AbbVie Posted October 12, 2026

National MSL Director, Gastroenterology

Mettawa, IL Full-time
Medical Affairs Medical Science Liaison jobs Gastroenterology Director
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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 National MSL Director will establish the strategy and provide oversight and direction for assigned therapeutic US Field Medical Team, including accountability for attainment of US medical and business objectives in a designated therapeutic area. As a member of the US Therapeutic Area Medical Leadership team and in partnership with Clinical Development and the integrated US Brand team, develop and implement strategic field initiatives to support the therapeutic area medical objectives, the coordination and optimization of materials, and the communications to execute field activities. The US Field Medical Lead will report directly to the Therapeutic Area Medical Lead or Head and is an integral part of the US Affiliate therapeutic area leadership team and Integrated Brand Team.

Responsibilities

Establish vision and provide active leadership: Set leadership tone and direction and co-establish vision for therapeutic field-medical team. Align field-medical strategy with the TA. Infuse AbbVie Ways of Working and Talent Philosophy in day-to-day leadership and embrace a “One AbbVie” mindset.  Establishes a productive work environment and positive culture, by creating trust and respect within the group and developing an atmosphere of confidence.

Optimize field strategy and determine tactical execution plan: Proactively co-develops strategy and executes a plan for field based scientific support of therapeutic area on market products as well as portfolio pipeline process. Ongoing analysis and prioritization of clinical/market trends to develop key supporting strategies, scientific data gaps, and field materials needed to meet business objectives at the TA level.

Oversight and accountability for comprehensive training to field-medical team: Ensures clinical and business competency of self, field leadership, and field team to include scientific , gap identification, and development. Oversee execution of training, in conjunction with the Assistant Scientific Director and/or other members of the TA. Ensures the competency of each MSL as it relates to regulations, guidelines, and therapeutically relevant clinical/scientific information.

Foster infield-team effectiveness: Maintains proactive and responsible communication within Commercial, HEOR, Global Medical Information, Healthcare Solutions and other stakeholders, as it relates to MSL activities/ outcomes that support the achievement of medical objectives. Demonstrate organizational savvy and knowledge of various stakeholders interfacing with Medical Affairs.

Collaborate with cross-therapeutic peers to enhance field-medical function: Interfaces with other Field Medical Leads across AbbVie businesses to ensure standardization, consistency, and enhancement of field-medical teams. Proactively identifies opportunities to align MSL clinical resources globally, minimizing costs and increasing efficiencies. Directly accountable for an operating budget and aligning that with US medical affairs resource needs.

Continue to drive evolution of MSL pipeline contribution: Develop expectations for field-medical asset and study leads.  Strategically align with TA to prioritize MSL involvement with clinical programs, identify gaps and provide proactive solutions, and contribute to the scientific platform and strategic business decisions as it relates to clinical and asset development.

Regulatory and compliance accountability: Maintains regulatory and compliance expertise at all times on internal and external regulatory practices. Accountable for compliance within the team, including monitoring to protect AbbVie from risk. Allocates MSL resources in a way that delivers results on business/clinical strategies, while protecting AbbVie from risk

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Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in the health sciences from an accredited university required. Advanced degree required in a relevant scientific discipline. Doctorate strongly preferred in a health science or clinical discipline. Significant industry experience in relevant therapeutic area preferred.

At least 5 years of direct people management required.  Greater than or equal to 5 years industry related experience with demonstrated leadership success in a pharmaceutical or Biotech Company required.  Preferably, this would be an individual with multiple years of pharmaceutical management and corporate experience.

Exhibits leadership attributes that align with company-wide initiatives such as: All for One AbbVie, Clear and Courageous, Make Possibilities Real, Agile and Accountable, and Decide Smart and Sure.

Flexibility in adapting/reacting to changing market dynamics and competitive challenges. Tolerance for ambiguity and the ability to be flexible within the work environment. High sense of urgency and commitment to excellence in the successful achievement of objectives. Excellent planning and mastery of organizational skills to demonstrate leadership and initiative.

Teamwork is a mandatory requirement as it involves internal/external networking in the district, region, franchise and across departments. Ability to work in cross-functional teams.

Advanced analytical, conceptual and administrative skills. Excellent proven communication skills: oral, written and presentation. Excellent problem solving ability in concert with strong negotiation skills. Competent to use standard computer technologies including integrated business software (word processing, spreadsheet) and other common applications.

Demonstrated exceptional business judgment and the ability to influence and lead without authority. Clear strategic, tactical, and visionary capabilities with the ability to establish, articulate, and pull through vision for their team.

Mastery of the ability to manage multiple priorities. Must be able to identify and analyze the needs of the business and translate problems into business opportunities.

Knowledge of personnel management including recruitment, hiring, progressive discipline process, coaching and motivation.

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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
Gastroenterology
Location
Mettawa, 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 313 comparable Director Medical Affairs roles across 62 biopharma companies.

313Comparable roles tracked
294Currently active
62Companies hiring similar roles
28Countries represented

Salary context

142 of 313 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 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 313 comparable roles

United States229
United Kingdom23
China8
Canada7
Germany4
France4

+ 22 more countries

Seniority mix

313 of 313 peers have a known seniority level

Director262
Senior Director34
Principal17

Therapeutic area mix

137 of 313 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology56
Immunology17
Neuroscience16
Respiratory15
Dermatology & Aesthetics9
Cardiovascular / CVRM9
Rare Disease6
Vaccines & Infectious Disease5
Gastroenterology3
Ophthalmology1

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
Johnson & Johnson Horsham, United States Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Same seniority Same country
100%similar
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) Sleepy Hollow, United States Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Same seniority Same country
85%similar
Lilly Dubai, United Arab Emirates Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Same seniority
60%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
AbbVie Director
Same function Same seniority Same country

Open in 3 locations

Mettawa, United StatesFlorham Park, United StatesSan Francisco, United States
60%similar
AbbVie Director
Same function Same seniority Same country

Open in 3 locations

Mettawa, United StatesSan Francisco, United StatesFlorham Park, United States

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.

100%
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Johnson & Johnson · Horsham, United States · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
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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.