AbbVie Posted October 2, 2026

Associate Director, RA CMC

Irvine, CA Full-time
Manufacturing & CMC 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 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, Operations and Research & Development (R&D) organizations. Represents CMC on teams such as product development, Global Regulatory Product Teams and Operations brand teams to negotiate, influence, and provide strategic advice. Serves as strategic liaison with the regulatory agencies (e.g., FDA) regarding CMC matters.

Responsibilities

Prepares CMC regulatory product strategies. Prepares and manages regulatory submissions, including new applications and amendments, renewals annual reports, supplements and variations and responds to regulatory information.

Analyzes and interprets information that impacts regulatory decisions. Seeks expert advice and technical support as required for strategies and submissions

Reviews and revises regulatory submissions to effectively present data and strategy to regulatory agencies

Develops strategies for CMC agency meetings, manages preparation for agency meetings, and manages content of pre-meeting submissions. Serves as the point of contact for the regulatory agency meetings.

Manages products and change control with an understanding of regulations and company policies and procedures. Analyzes and approves manufacturing change requests.

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

· Stays abreast of regulatory procedures and changes in regulatory climate. Analyzes legislation, regulation and guidance, provides analysis to the organization

Develops, implements, and documents policies and procedures within the regulatory affairs department. Leads initiatives internal to RA CMC.

Represents CMC regulatory affairs on project initiatives with other functional areas to drive efficiencies across the company.

Trains, develops and mentors individuals; may include formal supervisory responsibilities

Qualifications

Qualifications

Required Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Pharmacy, Chemistry, Biology or Pharmacology, Engineering or related subject.

Preferred Education: Relevant advanced degree preferred. Certification a plus.

Required Experience: 8 years pharmaceutical with at least 3 years of demonstrated leadership

Preferred Experience: 10 years pharmaceutical experience including 5-plus years in regulatory affairs or 5-plus years in Discovery, R&D, or Manufacturing.

Experience developing and implementing successful global regulatory strategies. Experience working with Health Authority.

Experience working in a complex and matrix environment.

Strong oral and written communication skills.

Note: Higher education may compensate for years of experience

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
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 662 comparable Associate Director Manufacturing & CMC roles across 96 biopharma companies.

662Comparable roles tracked
612Currently active
96Companies hiring similar roles
36Countries represented

Salary context

189 of 662 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 · Associate Director, Digital Scientific Workflows · Merck $0/hr – $0/hr (≈ $0–$0/yr)
Highest disclosed · Regional Manager - Megasys · Merck KGaA $220,000/yr – $250,000/yr
Peer group range $0 – $235,000 (median $151,700)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 662 comparable roles

United States354
India92
Ireland24
Netherlands24
United Kingdom21
Canada13

+ 30 more countries

Seniority mix

662 of 662 peers have a known seniority level

Senior323
Manager265
Associate Director74

Therapeutic area mix

5 of 662 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Rare Disease2
Dermatology & Aesthetics1
Vaccines & Infectious Disease1
Oncology1

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 North Chicago, IL Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
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Gilead Sciences, Inc. Foster City, United States Associate Director
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60%similar
Gilead Sciences, Inc. Foster City, United States Associate Director
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Gilead Sciences, Inc. Foster City, United States Associate Director
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Amgen Inc. Remote, United States Associate Director
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60%similar
Biogen Cambridge, United States Associate Director
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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%
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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.