AbbVie Posted October 29, 2026

Director, Medical Affairs + Health Impact Therapeutic Area Communications

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

Purpose

The Director, Medical Affairs + Health Impact (MHI) Therapeutic Area Communications, leads an integrated communications strategy spanning Medical Affairs and Value & Evidence within a designated therapeutic area. The Director amplifies MHI’s contributions and supporting evidence to strengthen pipeline and brand narratives, demonstrating how scientific innovation addresses unmet need and care gaps, improves the standard of care and delivers value across the healthcare system.

As the primary communications advisor to MHI therapeutic area leaders, the Director connects the dots between R&D/pipeline and commercial communications strategies, working with Pipeline & External Innovation Communications, Commercial Communications, Global Patient & Community Partnerships and other cross-functional stakeholders to align and deliver MHI communications with shared priorities. The role reports to the Director of MHI Communications within the Corporate Affairs organization.

Responsibilities

Serve as strategic communications counselor to the MHI therapeutic area vice president and leadership team.

Lead and execute communications strategies that amplify MHI-generated evidence, medical education and capabilities to strengthen pipeline and brand narratives and demonstrate how scientific innovation addresses unmet needs, closes care gaps, elevates the standard of care and delivers value across the healthcare system.

Develop and deliver thought leadership for the MHI therapeutic area vice president across LinkedIn, congresses, conferences, external events and leadership forums.

Represent MHI on the therapeutic area Communications Council, congress planning team and business unit vice president leadership team, ensuring MHI communications are integrated with pipeline and commercial priorities.

Increase internal visibility and understanding of MHI’s value, work and contributions among AbbVie employees and field teams.

Use external-environment analysis, stakeholder insights and performance data to refine strategy, establish objectives and KPIs, evaluate impact and recommend adjustments.

Support cross-R&D initiatives that elevate MHI’s contributions, as well as KOL engagement opportunities to advance MHI leadership visibility and communications objectives.

Support the building of the MHI therapeutic area communications capability, ensuring it delivers distinct, value-added support aligned with business and stakeholder needs.

Lead annual planning, prioritization, budget management, agency oversight and continuous improvement across the R&D Communications operating model.

Ensure content is developed in compliance with applicable corporate, legal, regulatory and medical review requirements.

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree required.

At least 10 years of experience in integrated communications, preferably in the healthcare, biotechnology or pharmaceutical industries.

Demonstrated success as a trusted strategic communications counselor to senior leaders on narratives, messaging, audiences, channels, leader visibility and reputational risk.

Deep understanding of the healthcare environment and the drug development lifecycle.

Demonstrated ability to use complex scientific, medical and business information to strengthen pipeline and brand narratives for internal and external audiences.

Proven ability to set integrated communications strategy, align senior cross-functional stakeholders, direct execution across teams and adjust course based on insights and outcomes.

Strong executive presence and communications judgment, with the credibility to challenge constructively, resolve competing priorities and operate effectively in ambiguity.

Excellent written, verbal and visual storytelling skills, with the ability to communicate with clarity and influence at senior levels.

Track record of developing communications capability, building trusted partnerships and fostering an enterprise-first, accountable and solutions-oriented culture.

Knowledge of emerging communications trends, digital channels, senior leader visibility strategies and AI-enabled ways of working is 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 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
Medical Affairs
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
North Chicago, IL
Employment type
Full-time

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Medical Affairs role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 305 comparable Director Medical Affairs roles across 56 biopharma companies.

305Comparable roles tracked
288Currently active
56Companies hiring similar roles
32Countries represented

Salary context

118 of 305 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 $160,500/yr – $305,000/yr
Lowest disclosed · Principal Strategic Medical Writer · AbbVie $109,500/yr – $208,500/yr
Peer group range $159,000 – $392,100 (median $264,000)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 305 comparable roles

United States209
United Kingdom24
Canada10
China7
Germany6
France6

+ 26 more countries

Seniority mix

305 of 305 peers have a known seniority level

Director251
Senior Director39
Principal15

Therapeutic area mix

131 of 305 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology64
Neuroscience17
Immunology14
Cardiovascular / CVRM8
Rare Disease7
Dermatology & Aesthetics7
Respiratory6
Gastroenterology5
Ophthalmology2
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
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
AbbVie Director
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Open in 3 locations

Mettawa, United StatesSan Francisco, United StatesFlorham Park, United States
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AbbVie Mettawa, IL Director
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Amgen Inc. Chicago, United States Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
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Amgen Inc. Remote, United States Director
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60%similar
Gilead Sciences, Inc. Foster City, United States 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.

Or follow a whole field: get every new Medical Affairs 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.

60%
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AbbVie · North Chicago, IL · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Scientific Director / Senior Medical Director, Medical Affairs - Global Oncology Pipeline (Prostate Cancer)
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Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Global Safety Medical Director, Rare Disease
Amgen Inc. · Remote, United States · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director, Medical Affairs Research
Gilead Sciences, Inc. · Foster 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.