AbbVie Posted November 4, 2026

Senior Director, Strategic Planning Government Affairs

Washington, D.C., DC Full-time
Notify me about similar jobs

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 Director, Strategic Planning serves as a trusted strategic partner to the Senior Vice President (SVP), Government Affairs. The Director will help the SVP maximize the impact of the Government Affairs organization by driving strategic alignment, executive preparation, organizational coordination, and disciplined execution of priorities.

This is a role requiring exceptional judgment, organizational leadership, executive communication skills, and the ability to operate effectively in a complex, fast-moving environment.

The Director will serve as a central connector across the Government Affairs organization and key internal partners, ensuring that priorities are clearly understood, leaders are aligned, decisions are translated into action, and emerging issues receive the appropriate level of attention.

The successful candidate will be equally comfortable preparing an SVP for a meeting with the CEO, developing an executive presentation, coordinating a cross-functional Government Affairs initiative, identifying an emerging organizational issue, or ensuring that an important commitment is followed through on.

Responsible for planning, executing, and overseeing large programmatic initiatives to ensure they meet organizational goals, timelines, and budgets across the portfolio. Coordinates large cross-enterprise teams, manages resources, and tracks progress. Provides leadership and governance to ensure program success and continuous improvement.

Key Responsibilities

Serve as a trusted advisor and thought partner to the SVP of Government Affairs.

Help the SVP effectively prioritize time, attention, and resources against the organization’s highest-value priorities.

Anticipate issues, opportunities, decisions, and information the SVP will need to effectively lead the organization.

Serve as a central point of coordination between the SVP and Government Affairs leadership.

Handle highly confidential and sensitive information with discretion and sound judgment.

Work with subject-matter experts across Government Affairs and the broader organization to synthesize complex information into clear, compelling executive narratives.

Support development and implementation of the Government Affairs strategic plan and annual priorities.

Establish clear objectives, milestones, owners, and measures of success for major priorities.

Track progress against strategic priorities and proactively identify risks, dependencies, and opportunities.

Help the organization remain focused on the highest-value priorities while appropriately managing emerging issues.

Lead high-priority projects on behalf of the SVP that require cross-functional coordination and senior-level visibility.

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree required.

15+ years of progressively responsible experience in Government Affairs, public policy, strategic planning, corporate affairs, consulting, or a related field.

Demonstrated experience supporting or partnering with senior executives.

Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.

Outstanding PowerPoint and executive presentation development skills.

Strong ability to synthesize complex information and communicate it clearly to senior audiences.

Demonstrated ability to manage multiple high-priority initiatives simultaneously.

Strong strategic thinking combined with exceptional execution and follow-through.

Ability to influence without formal authority and build strong relationships across a complex organization.

High level of discretion and demonstrated ability to handle confidential and sensitive information.

Strong understanding of the U.S. political, legislative, regulatory, and/or health policy environment preferred.

Experience in the pharmaceutical, healthcare, or life sciences industry 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
Senior Director
Function
Communications & Public Affairs
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Washington, D.C., DC
Employment type
Full-time

How this role compares

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

We currently track 53 comparable Senior Director Communications & Public Affairs roles across 25 biopharma companies.

53Comparable roles tracked
51Currently active
25Companies hiring similar roles
7Countries represented

Salary context

19 of 53 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 · Director, GSINC Change Management & Communications · Johnson & Johnson $150,000/yr – $258,750/yr
Highest disclosed · Senior Director, U.S. Public Affairs (Boston, MA, US) · Servier $216/hr – $316/hr (≈ $449,280–$657,280/yr)
Peer group range $204,375 – $553,280 (median $225,450)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 53 comparable roles

United States41
China4
Japan2
Germany2
Switzerland2
Singapore1

+ 1 more countries

Seniority mix

53 of 53 peers have a known seniority level

Director30
Senior Director17
Executive/VP6

Therapeutic area mix

7 of 53 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology3
Cardiovascular / CVRM2
Neuroscience1
Dermatology & Aesthetics1

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
E.R. Squibb & Sons,L.L.C. Princeton, United States Senior Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Senior Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Senior Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
E.R. Squibb & Sons,L.L.C. Princeton, United States Senior Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Servier Boston, United States Senior Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Senior 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 Communications & Public 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%
Senior Director, CEO Communications
E.R. Squibb & Sons,L.L.C. · Princeton, United States · Senior Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Senior Director, Global Compliance Policy & Education
E.R. Squibb & Sons,L.L.C. · Princeton, United States · Senior Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Senior Director, Medical Communications
E.R. Squibb & Sons,L.L.C. · Princeton, United States · Senior Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Senior Director, U.S. Policy & Research, Commercial Policy
E.R. Squibb & Sons,L.L.C. · Washington DC, United States · Senior 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.