AbbVie Posted July 6, 2026

Director, Preclinical Quality Assurance

North Chicago, IL Full-time
Quality 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

Primarily responsible for ensuring adherence to GLP regulations and developing an organizational model for the global Quality Assurance Unit. Manage a team of audit professionals responsible for quality oversight of all non-clinical GLP and GCP regulated studies.

Responsibilities:

• Management of the Preclinical Quality Assurance Team including the Preclinical QA Audit Program. Ensure adherence to GLP and GCP laboratory regulations. Collaborate with GXP Vendor Compliance to ensure all external vendors, who provide materials and services on behalf of AbbVie, are appropriately approved priorto use.

• Develop an organizational model for internal GLP audit coverage and ensure appropriate capabilities and resources exist.

• Consultation with Test Facility Management, Study Directors and Principal Investigators regarding GLP and laboratory GCP requirements. Advocate for Quality standards and clearly and logically justify such positions to be seen as a subject matter expert and advisor.

• Evaluation of new respectively revised regulatory or legal requirements as they apply to non-clinical laboratories including study activities. Where applicable, initiation of implementation in the R&D Quality System.

• Attend Peer Industry working groups on relevant topics in GLP, GCP and other laboratory relevant regulatory guidance’s. conduct of industrial benchmarking.

• Define quality goals for both annual and long-range plans. Work with management and department personnel to achieve goals and strategic initiatives.

• Support the Pre-Clinical Due Diligence activities program for RDQA. Work with Business Development to ensure appropriate cross-functional assessment of targeted asset(s) and consolidate all RDQA Due Diligence findings for communication/recommendation to Business Development.

• Conduct functional area management review; prepare appropriate metrics and present significant events to senior management.

• Define and execute goals and personnel development plans within the group. Provide annual performance reviews for direct reports. Recommend hiring, promotion and disciplinary action for staff.

Qualifications

10+ years of experience in Quality Assurance or related field including a thorough understanding of pharmaceutical processes and product development principles, technical competence in bioanalytical laboratory operations and expert knowledge of global GLP regulations.

Key leadership competencies are relationship building, ability to influence at all levels, fostering teamwork, knowledge of the business, sound judgment, the ability to make difficult decisions, conflict resolution, strong oral and written communication skills and excellent interpersonal skills.

Ability to make critical, creative and strategic decisions as a result of rapid analysis of available information, including risk-assessment for the patient and for the business. Must be able to respond quickly to unplanned events and changing needs from development programs.

Skilled in the selection, coordination and management of projects and have ability to resolve unusually complex technical problems by providing solutions that are highly innovative.

Accreditation by a professional body is desirable (e.g. American Society for Quality (ASQ) Certified Quality Manager (CQM) and/or Certified Quality Auditor (CQA)).

Membership in professional organizations, e.g. Midwest Discussion Group, SQA and IQ Consortium, recommended for remaining current with peer organizations and providing opportunity to influence industry positions.

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience is required; preferably in sciences, engineering or other technical/scientific area.

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 thisposting 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 anduntil 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
Quality
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
North Chicago, IL
Employment type
Full-time

How this role compares

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

We currently track 44 comparable Director Quality roles across 15 biopharma companies.

44Comparable roles tracked
36Currently active
15Companies hiring similar roles
10Countries represented

Salary context

23 of 44 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
Peer group range $117,325 – $265,000 (median $192,400)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 44 comparable roles

United States31
Ireland3
Singapore2
China2
Canada1
Japan1

+ 4 more countries

Seniority mix

44 of 44 peers have a known seniority level

Director23
Principal14
Senior Director7

Therapeutic area mix

0 of 44 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
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Novartis Cambridge (USA), United States Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Gilead Sciences, Inc. Foster City, United States Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Gilead Sciences, Inc. Foster City, United States Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) Saratoga Springs, United States Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) Saratoga Springs, United States 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%
Director, Clinical Quality Assurance
AbbVie · North Chicago, IL · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director - Product Quality Complaints
Gilead Sciences, Inc. · Foster City, United States · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director, Quality Technical Operations
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) · Rensselaer, United States · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Quality Compliance, Director
Amgen Inc. · Holly Springs, United States · 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.