AbbVie Posted October 9, 2026

Data Protection Specialist

North Chicago, IL Full-time
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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

The Data Protection Specialist works with various internal and external groups to ensure that AbbVie information security policies, practices, and procedures are properly implemented within AbbVie. They support the Data Protection Office in strengthening company data security controls and maturing operational processes. The individual will interface with a wide variety of people from different internal organizational units, interface with organizational personnel and staff to ensure that the policy is understood by those required to implement, monitor, and enforce the policy. This role is designed for a professional with an engineering, computer science, software development, or related technical background who is interested in the business, governance, and assurance aspects of data security. Under the guidance of the Data Protection Office, the role will drive control auditing, assurance activities, governance, development, security logging, automation, and the responsible use of artificial intelligence to improve efficiency, consistency, and maturity of data protection processes.

Responsibilities:

Establish and maintain strong relationships with IT and Business group leaders to understand goals, programs, and plans. Evaluate and articulate program security requirements; identify potential security risk factors and business impact.

Conduct assessments of controls to ensure data protection controls are in place.

Leverage AI to analyze volumes of data across File Labeling, Application logs, and infrastructure datasets to automate control assurance.

Engage AbbVie Third Party Vendors to assess security posture, remediation requirements, and compensating controls as they apply to Business Applications.

Develop in-depth knowledge of AbbVie Information Security policies, processes, and procedures, as well as compliance processes and initiatives to provide subject matter expertise and guidance to other organizations (Commercial, R&D, Audit, Legal, Purchasing, etc.) within AbbVie in these matters.

Provide Information Security expertise and guidance to Business group leaders and IT Owners to ensure an appropriate balance between security risks and business enablement for identified business programs and initiatives.

Provide reporting to management on potential Data Privacy risks and planned remediation.

Act as point of contact regarding Information Security matters and AbbVie security policies for AbbVie Purchasing, Legal/Privacy and Quality.

Review current technology and information policies and practices for continued applicability with respect to AbbVie commercial and R&D business programs. Provide recommendations for improvements.

Qualifications

Required:

Bachelor’s Degree with 5 years of experience; OR Master's Degree with 4 years of experience in Information Security, Data Privacy, or IT Compliance experience.

Familiarity with, and experience using, a variety of information security control frameworks, including, but not limited to: NIST Cybersecurity Framework, ISO 2700X, PCI-DSS, SWIFT, Cloud Controls Matrix, HITRUST, NIST 800-171, CIS Controls, etc.

Familiarity with global and regional Data Privacy regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, and CCPA.

Experience aligning and testing information security controls and frameworks.

Experience writing policies and procedures.

Experience working in information security or data privacy in a large, global organization.

Strong project management, collaboration, communication, and organizational skills.

Adept at communicating concepts to diverse audiences with varying skill sets.

Strong written and verbal communication skills are critical.

Preferred:

Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), Certified Information Privacy Technologist (CIPT), or other equivalent certifications preferred.

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 short-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
Not listed
Function
Data & Digital
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
North Chicago, IL
Employment type
Full-time

How this role compares

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

We currently track 881 comparable Data & Digital roles across 88 biopharma companies.

881Comparable roles tracked
826Currently active
88Companies hiring similar roles
45Countries represented

Salary context

238 of 881 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function. This posting doesn't list a seniority level, so peers aren't narrowed by seniority either -- the range below may span more levels than usual.

This roleSubject $84,500/yr – $162,000/yr
Peer group range $0 – $339,950 (median $185,938)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 881 comparable roles

United States345
India153
Spain42
United Kingdom42
France33
Germany28

+ 39 more countries

Seniority mix

551 of 881 peers have a known seniority level

Manager158
Senior111
Associate Director69
Director64
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc54
Principal53
Associate15
Executive/VP14
Senior Director13

Therapeutic area mix

29 of 881 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology13
Immunology5
Neuroscience4
Rare Disease2
Cardiovascular / CVRM1
Ophthalmology1
Respiratory1
Vaccines & Infectious Disease1
Dermatology & Aesthetics1

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.

40%similar
Pfizer Groton, United States Principal
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40%similar
AbbVie
Same function Same country

Open in 4 locations

North Chicago, United StatesFlorham Park, United StatesSouth San Francisco, United StatesIrvine, United States
40%similar
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40%similar
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) Tarrytown, United States Executive/VP
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40%similar
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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.

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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.

40%
Principal ML/AI Cheminformatics Scientist
Pfizer · Groton, United States · Principal
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
Data Strategy Lead - Hybrid
AbbVie · Florham Park, NJ · Seniority not listed
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
Principal Scientist – Analytics Team Lead
Novartis · Cambridge (USA), United States · Principal
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
Principal Statistical Programmer - Internal Medicine
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) · Warren, United States · Principal
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.