Director, Forecasting Capabilities & Operations

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 – immunology, oncology, neuroscience, and eye care – and products and services in our Allergan Aesthetics portfolio. For more information about AbbVie, please visit us at www.abbvie.com. Follow @abbvie on X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Tik Tok.

Center of Excellence (COE) Overview

The Forecasting Center of Excellence defines the standards, processes, and overall architecture (systems/models) for the US Therapeutics Sales Forecasting teams.  The team implements and deploys new technologies to enhance forecast effectiveness and efficiency and is responsible for building forecasting competencies across US Therapeutics Finance through development and delivery of training, establishment and communication of forecasting best practices.

The Director, Forecasting Capabilities & Operations is tasked with identifying and executing plans in support of the team’s mission.

Core job responsibilities

1) Development of tools / capability in support of US Therapeutics Forecasting:

• Develop system / technology vision and manage key governance processes.
• Direct large, cross-functional teams (COE, BTS, Forecasting, Commercial partners, vendors) in the development of forecasting capabilities potentially including Commercial Data Lake, visualization / reporting tools, and commercial forecasting platform.
• Direct the COE team in the development of smaller proof-of-concept/purpose-built tools for use by specific BU teams / forecasters.
• Identify and implement appropriate supplemental analytical tools to elevate the quality of US Therapeutics Forecasting, e.g. ForecastPro, FlexiCast, @Risk.

2) Forecast guiding principles / best practices:

• Direct the team in identifying, developing, and implementing forecasting guiding principles across all BU teams.
• Continuously monitor AbbVie forecasting processes and identify best practices / challenge areas and help teams maintain best-in-class delivery

3) Forecast analytics: Identify Cross-TA analytical needs and direct the COE team/vendors in projects to meet those needs.  Examples may include:

• Analog research on events such as launch, LOE, label change, or access change.
• Coordination of volume forecast impact of pan-industry events such as IRA, Covid, etc.

4) Consultation / strategic guidance for forecast leadership and brand forecasters:

• Leverage expertise to advise forecasters across BU teams on how to address new forecasting challenges.
• Establish a network of internal and external resources to identify best practices utilized outside of AbbVie.

5) Forecaster Training/Upskilling: Direct the COE team in the development and delivery of training content to address core areas and elevate forecasting skills:

• Onboarding curriculum for individuals entering forecasting roles.
• Data/analytical approaches utilized in forecasting.
• Forecast methodologies such as trending, event modeling, patient flow, etc.
• Facilitation of external training for forecasters to attend.

6) COE Operations: Oversee the team delivering key operational processes in support of organizational forecasting / finance reporting:

• Meetings with forecasters to provide guidance on timelines and required deliverables for corporate processes.
• Production of regular deliverables such as ADS packages, Weekly Sales and DoH reports, PPD, and data for partner functions in including MABI, Investor Relations, and Incentive Comp
• Direct the team in streamlining / automating deliverables to improve efficiency

Team / people leadership:

• Manage 3-5+ direct reports, depending on organizational / project needs.
• Actively assign work across team members to ensure balanced workload and align with skills and development priorities of team members.
• Provide regular feedback and coaching to team members.
• Recommend structure changes when required to support team mission and organizational needs.
• Lead by example, exemplifying our Ways of Working and fostering a culture of inclusivity, openness, and respectfulness across all interactions.

Reports To:

• Director II, PCS/BD Forecasting and Forecasting COE

• Bachelor’s degree in in a quantitative field (Science / Engineering, Finance, Data Science, Business, or related); advanced degree preferred.
• 10+ years of relevant experience within the pharmaceutical, biotech, or life sciences industries in quantitative / analytical roles.
• 4+ years forecasting experience including experience building and updating forecasting or related analytical models.
• Familiarity with common pharmaceutical data sources (IQVIA TRx/NBRx, 852/867, patient flow, epidemiology, etc.) and how to these data are used to support strategic decision making.
• Strong financial acumen and portfolio mindset.
• Strong communication skills including dynamic presence, analytical storytelling, excellent slide/presentation development, and ability to adapt content and style depending on audience.
• Excellent partner / stakeholder management (e.g. comfort/ability to appropriately challenge business partners and forecasting / finance leadership.
• Demonstrated ability to influence decision making in cross-functional and cross-cultural environments.
• Excellent people leadership for both team and partner functions with track record of helping to grow team members.

Preferred:

• Experience with other analytical / visualization tools and techniques (e.g. SQL, SAS, PowerBI)
• Experience with purpose-built forecasting tools (ForecastPro, Forecast Horizon)

Key Leadership Competencies:

• Ability to drive influence across multiple teams without direct reporting structure / authority.
• Building strong relationships with partners in multiple functions at various organizational levels.
• Willingness to have Clear & Courageous conversations with senior commercial/finance leaders about forecasting practices.
• Ability to remain Agile & Accountable while operating in a rapidly-changing environment.
• Comfort with ambiguity, and ability to Decide Smart & Sure even when information is limited or incomplete.

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

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• 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 short-term incentive programs. ​

• This job is eligible to participate in our long-term incentive programs​

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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, serving our community and embracing diversity and inclusion.  It is AbbVie’s policy to employ qualified persons of the greatest ability without discrimination against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy), physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, status as a protected veteran, or any other legally protected group status.

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:

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