AbbVie Posted July 8, 2026

Associate Director, Clinical Pharmacology

Irvine, CA Full-time
Clinical Development 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

Conceives, executes and effectively manages and communicates multi-disciplinary Clinical Pharmacology development plans and strategies that achieve commercial goals and regulatory requirements for multiple functions. Generates new PK/PD study proposals and leads those efforts. Anticipates and critically evaluates Clinical Pharmacology, PK/PD or regulatory advances, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and responds with appropriate new strategies. Consistently demonstrates excellent record of accomplishment of Clinical Pharmacology and business objectives. Leads Clinical Pharmacology/PK/PD aspects of multiple projects. Responsible for critically evaluating technical and scientific aspects along with Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacometrics management.

Responsibilities

Accountable for Phase 1-4 studies design, and clinical pharmacology strategy; acts as the representative for project(s).

Executes strategy, lead teams and various data analyses and interpretation by providing necessary context (including explaining MoA and disease specifics, available relevant internal and external data, analysis plans, interpretation and discussion of model results in the context of research question).

Author regulatory documents including protocols, study reports, population PK reports, exposure-response analyses reports, CTDs, label sections, relevant section of investigator brochures, white papers, and other similar documents.

Leads clinical pharmacology and biopharmaceutics meetings, serve as CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY representative at Clinical Strategy Team/Asset Development Team and present at various departmental and cross functional teams such as study teams, CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY leadership team, Journal club.

Drives small teams with members from CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY functional groups to provide a unified clinical pharmacology position to clinical, CMC and regulatory teams.

Authors scientific publications and present at national and international conferences and interact with KOLs/external stakeholders.

Conducts due diligence assessments, summarizes results and represents CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY on business development teams.

Represents Clinical Pharmacology at regulatory meetings.

Qualifications

PhD with typically 4+ years of experience or Pharm D with typically 6+ years of experience in a relevant field, Master’s Degree or equivalent education and typically 12+ years of experience, Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent education and typically 14+ years of experience;(*relevant field includes experience with PK, PBPK, PK-PD, Pharmacometrics or systems pharmacology, Drug metabolism/Transporters)

Excellent interpersonal skills

Ability to interact with functional representatives and KOLs externally and internally and lead team(s)

Strategic thinking and enterprise view

Proven scientific track record and technical skills to perform the role

Key Leadership Competencies:

• Delivers business results while also positioning AbbVie for long-term success

• Persistent and resilient finds the way to move good ideas forward

• Acts respectfully yet courageously

• Connects unrelated concepts, generates original or unique ideas

• Influences colleagues to achieve cross-functional alignment

• Gives full accountability when delegating and accepts full accountability when delegated to by others

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
Clinical Development
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Irvine, CA
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 309 comparable Associate Director Clinical Development roles across 48 biopharma companies.

309Comparable roles tracked
273Currently active
48Companies hiring similar roles
28Countries represented

Salary context

65 of 309 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
Peer group range $90,199 – $315,000 (median $180,000)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 309 comparable roles

United States106
India87
China13
Poland11
United Kingdom11
Spain9

+ 22 more countries

Seniority mix

309 of 309 peers have a known seniority level

Manager146
Senior91
Associate Director72

Therapeutic area mix

24 of 309 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology9
Immunology6
Cardiovascular / CVRM4
Neuroscience3
Dermatology & Aesthetics1
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.

60%similar
AbbVie Irvine, CA Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
GlaxoSmithKline LLC Upper Providence, United States Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Corixa Corporation Home Worker, United States Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) Tarrytown, United States Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
E.R. Squibb & Sons,L.L.C. Cambridge Crossing, 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, Aesthetics Clinical Development
AbbVie · Irvine, CA · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Associate Director, Local Delivery Lead/Local Trial Manager
Corixa Corporation · Home Worker, United States · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Associate Director, Global Clinical Science, Neuroscience
E.R. Squibb & Sons,L.L.C. · Cambridge Crossing, United States · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Associate Director, Biostatistics
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.