Director, Study Management Association Organization

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.

The Director, Study Management Association Organization (SMAO) is crucial in driving operational excellence within AbbVie's clinical study execution.

The Director will focus on implementing strategies and initiatives to meet the unique requirements and challenges of SMAO and of their geographic area.

The Director, SMAO ensures the development of a robust regional talent pipeline, along with effective resource planning strategies to achieve best-in-class study execution. This role is accountable for the comprehensive strategic resource planning and capability development of the SMAO organization.

This includes setting the geographic footprint strategy, rigorous resource forecasting, and dynamically shifting resources to support evolving business priorities. It also includes the cultivation of an upskilling curriculum designed to continuously elevate SMA capabilities.

This experienced, adept, and inspirational people manager reports to the Senior Director, Study Management Association Organization and is a people leader for up to 15 SMAO Line Managers and approximately 200 indirect reports.

• Spearhead strategic workforce planning and resource management within their region to maintain business continuity, respond agilely to changes, and meet or exceed organizational deliverables and goals across the portfolio.
• Support the development and implementation of a robust, white glove role-focused training program to standardize skills, elevate performance, and enable exemplary study execution from each SMA.
• Cultivate an inclusive, innovative community that promotes continuous learning, empowers professional career growth, and develops leadership skills in the future leaders of AbbVie.
• Drive a high-performance culture by implementing an evergreen performance feedback process focused on setting clear expectations, coaching, providing growth opportunities, and proactive performance management.
• Nurture strategic partnerships across the matrix environment to inspire cohesive teamwork, enhance collaboration and productivity, and increase the likelihood of achieving aggressive execution targets.
• Adeptly communicate strategy and drive stakeholder alignment as a respected leadership voice.
• Apply structured problem-solving to navigate complex challenges, leverage data to drive decisions, and reconcile diverse perspectives to drive business deliverables.
• Contribute expertise to developing operational policies and procedures including Quality Systems Documents (QSDs), change management, and the SMAO training curriculum.

Identify opportunities and champion initiatives within SMAO/CSL/CDO that drive organizational efficiencies, optimize processes, and adopt best practice.

• Bachelor's degree required, degree in healthcare, life sciences or scientific field preferred. Advanced degree is preferred.
• Minimum of 10 years of relevant clinical research experience in the pharmaceutical/biotech setting and/or relevant clinical research organization and/or applicable work experience in a lead capacity with mentoring /supervisory/leadership experience in a country based capacity, demonstrating a high level of core, technical, and leadership competencies through setting and driving strategy and leading the management and completion of multiple, complex clinical studies
• At least (5) years of direct people management experience.
• Proven leadership skills in a cross-functional global team environment with experience in managing virtual teams and an ability to influence and align stakeholders, and be a model and driver of AbbVie’s leadership attributes
• Strong analytical and critical thinking skills to evaluate complex issues from multiple perspectives and drive smart decision making.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate persuasively and with clarity, flexibility and adaptability to changing requirements, resourcefulness and creativity
• Demonstration of successful coaching, mentoring, and talent management globally
• Expertise in drug development, operations and resource/budget planning across global geographies
• Demonstration of successful execution of program in a fast‐paced environment managing multiple priorities

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