Abbott Posted October 10, 2026

Director, Regulatory Affairs

Abbott Park, Illinois, United States FULL_TIME
Notify me about similar jobs
This position may no longer be available.

We couldn't confirm this posting on Abbott's site in our latest checks -- see current similar openings below.

View the original listing (may no longer be live).

About this opportunity

Abbott is a global healthcare leader that helps people live more fully at all stages of life. Our portfolio of life-changing technologies spans the spectrum of healthcare, with leading businesses and products in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic medicines. Our 122,000 colleagues serve people in more than 160 countries.

Working at Abbott

At Abbott, you can do work that matters, grow, and learn, care for yourself and family, be your true self and live a full life. You’ll also have access to:

Career development with an international company where you can grow the career you dream of

Employees can qualify for free medical coverage in our Health Investment Plan (HIP) PPO medical plan in the next calendar year

An excellent retirement savings plan with high employer contribution

Tuition reimbursement, the Freedom 2 Save student debt program and FreeU education benefit - an affordable and convenient path to getting a bachelor’s degree

A company recognized as a great place to work in dozens of countries around the world and named one of the most admired companies in the world by Fortune

A company that is recognized as one of the best big companies to work for as well as a best place to work for diversity, working mothers, female executives, and scientists

The Opportunity

The Director, Regulatory Affairs provides leadership, direction and support for regulatory policy and cross-business regulatory initiatives within the company, actively influencing changing regulations and guidance affecting the company through participation on trade associations and interfaces with regulatory agencies.  This person will direct activities associated with capturing domestic and international information both internal and external that impacts the quality, regulatory, and compliance areas of Abbott and keep management abreast of regulatory changes and the impact they could have on the organization.

Also, this person will direct and manage cross-business regulatory activities designed to address emerging regulatory issues, incorporate strategic action, and advance the development of Abbott regulatory professionals.  This person will be a subject matter expert in the regulatory area organization and serve as a resource that others within the organization can approach for guidance.

What You’ll Work On

Regulatory Intelligence:

Gather, assess, summarize, and disseminate available regulatory information, such as proposed rules and guidance

Develop in conjunction with relevant internal stakeholders, draft, and submit directly to regulatory agencies and trade associations the Abbott position/response to proposed device regulatory policy

Implement processes for monitoring and communicating emerging regulatory issues

Cross-Business Initiatives:

Lead cross-business regulatory council consisting of business regulatory heads, legal, government affairs, and AQR

Chair or co-chair council committees designed to execute objectives defined by the regulatory council, such as global conference, emerging issues, talent management

Work across businesses, government affairs, and legal to define, develop, and obtain consensus on Abbott regulatory positions on critical regulatory proposals

Develop and maintain communication strategies for efficient and effective means of cross business information sharing

Strategic Planning:

Anticipate regulatory emerging issues and develop solutions to them

Identify need for new regulatory policies/processes

Develop solutions to address emerging regulatory issues with other members of management and stakeholders

Develop corporate positions on regulatory risk-benefit

Create and develop positions and strategies based upon proposed regulatory requirements

Influence:

Identify for stakeholders new regulatory requirements to ensure company-wide compliance

Advance the organization’s position by participating and taking leadership roles in professional associations, industry and trade groups and appropriate standards organizations

Advise management and stakeholders on regulatory issues

Manage communication and negotiation with regulatory authorities and lobbying government leaders

Utilize expert technical regulatory skills to influence regulators on complex issues

Consult with and advise businesses on regulatory issues

Participate in the development of new regulations, guidelines and/or standards to promote scientific innovation balanced with appropriate safety concerns

Supervisory / Management Responsibilities

Provides leadership without direct authority (i.e., project leader); includes 1 direct report

Position Accountability / Scope

Corporate-wide strategies and programs

External and internal regulatory advocacy

Recognized as a key opinion leader and resource in regulatory affairs

Develops, communicates, and builds consensus for goals that are in alignment with the corporation.

Provides leadership by communicating and providing guidance towards achieving cross-business and/or corporate objectives.

Interfaces with a variety of management levels including senior management on significant matters, often requiring the coordination of activity across organizational units.

Leads multiple cross-business committees/teams

Acts as a mentor to less-experienced staff internal and external to the department/division.

Exercises judgment independently.

Required Qualifications

Bachelor's degree

7-10 years of experience in a regulated industry (e.g., medical device, pharmaceutical, nutritional/food products)

Knowledge of how agency regulations and guidance are developed

Negotiate internally and externally with regulatory agencies

Work with cross-functional teams

Demonstrated analytical, strategic-thinking, and problem-solving skills

Communicate effectively verbally and in writing to diverse audiences and personnel

Write and edit regulatory documents; persuasive writing

Ability to prepare and present written and oral reports and other presentations to internal and external audiences, including senior management and regulatory agencies

Able to juggle multiple and competing priorities

Preferred Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in science (biology, chemistry, microbiology, immunology, medical technology, pharmacy, pharmacology), math, engineering, or medical fields

Advanced degree (MS in technical area, PhD, Law)

7-10 years of experience in regulatory preferred, but may consider quality assurance, research and development/support, scientific affairs, operations, or related area

APPLY NOW

Learn more about our health and wellness benefits, which provide the security to help you and your family live full lives:  www.abbottbenefits.com

Follow your career aspirations to Abbott for diverse opportunities with a company that can help you build your future and live your best life. Abbott is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to employee diversity.

Connect with us at www.abbott.com , on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Abbott and on Twitter @AbbottNews and @AbbottGlobal

The base pay for this position is $171,300.00 – $342,700.00. In specific locations, the pay range may vary from the range posted.

Job details

Seniority
Director
Function
Regulatory Affairs
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Abbott Park, Illinois, United States
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

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

We currently track 109 comparable Director Regulatory Affairs roles across 40 biopharma companies.

109Comparable roles tracked
106Currently active
40Companies hiring similar roles
15Countries represented

Salary context

44 of 109 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 Not listed on this posting
Lowest disclosed · Principal Engineer, Digital Regulatory Assurance (Life Sciences) · AbbVie $109,500/yr – $208,500/yr
Peer group range $159,000 – $322,650 (median $263,800)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 109 comparable roles

United States70
United Kingdom9
Ireland7
Spain5
China3
Japan3

+ 9 more countries

Seniority mix

109 of 109 peers have a known seniority level

Director72
Senior Director26
Principal11

Therapeutic area mix

21 of 109 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Rare Disease5
Oncology5
Immunology4
Vaccines & Infectious Disease3
Neuroscience2
Cardiovascular / CVRM2

Currently open similar roles

This posting is closed, but here are live openings closest to it -- ranked by similarity, not by how well you'd qualify for them.

60%similar
AbbVie Director
Same function Same seniority Same country

Open in 2 locations

North Chicago, United StatesFlorham Park, United States
60%similar
Mylan Inc. Washington, United States Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) Cambridge, United States Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Celgene - Summit (Corp) Princeton Pike, United States Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
AstraZeneca Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (US) Boston, 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 Regulatory 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%
Director, RA Global Regulatory Strategy
AbbVie · North Chicago, IL · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director, Global Patient Safety Sciences - General Medicine
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) · Cambridge, United States · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director, Global Submission Management
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (US) · Boston, United States · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Regulatory CMC Director (Cell & Gene Therapy)
AstraZeneca · Gaithersburg, Maryland, United States of America · 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.