AbbVie Posted October 9, 2026

Director, Business Development & Acquisitions - Oncology

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

The Business Development & Acquisitions function drives the advancement of AbbVie’s R&D pipeline and commercial business by assessing and executing key strategic transactions. Example transaction types include in-licensing, out-licensing, co-development / co-promotion, collaboration, and option deals, as well as divestiture / carve-outs and mergers & acquisitions. The Oncology Director of Business Development & Acquisitions, supports those efforts through development of analytical assessments to determine opportunity viability, communication of findings to senior management and participation in terms and contract negotiations for the Oncology Therapeutic Area.

Responsibilities:

Supports the achievement of overall business development objectives, strategies and tactics for growth of AbbVie’s pharmaceutical business.

Partners with Search & Evaluation and Global Commercial Development team members as well as key Therapeutic Area subject matter experts to efficiently identify and advance opportunities.

Works constructively with key stakeholders and cross-functional teams to conduct timely initial technical assessments and full due diligence of prioritized opportunities, with specific responsibility for business and financial diligence.

Presents business components of key opportunities to therapeutic area and enterprise governance bodies concisely, demonstrating strong executive presence and mastery of both strategic rationale and detailed findings for individual opportunity, to enable effective decision-making.

Leads deal negotiations, including collaboration with Transactions Legal, to secure both internal and partner alignment on all key terms from initial discussions of economics through contract execution.

Represents BD&A, as needed, during key internal planning processes (e.g., Business Development Strategy, Long Range Plan) and ad hoc strategic projects as requested by Executive Leadership Team

Participates in external partnering meetings and conferences to build individual network and advance AbbVie’s position as a biopharma “partner of choice.”

Monitors global and domestic industry and transaction trends and activities.

Qualifications

Bachelor’s Degree Required. Degree in Business, Science or relevant discipline. Advanced degree (PhD, PharmD, MBA) preferred.

10+ years of experience in pharmaceutical / biotech industry required. Licensing and acquisitions deal sheet required with negotiating and closing deals successfully. International or cross-border experience a plus.

Strong grasp of the fundamentals of pharmaceutical drug discovery, development, and commercialization.

Clear understanding of financial analysis and corporate finance from critical reading of financial statements and annual reports to generation and validation of forecast and valuation models.

Strategic and critical thinker, with ability to identify and pressure-test key sensitivities in business cases and diligence team findings.

Practical drive for results, with ability to identify and achieve the right level of granularity to balance speed of execution and facilitate optimal decision-making by executive management.

Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, including experience leading cross-functional teams and successfully interacting with executive-level management.

Director leveling commensurate with experience.

This role will require domestic and international travel - estimated ~10-20%. 

This role requires at minimum three (3) days onsite in our North Chicago, IL offices.

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
Director
Function
BD&L & Strategic Planning
Therapeutic area
Oncology
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 129 comparable Director BD&L & Strategic Planning roles across 45 biopharma companies.

129Comparable roles tracked
126Currently active
45Companies hiring similar roles
17Countries represented

Salary context

49 of 129 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 $182,000/yr – $346,000/yr
Lowest disclosed · Principal Scientist II, Translational Biomarker Strategy Lead · Novartis $114,100/yr – $211,900/yr
Highest disclosed · Sr. Director, US Policy Strategy · CSL Behring L.L.C. $297,000/yr – $364,000/yr
Peer group range $163,000 – $330,500 (median $233,850)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 129 comparable roles

United States81
China19
United Kingdom5
Japan5
Switzerland4
South Korea2

+ 11 more countries

Seniority mix

129 of 129 peers have a known seniority level

Director93
Senior Director28
Principal8

Therapeutic area mix

32 of 129 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Neuroscience11
Oncology9
Immunology8
Respiratory2
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.

100%similar
Amgen Inc. Remote, United States Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Same seniority Same country
100%similar
AbbVie Mettawa, IL Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Same seniority Same country
100%similar
AbbVie Mettawa, IL Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Same seniority Same country
100%similar
Johnson & Johnson Spring House, United States Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Same seniority Same country
100%similar
Johnson & Johnson Horsham, United States Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Same seniority Same country
100%similar
Johnson & Johnson Horsham, United States Director
Same function Same therapeutic area 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.

Or follow a whole field: get every new BD&L & Strategic Planning job in the United States, and choose locations and companies.

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.

100%
Oncology Strategy Director
Amgen Inc. · Remote, United States · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
100%
Director, Oncology / INTO External Innovation
Johnson & Johnson · Spring House, United States · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
90%
Sr. Director, New Product Planning, Oncology
ModernaTX, Inc. · Cambridge, United States · Senior Director
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
60%
Director, AI Experience Design Lead
Pfizer · New York City, United States · 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.