AbbVie Posted July 1, 2026

Director, RA CMC

Irvine, CA Full-time
Manufacturing & CMC Director

AbbVie is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

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

The Director I Regulatory Affairs, Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (CMC) works with internal and external partners to deliver products to patients. Prepares CMC regulatory strategies that enable first pass approvals. Develops and manages content strategy for regulatory submissions, including INDs/CTAs and amendments, new marketing applications and supplements/variations. Builds and maintains relationships within the Regulatory Affairs functional areas and the Operations and Research & Development (R&D) organizations. Represents RA CMC on product development and life-cycle management teams to negotiate, influence, and provide strategic advice to peers and management in RA, R&D, and Operations. Serves as strategic liaison with regulatory agencies (e.g., FDA) regarding CMC matters. May include formal supervisory responsibilities. Manages assigned projects within assigned resources.

Responsibilities

List up to 10 main responsibilities for the job. Include information about the accountability and scope.

Prepares CMC regulatory product strategies. Prepares and manages regulatory submissions, including new IND/CTA applications and amendments, new marketing authorization submissions, renewals, annual reports, supplements and variations, and/or leads a global RA CMC team who develops strategies for development and marketed products

Advises internal personnel on regulatory strategies. Provides strategic regulatory advice to peers and management in RA, R&D, and Operations. Seeks internal and external expert advice and technical support when necessary.

Reviews and revises regulatory submission documentation to effectively present data and strategy to regulatory agencies. Devises regulatory strategies for complicated scenarios (e.g., complex dosage form or multiple operational changes, aggressive timelines).

Develops strategies for CMC-related agency interactions and manages preparation of agency meeting requests and information packages. Serves as the point of contact for the regulatory agency meetings and leads CMC discussion for projects with health authorities. Drives strategic change planning with Manufacturing Operations using a risk-based approach centered on assessment of potential impact to quality, safety or efficacy.

Manages products and change control in compliance with an understanding of regulations, guidances and company policies and procedures. Analyzes and approves manufacturing change records.

Represents RA CMC on teams such as the product development, Global Regulatory Product Teams and Operations Product Teams, for assigned projects; negotiates with and influences team members to maximize chances for first pass approval of regulatory submissions

Stays abreast of regulatory procedures and changes in external regulatory environment. Analyzes legislation, regulation and guidance and provides analysis to the organization. Leads creation of white papers and policies to illustrate current regulatory thinking.

Designs initiatives to drive business efficiencies across the organization (within or outside of the regulatory groups). Ensures enterprise culture initiatives are implemented across RA CMC.

Trains, develops and mentors individuals; may include formal supervisory responsibilities of product leads. Evaluates performance of and assists in career development planning for assigned staff.

Qualifications

Required Education: Bachelor’s degree in pharmacy, biology, chemistry, pharmacology, engineering or related subject

Preferred Education: Relevant advanced degree preferred. Certification a plus

Required Experience: 10 years biopharmaceutical experience with 3-plus years demonstrated enterprise leadership. 5-plus years in RA or relevant exposure to RA activities

Preferred Experience: 10-plus years biopharmaceutical RA, R&D, or Operations experience, including 7-plus years in regulatory affairs

Experience developing and implementing successful global regulatory strategies

Interfacing ability with government regulatory agencies

Success leading in a complex and matrix environment.

Strong understanding of the business/enterprise

Strong oral and written communication skills.

Additional Information

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

Job details

Seniority
Director
Function
Manufacturing & CMC
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Irvine, CA
Employment type
Full-time

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Manufacturing & CMC role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 163 comparable Director Manufacturing & CMC roles across 25 biopharma companies.

163Comparable roles tracked
157Currently active
25Companies hiring similar roles
11Countries represented

Salary context

118 of 163 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.

This roleSubject $160,500/yr – $305,000/yr
Lowest disclosed · Senior/Principal Scientist, Bioprocess Purification Development · Lilly $79,500/yr – $116,600/yr
Highest disclosed · Sr Director Operations · Hospira, Inc. $214,900/yr – $358,100/yr
Peer group range $98,050 – $286,500 (median $184,900)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 163 comparable roles

United States139
India11
Netherlands4
Ireland2
France1
United Kingdom1

+ 5 more countries

Seniority mix

163 of 163 peers have a known seniority level

Principal79
Director63
Senior Director21

Therapeutic area mix

2 of 163 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology1
Vaccines & Infectious Disease1

Similar opportunities

The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.

60%similar
AstraZeneca Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Director
Same function Same seniority Same country

How we calculate "similar"

No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.

Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.

60%
Director, Integrated Bioanalysis Oncology Development
AstraZeneca · Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director - Analytical Chemistry
Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director, Vaccine Formulation Development
Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director of GMP Analytical, Pharmaceutical Analytical Sciences
Merck · Rahway, New Jersey, United States of America · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.