AbbVie Posted August 11, 2026

Associate Director, Discovery Portfolio Management Strategic Planner, Discovery

Cambridge, MA Full-time
Notify me about similar jobs

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:

This role supports Discovery Portfolio Management by providing strategic oversight, portfolio analytics, and actionable insights across external studies and related initiatives. The position is responsible for evaluating portfolio composition, monitoring execution performance, and measuring key KPIs such as cycle time, success rates, throughput, and other indicators of portfolio health. The role partners across functions to support prioritization, governance, and continuous improvement through strong analysis, communication, and executive-level presentation skills.

Responsibilities:

Develop data-driven insights and recommendations to support Discovery Research operations and leadership decision-making, including portfolio prioritization, governance, and operational decision-making.

Serve as a strong communicator and writer, developing clear summaries, leadership updates, and executive-level slides and presentations.

Synthesize complex scientific, technical, analytical, and business issues into concise, actionable insights.

Anticipate challenges and recommend proactive strategies to address portfolio, operational, and business needs.

Balance quality, timing, budget, and strategic considerations to support high-impact decisions across the portfolio.

Analyze portfolio composition and performance to identify trends, gaps, risks, bottlenecks, and opportunities for improvement.

Track, interpret, and report key KPIs, including cycle time, success rates, throughput, budget performance, and other relevant portfolio metrics.

Investigate functional pain points and propose practical solutions, supporting or leading implementation efforts as needed.

Partner effectively across functions and with indirect authority to align stakeholders and drive execution.

Leverage external intelligence related to technologies, tools, and competitors to inform portfolio strategy and identify opportunities for innovation.

In addition to Cambridge, MA, this opportunity may also be based out of Lake County, IL or Worcester, MA.

Qualifications

BS & 10+ years, MS & 7+ years, PHD & 5+ years industry experience in Drug Discovery, ideally within a biotech or pharmaceutical company.

Strong background in portfolio analysis, project management, operations, or related scientific/business discipline.

Understanding of operational strategies for early-stage drug discovery programs’ evolution through the drug development lifecycle.

Demonstrated ability to analyze data, identify trends, and translate findings into actionable recommendations.

Experience measuring and reporting KPIs, with exposure to cycle time, success rate, and portfolio performance metrics preferred.

Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to create executive-level presentations and slides.

Ability to work effectively across functions and influence stakeholders without direct authority.

Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities and complex initiatives.

Demonstrated ability to resolve complex scientific, technical, analytical, and business issues.

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
Associate Director
Function
Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Cambridge, MA
Employment type
Full-time

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 134 comparable Associate Director Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research roles across 31 biopharma companies.

134Comparable roles tracked
132Currently active
31Companies hiring similar roles
12Countries represented

Salary context

50 of 134 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
Peer group range $91,450 – $231,700 (median $157,000)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 134 comparable roles

United States103
India8
Canada5
Belgium5
Spain4
United Kingdom2

+ 6 more countries

Seniority mix

134 of 134 peers have a known seniority level

Senior104
Associate Director22
Manager8

Therapeutic area mix

8 of 134 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology4
Respiratory1
Neuroscience1
Cardiovascular / CVRM1
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
Novartis Cambridge (USA), United States Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) Tarrytown, United States Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) Tarrytown, United States Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Amgen Inc. Thousand Oaks, United States Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
RayzeBio, Inc San Diego, United States Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Merck Rahway, New Jersey, United States of America Associate Director
Same function Same 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, ADC platform in Oncology Drug Discovery
Novartis · Cambridge (USA), United States · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Associate Director Process Development
Amgen Inc. · Thousand Oaks, United States · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Associate Director, Translational PK/PD
Merck · South San Francisco, California, United States of America · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Associate Director, Preclinical and Translational PK/PD
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) · Tarrytown, United States · Associate 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.