Associate Director, Data and Digital Strategy
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
This role leads digital transformation for PDS&T Biologics laboratory operations. The successful candidate will design, develop, and execute a comprehensive data and digital strategy that delivers measurable value to scientists and accelerates biologics development.
As a member of the Center of Excellence (COE) leadership team for digital transformation and ML/AI within PDS&T Biologics, this leader will shape the AI and digital strategy and drive end-to-end digital integration across Biologics CMC. The COE includes representatives from each functional group. It serves scientists' needs and defines the data systems architecture that underpins knowledge management, advanced analytics, and predictive modeling.
Working closely with IT partners (IR and BTS), this leader will evaluate and optimize data systems, including ELN, sample management, laboratory automation, and scientific data platforms. The aim is seamless, automated capture and connectivity of biologics process and analytical data in line with FAIR data principles. The leader will also establish business and data governance with other PDS&T divisions, Development Sciences, Manufacturing, and Quality. They will prioritize use cases and workflow applications that advance digital maturity and measure impact through clear KPIs.
Responsibilities
Provide leadership and subject-matter expertise for laboratory digital transformation, defining future-state capabilities and scalable digital solutions across PDS&T Biologics Development.
Drive integration of laboratory instruments and systems to automate data capture and reduce manual data entry across scientific workflows.
Serve as the digital product leader for ELN, sample management, laboratory automation, and scientific data platforms, translating scientific and business needs into scalable solutions.
Advance FAIR data principles and data standardization to improve the findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reuse of scientific data for analytics, modeling, and digital applications.
Own the continuous evolution of laboratory digital products, including system configuration, user experience, platform scalability, performance, and adoption.
Partner with scientists, laboratory operations, Quality, Technical Operations, Data Science, IR, and BTS to streamline workflows, improve data quality, and accelerate R&D outcomes.
Define KPIs and dashboards and communicate progress on initiatives to stakeholders.
Influence leadership and cross-functional stakeholders to secure investments that align digital transformation with PDS&T Biologics business priorities.
Represent scientists' needs and champion the work processes and culture that digital transformation requires.
Support the COE book of work for digital transformation within PDS&T Biologics.
Benchmark internally and externally to keep the data and digital strategy for biologics process and analytical development industry leading.
Qualifications
M.S. or Ph.D. in life sciences or a science-based informatics discipline, with 10+ years of pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry experience, including at least 8 years in a relevant R&D or Operations function.
Proven track record of enabling new digital or data management capabilities, beyond incremental improvements or routine system implementations.
Technical proficiency in programming languages (e.g., Python, R) and cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, GCP).
Familiarity with AI/ML platforms and tools (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch) relevant to biologics CMC workflows.
Demonstrated ability to apply AI/ML techniques in biologics CMC development to optimize processes, strengthen data analysis, and enhance predictive modeling.
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
How this role compares
Computed from every other active Data & Digital role in our database, not just this employer's listings.
We currently track 359 comparable Associate Director Data & Digital roles across 59 biopharma companies.
Salary context
138 of 359 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.
Where these roles are based
Top locations among the 359 comparable roles
+ 27 more countries
Seniority mix
359 of 359 peers have a known seniority level
Therapeutic area mix
18 of 359 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden
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.
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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.
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.