AbbVie Posted September 14, 2026

Program Lead II, Clinical Program Development (Director Level)

Branchburg, NJ 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

The Clinical Operations Program Director is responsible to connect science and operations to bring clinical studies to life through the execution of one or more clinical research programs .The Clinical Operations Program Director serves as a strategic advocate for pipeline assets and provides operational reality to our scientific experiments via scientific expertise, strategic thinking, a global mindset and innovative solutions to address risks and challenges. The Clinical Operations Program Director also serves as a inspiring people leader responsible for developing a pipeline of talent for the Development Operations organization.

Responsibilities

Integral member of the Pipeline Commercialization Model’s Integrated Evidence Strategy Team and a strategic partner for the Asset Strategy Team and Development Review Committee whose remit is to maximize the value of our assets and portfolio for patients and AbbVie.

In alignment with the asset’s strategy and incorporating the science and the operations, develops the clinical operational strategy and is responsible for the execution of clinical studies/programs (e.g., generation of operational timelines, enrollment options, assessment of availability of the patient population, balancing complexity of trial designs vs speed)

Responsible for the programmatic evaluation of risks and mitigations to achieving the asset strategy. Identifies strategic options for the Asset Strategy Team to evaluate in the face of competing priorities, interests or unanticipated challenges.

Interacts with and influences all levels of management and cross-functional team members to achieve program objectives: primary scope of influence is within Development Operations, cross-functional colleagues who support clinical trial execution and the Development and Global Medical Affairs Therapeutic Area MDs/SDs.

Key contributor to the portfolio planning process including responsibility for the development of the costs, resource projections and timelines for the clinical development programs under consideration.

Reviews and provides clinical operations content to clinical and regulatory documents (e.g., INDs, IB, NDAs, BLAs, MAA, Regulatory Briefing Books)

Responsible for overall external budget management across their portfolio (programs can be 20-200 million dollars)

Leads large scoped, cross-functional innovation and process improvement initiatives with significant business impacts and ensures effective change management across the cross-functional areas that support clinical program execution.

Responsible for developing, managing, mentoring clinical operations (direct and indirect) staff to enable growth into leadership roles, including strategic leadership and direct supervision of 4 – 15 study manager(s) and up to 30 indirect staff, career development of clinical operations staff and creating an inclusive, innovative and learning environment where staff and studies/programs will succeed

Responsible for executing clinical programs in compliance with quality standards (ICH/GCP, Global Regulations, and AbbVie policies and procedures)

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent is required, typically in nursing or scientific field. An Associate’s degree/R.N. or equivalent with relevant experience is acceptable.

Must have 12+ years of Pharma-related/ clinical research related experience (and/or applicable work experience)

10 years (and/or applicable work experience) in clinical research demonstrating a high level of core, technical, and leadership competencies through setting and driving study strategy and leading a global team in the management and completion of multiple clinical studies.

Experience in risk management, decision-making, strategic execution is critical to project and program success and ensuring pipeline decisions can be made on sound data.

Possesses good communication skills.

Demonstration of successful coaching, mentoring, and people management (remote management experience preferred).

Considered a subject matter expert in the application of standard business procedures (International Conference on Harmonization (ICH), Global Regulations, Ethics and Compliance).

Integral participation in initiatives or advancement of strategies for clinical operations.

Experience in successful study initiation through study completion, primary data analysis, and/or in multiple phases of studies (Phase l-3, 4).

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
Clinical Development
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Branchburg, NJ
Employment type
Full-time

How this role compares

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

We currently track 253 comparable Director Clinical Development roles across 48 biopharma companies.

253Comparable roles tracked
238Currently active
48Companies hiring similar roles
15Countries represented

Salary context

138 of 253 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
Peer group range $0 – $392,100 (median $273,300)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 253 comparable roles

United States204
United Kingdom13
Spain7
India7
Switzerland5
Germany3

+ 9 more countries

Seniority mix

253 of 253 peers have a known seniority level

Director191
Senior Director38
Principal24

Therapeutic area mix

88 of 253 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology51
Neuroscience10
Immunology8
Cardiovascular / CVRM6
Ophthalmology4
Respiratory4
Dermatology & Aesthetics3
Vaccines & Infectious Disease1
Rare 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
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Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Director
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60%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Director
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60%similar
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AbbVie North Chicago, IL Director
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Same function Same seniority Same country

Open in 2 locations

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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.

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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Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
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Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
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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.