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 will serve as a key scientific and strategic leader within BGM, shaping AbbVie's siRNA discovery portfolio and enabling the successful translation of RNAi technologies into differentiated therapeutic candidates across multiple Therapeutic Areas.
Lead the advancement and expansion of a cross-therapeutic siRNA portfolio by leveraging and evolving AbbVie's established RNAi capabilities, driving asset strategy, and partnering closely with Therapeutic Areas to identify, prioritize, and advance high-value opportunities. This leader will direct a multidisciplinary team of 10+ scientists and drive scientific, portfolio, and organizational decisions that accelerate the progression of siRNA medicines from concept to development candidates.
Responsibilities:
Define and execute the strategic roadmap for siRNA discovery capabilities, aligning platform investments and portfolio priorities with the needs of AbbVie's core Therapeutic Areas to build a sustainable pipeline of differentiated genetic medicine opportunities.
Partner closely with Therapeutic Area leaders to identify, evaluate, and prioritize therapeutic opportunities, applying rigorous scientific and business criteria to focus resources on programs with the highest probability of success and impact.
Lead the advancement of early discovery siRNA programs from concept through candidate-enabling validation, utilizing milestone-based decision making, clear Go/No-Go criteria, and a fast-fail, fast-learn approach to portfolio progression.
Serve as the primary scientific and strategic interface between BGM and Therapeutic Areas, ensuring alignment on program objectives, timelines, risks, and development strategies while fostering productive cross-functional partnerships.
Drive scientific innovation by integrating emerging advances in RNAi technologies, including oligonucleotide chemistry, delivery systems, and targeting approaches, while establishing external collaborations that strengthen AbbVie's competitive position in the field.
Recruit, develop, and lead a high-performing multidisciplinary team, fostering a culture of scientific excellence, innovation, accountability, and collaboration, while representing BGM discovery efforts across governance and strategic leadership forums.
Qualifications
Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, or a related field, or a related discipline, with 10+ years of biotech/pharmaceutical industry experience.
Deep expertise in siRNA therapeutics, oligonucleotide chemistry, RNA biology, genetic medicines, or related drug discovery modalities.
Demonstrated track record of leading discovery-stage programs and advancing therapeutic assets through key decision points.
Experience building and leading multidisciplinary scientific teams, including direct people management and talent development.
Proven ability to influence and partner effectively across matrix organizations, including Therapeutic Areas, Safety, CMC, and Clinical Development.
Strong external scientific presence with experience establishing productive collaborations with academic and industry partners.
Preferred
Experience advancing siRNA or ASO programs into development.
Knowledge of oligonucleotide delivery technologies and emerging RNA-targeting approaches.
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 Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research role in our database, not just this employer's listings.
We currently track 258 comparable Director Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research roles across 43 biopharma companies.
Salary context
138 of 258 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 258 comparable roles
+ 11 more countries
Seniority mix
258 of 258 peers have a known seniority level
Therapeutic area mix
47 of 258 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.