AbbVie Posted July 15, 2026

Associate Director, Category Management, Pharma and Contract Packaging

North Chicago, IL Full-time
Manufacturing & CMC Associate Director

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 Associate Director leads the implementation of procurement category strategies for Third Party Manufacturing (TPM), developed in partnership with Category Directors and VP-level business stakeholder to deliver reliable, end-to-end sourcing and procurement execution across primary and secondary packaging TPM’s (e.g. bottling, blistering, pouching, vial packaging) and drug product. This role drives supplier strategy execution while supporting leadership in workforce planning and organizational effectiveness.

Major Responsibilities:

Partner with Director/VP-level business or functional stakeholders to develop and implement strategic category-specific procurement strategies aligned with business objectives.

Contribute to the development of a comprehensive annual strategic plan for the relevant category, incorporating category strategies that align with overall business goals including cost breakdown analysis and TCO

Analyze spend patterns and identify cost optimization opportunities.

Conduct market research and competitive analysis to monitor and understand industry trends, market dynamics, and emerging technologies to relay insights to Directors and Associate Directors for strategic decision-making.

Manage strategic value drivers with key category suppliers to secure collaborative partnerships that challenge the status quo to achieve cost savings, revenue growth, innovation, process optimization, risk mitigation, and enhance overall procurement value.

Drive and monitor sustainability, compliance and risk management initiatives with suppliers.

Implement opportunities for process optimization and efficiency gains, leveraging data analytics to develop long-term continuous improvement programs that achieve strategic objectives.

Assist with the end-to-end procurement process from sourcing strategy to contract negotiation and execution, enabling negotiations with category suppliers and facilitating decisions by conducting required analysis and preparation.

Ensure effective business partnering with stakeholders by engaging early in strategic planning, aligning procurement strategies with functional priorities connecting procurement insights to business value, and delivering sourcing solutions that balance business needs, risk, cost, quality, and speed.

Build trusted relationships, provide clear recommendations, and drive cross-functional collaboration to support innovation, operational excellence, and enterprise value.

Qualifications

Specific and tactical expertise in category management, including market analysis, cost engineering and financial assessment, ensuring strategic and informed procurement decisions.

Ability to assist in negotiation and bidding, adept in implementing complex projects with a focus on effective change management.

Strong capacity and experience building and managing collaborative supplier relationships, aligning procurement activities with business needs.

Innovative problem-solving skills combined with a solution-oriented mindset, enabling creative approaches and influential communication without authority at all organizational levels.

High cross-functional collaboration abilities and teamwork skills, effectively navigating and coordinating diverse team dynamics.

Strong interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence, facilitating empathetic interactions, effective communication, and robust relationship-building across a matrixed organization.

Impactful executive functioning abilities and autonomous work ethic, maintaining efficient performance in challenging situations and building consensus in decision-making.

Minimum Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain Mgmt, Engineering, or related field. Master’s degree is preferred.

Minimum of 7 years of experience in procurement, supply chain, or related business or operations function.

Previous experience managing teams in a procurement function and leading supplier relationships.

Strong proficiency in Microsoft Office suite (Power Platform).

Knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry is 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
Associate Director
Function
Manufacturing & CMC
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
North Chicago, IL
Employment type
Full-time

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Manufacturing & CMC role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 459 comparable Associate Director Manufacturing & CMC roles across 66 biopharma companies.

459Comparable roles tracked
426Currently active
66Companies hiring similar roles
27Countries represented

Salary context

150 of 459 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 $141,500/yr – $268,500/yr
Lowest disclosed · Senior Scientist II – CMC Developmental Sciences · AbbVie $0/hr – $0/hr (≈ $0–$0/yr)
Highest disclosed · Associate Director Packaging Development · Gilead Sciences, Inc. $182,070/yr – $235,620/yr
Peer group range $0 – $208,845 (median $150,600)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 459 comparable roles

United States275
India67
Ireland18
Singapore14
China's Mainland11
Switzerland10

+ 21 more countries

Seniority mix

459 of 459 peers have a known seniority level

Senior251
Manager165
Associate Director43

Therapeutic area mix

0 of 459 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

No peers with a known therapeutic area yet.

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
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Merck Rahway, New Jersey, United States of America Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Novartis Watertown (Massachusetts), United States Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country

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%
Associate Director, CMC Project Management
Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Associate Director, CMC Portfolio Management
AbbVie · North Chicago, IL · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Assoc Director, Outsourced Manufacturing
Gilead Sciences, Inc. · Foster City, United States · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Associate Director, Master Production Planner
Gilead Sciences, Inc. · Foster City, United States · Associate 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.