business requirements, and procurement policies.
• Support the end-to-end contracting process for RWE engagements, including development and issuance of requests for proposals, supplier identification and evaluation, scope and deliverable review, budget assessment, contract drafting and review, redlining, negotiation, approval routing, execution, and contract closeout.
• Partner with RWE, Clinical, Epidemiology, Health Economics and Outcomes Research, Medical Affairs, Legal, Finance, and other stakeholders to translate scientific and business requirements into clear statements of work, appropriate contracting structures, milestones, deliverables, payment terms, and budgets.
• Review and negotiate supplier proposals, budgets, work orders, amendments, and other contracting documents, ensuring alignment between scope, assumptions, timelines, deliverables, pricing, and payment schedules.
• Coordinate with Legal and business stakeholders on contractual terms applicable to RWE and clinical work, including confidentiality, data privacy and security, data ownership and access, publication rights, intellectual property, regulatory compliance, audit rights, indemnification, liability, and termination provisions.
• Support contracting for a range of RWE activities, such as retrospective and prospective observational studies, database and claims analyses, electronic health record studies, patient and provider research, chart reviews, registries, external comparator, and other health data or evidence-generation projects.
• Maintain excellence in contract execution across source-to-contract and requisition-to-pay processes, ensuring accurate documentation, and timely approvals.
• Identify and elevate procurement, contracting, supplier, budget, data, and operational risks, and provide tactical input to risk mitigation plans developed in collaboration with Category Managers and relevant business partners.
• Oversee or provide guidance on the execution of procurement activities by Specialists, sharing expertise in RWE and clinical contracting practices and supporting the development of team capabilities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, Supply Chain Mgmt, Clinical Research, Life Sciences, Health Economics, Legal Studies, or related field.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in procurement, strategic sourcing, clinical research operations, RWE, health economics and outcomes research, pharmaceutical operations, legal contracting and contractual terms, coordinating approvals, and executing contracts.
• Experience supporting end-to-end contracting activities, including drafting or reviewing statements of work, evaluating budgets, redlining agreements, negotiating commercial and contractual terms, coordinating approvals, and executing contracts.
• Demonstrated experience with contracts and budgets for clinical research, RWE, observational research, epidemiology, health data, medical affairs, or other pharmaceutical or healthcare-related services.
• Working knowledge of RWE and evidence-generation concepts, including observational studies, claims and electronic health record data, registries, chart reviews, database studies, patient research, and related data sources and methodologies.
• Clinical research or healthcare experience, with an understanding of clinical study operations, research deliverables, research timelines, data requirements, and interactions with external research organizations, data providers, or other suppliers.
• Legal or paralegal experience supporting commercial, clinical research, life sciences, healthcare, or procurement agreements, including contract drafting, redlining, issue identification, and negotiation.
• Ability to interpret and negotiate statements of work, budgets, payment schedules, milestones, deliverables, assumptions, change orders, and amendments.
• Strong stakeholder-management, communication, organizational, and negotiation skills, with the ability to build consensus across Procurement, Legal, Clinical, RWE, Finance, and other functions.
• Strong proficiency in Microsoft Office and relevant procurement, contract lifecycle management, sourcing, and workflow tools, including Power Platform applications where applicable.

Key Stakeholders: Business Leads, Business Partners, Category Leads/Managers, Procurement Leads, Procurement Strategy & Capabilities Office

Additional Information

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 thetimeofthis posting based on the job grade for this position.Individualcompensation paid within this range will depend on many factors including geographiclocation,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 short-term incentiveprograms.

Note: No amount of payis considered to bewages or compensation until such amount is earned, vested, anddeterminable.Theamountandavailabilityof anybonus,commission, incentive, benefits, or any other form ofcompensation and benefitsthat are allocable to a particular employeeremainsin the Company'ssoleandabsolutediscretion 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.