AbbVie Posted September 24, 2026

Associate Director, Business Development & Acquisitions

North Chicago, IL Full-time
BD&L & Strategic Planning Associate Director
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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

Purpose

The Associate Director of Program Management & Business Development will lead selected strategic projects and programs to enable the launch of new products mainly through new business opportunities. This position plays a leading role in evaluating and executing program-related business development opportunities through operational and technical due diligence, managing cross-functional teams, and supporting integration of new business opportunities aligned with organizational strategy.

Responsibilities

Maintain best-in-class program management and business development evaluation processes to move projects forward in the most efficient and effective manner, providing recommendations for prioritization and resource allocation.

Ensure stakeholders execute programs to meet required timelines, budgets, and regulatory requirements.

Liaise with other functions to ensure programs are maintained on track. Escalate Resolve conflicts and issues among programs and stakeholders.

Lead cross-functional teams comprising functional leaders to conduct thorough assessment and due diligence activities for new program-related business opportunities, including overseeing the evaluation process and timeline, and developing timely recommendations and proposals for senior management consideration based on complete technical and commercial assessments.

Manage interactions with external parties in the context of program-related business development, due diligence, and partnership evaluation.

Contributes to the negotiation process for program-related partnerships, agreements, and acquisitions, including agreement on key terms and execution of legal agreements.

Communicate status of evaluations and negotiations with key internal stakeholders on a timely basis, including preparation of opportunity assessments and summaries for executive-level audiences.

Deliver oral and written presentations to senior management to seek approval for new programs and business opportunities.

Qualifications

10+ years in the pharmaceutical industry, including broad operations, program management, and/or business development experience.

Technical education background: Engineering, Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences, or Business preferred. Master of Business Administration preferred.

Experience in pharmaceutical development (API, drug product, biologics, and/or devices) and/or business development, including managing the assessment of opportunities.

Effective in presenting to and influencing senior leadership.

Able to challenge project teams to deliver desired/required outcomes.

Able to lead and influence cross-functional teams in a matrix setting.

Project management/leadership skills to lead/manage multifunctional teams to evaluate target opportunities and produce high-quality analyses, delivering timely results.

Strong communication skills to effectively communicate business strategies and capabilities internally and externally, present individual and team recommendations clearly and concisely, and promote cross-functional communication.

Demonstrated negotiation and influencing skills in a program and deal setting to creatively solve problems and establish mutually beneficial relationships.

Strong financial acumen and analytical skills to understand financial evaluations, drive fact-based decision making, and support assessment and due diligence activities.

Strong understanding of the drug development, regulatory, and commercialization process for evaluation of pharmaceutical opportunities.

Additional Information

Key Stakeholders

Operations, Business Development, Legal, Search & Evaluation, R&D, Commercial, Cross-functional program teams.

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
Associate Director
Function
BD&L & Strategic Planning
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
North Chicago, IL
Employment type
Full-time

How this role compares

Computed from every other active BD&L & Strategic Planning role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 48 comparable Associate Director BD&L & Strategic Planning roles across 21 biopharma companies.

48Comparable roles tracked
44Currently active
21Companies hiring similar roles
14Countries represented

Salary context

18 of 48 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 $141,500/yr – $268,500/yr
Lowest disclosed · Business Development Manager, Facial Aesthetics · AbbVie $78,500/yr – $141,000/yr
Highest disclosed · External Innovation, Associate Director · Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (US) $170,400/yr – $255,600/yr
Peer group range $109,750 – $213,000 (median $157,300)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 48 comparable roles

United States19
China11
Germany6
Mexico2
Japan1
New Zealand1

+ 8 more countries

Seniority mix

48 of 48 peers have a known seniority level

Manager37
Associate Director10
Senior1

Therapeutic area mix

7 of 48 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Dermatology & Aesthetics6
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
AbbVie Mettawa, IL Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (US) Boston, United States Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
50%similar
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) Tarrytown, United States Manager
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country
50%similar
Amgen Inc. Thousand Oaks, United States Manager
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country
50%similar
AbbVie Baton Rouge, LA Manager
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country
50%similar
AbbVie San Francisco, CA Manager
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country

Notify me about similar jobs

Get an email when we spot other openings like this one – same job function, comparable seniority, roles you'd actually want to see.

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%
Associate Director, Global Business Development Forecasting
AbbVie · Mettawa, IL · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
50%
Manager, Corporate Strategy
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) · Tarrytown, United States · Manager
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
50%
Business Development Manager (Facial Aesthetics)
AbbVie · Baton Rouge, LA · Manager
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
50%
Senior Manager, Strategy Development
Merck KGaA · Burlington, Massachusetts, United States · Manager
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent 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.