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.
Our Great Place to Work® Certification highlights our dedication to cultivating a high-trust, and inclusive culture for all.
At AbbVie, you won't just have a job, you’ll have the opportunity to unlock a bright future, because we're not just a workplace; we're a world of possibilities.
Difference makers wanted. Apply now!
What’s In It for You?
Innovative work culture
Professional development
Paid time off: vacation, holidays, personal days, and volunteer days
Employee stock purchase
Wellness spending account
Flexible health insurance
Retirement savings programs
Bonus plan
Job Description
The Specialist, Country Study Start Up proactively drives and executes all start-up and maintenance-related activities and deliverables for assigned studies and sites in their assigned country or countries. For studies that only involve one country, the Specialist, Country Study Start Up is responsible and accountable for one time, budget and quality delivery and execution of the start-up and maintenance activities (i.e.: the United States only trials). Acts as a site start-up expert and provides Subject Matter Expert (SME) support.
Key responsibilities
Ensure successful and on time and quality execution of start-up and maintenance activities for assigned sites and studies; site assignment scope inclusive of central and local Institutional Review Board (IRB)/ Ethics Committee (EC) sites.
Establish the country/site activation plans and priorities including risk assessment and mitigation plans with Country Clinical Operations Manager (CCOM) / Clinical Operations Manager (COM), ASUL and Clinical Site Management (CSM) Lead, Contract Manager, Contract Management Specialist (CMS) /Regulatory Affairs.
Proactively identify and communicate issues impacting delivery and providing proposed solutions.
Attend regional/area start up calls and providing input for assigned sites/studies.
Collect essential documents from sites and completing quality check Attributable, Legible, Contemporaneous, Original, and Accurate. (ALCOA).
Compile and submit ethics and other required local submissions including customization of Informed Consent Forms (ICFs), patient facing materials and safety reporting.
Coordinate with Regulatory and CMS on Competent Authorities (CA) submission and approval status to assure alignment with other site activation requirements.
Collaborate with contract manager, Clinical Research Associate (CRA), Area CSM Lead as required to assure timely site activation.
Review site and IRB/EC comments on ICFs and routing for approval by required functional areas.
Facilitate clinical supply shipments.
Complete Investigational Product (IP) release activities and triggering IP shipment.
Issue site green light letter and activating sites in Interactive Voice/Web Response System (IXRS).
Track all start-ups and maintenance-related activities in Vault Study Start-Up (SSU) as appropriate.
Maintain local country and site intelligence database and Expected Document Lists (EDLs) in Vault.
Maintain SSU performance metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) for assigned sites/studies.
Provide start up updates and metrics to CCOM/COM and Area SSU and CSM Leads
Ensure audit/inspection readiness.
Ensure compliance with corporate and divisional policies and procedures in alignment with worldwide regulations and guidelines.
Drive to improve site start-up efficiency, which includes leading process improvement initiatives.
Function as an SME in the SSU community and leads training and mentoring of Country Start Up Specialists, drive change management in the adoption of new technologies and processes.
Act as an area lead for studies that only involve one country (i.e.: the US only trials).
Qualifications
Experience / Education required
Bachelor's degree in Health Care or Science highly preferred.
A minimum of three years of clinical research experience and preferably more than two years of study start up management experience for the designated region.
Must have hands on experience in interpreting regional clinical research regulations and processes.
Experience working with central and local IRB/EC sites, inclusive of reviewing site and IRB/EC comments on ICFs and routing for approval by required functional areas.
Adept and experienced working with Vault SSU in the capacity of essential document processing, IP release, and ICF IRB/EC review.
Experience working with remote/virtual teams.
Strong analytical and critical thinking skills and the ability to evaluate complex issues from multiple perspectives and drive smart decision-making.
Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to build trust and communicate with clarity, flexibility and adaptability to changing requirements.
Demonstration of a successful start-up execution and aptitude for managing multiple priorities in a fast‐paced environment.
Demonstration of driving and leading successful initiatives, special projects and activities that support the business.
Working knowledge of International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH) and Good Clinical Practice (GCP) guidelines and operational understanding of the country's regulatory environment.
You must be available to attend the head office, located in St-Laurent, QC, occasionally for training purposes.
French and English language proficiency (oral and written).
AbbVie strives to provide a French working environment for its employees in Quebec. Although as part of its francization program has taken all reasonable steps to avoid imposing the following requirement, advanced amount of knowledge of English / Fluency in English is an essential requirement for the position of Specialist, Country Study Start Up including, but not limited to, for the following reasons:
English speaking employees outside the province of Quebec.
English speaking clients outside the province of Quebec.
Anglophone region outside the province of Quebec.
Additional Information
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
How this role compares
Computed from every other active Clinical Research role in our database, not just this employer's listings.
We currently track 317 comparable Clinical Research roles across 26 biopharma companies.
Salary context
68 of 317 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)
Peers share this role's job function. This posting doesn't list a seniority level, so peers aren't narrowed by seniority either -- the range below may span more levels than usual.
Where these roles are based
Top locations among the 317 comparable roles
+ 38 more countries
Seniority mix
215 of 317 peers have a known seniority level
Therapeutic area mix
18 of 317 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden
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.
Open in 3 locations
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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.
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.