Director II, Clinical Vendor Partnerships

Provides vision, strategy, and governance for AbbVie’s clinical vendor partnership framework, ensuring external partnerships are strategically aligned, performance-driven, and accountable to CDO clinical trial delivery priorities. Partners closely with Procurement and CDO leadership to establish effective operating models, vendor prioritization, and decision-making processes that support overarching CDO strategy and evolving business needs. Leads strategic oversight of external clinical vendors to reduce fragmentation, accelerate delivery, improve quality, and enable informed trade-offs across cost, speed, risk, and operational excellence. Serves as a trusted strategic advisor on vendor strategy, engagement models, performance management, and partnership optimization in support of clinical development goals. Demonstrates strong leadership of cross-functional teams, including internal colleagues and external partners, fostering collaboration, accountability, and a high-performance culture.

• ​​End-to-End Vendor Lifecycle Ownership: Owns the full vendor lifecycle including strategy, selection, engagement, governance, performance management, and continuous optimization across the clinical portfolio 

• ​Vendor Strategy & Relationships: Strengthens strategic relationships with key vendors, moving beyond transactional oversight to true partnership management and continuous improvement. 

• ​Sourcing Strategy & Vendor Selection: Shapes sourcing strategies and vendor selection approaches in partnership with Procurement and business stakeholders, ensuring alignment to business goals and performance expectations 

• ​Stakeholder & Procurement Partnership: Builds strong, trusted partnerships with CDO Leadership, Procurement and cross-functional stakeholders to align priorities, drive effective decision-making, and enable seamless vendor execution.  

• ​Performance Strategy & Accountability: Establishes clear accountability and operating rhythms with key vendors to ensure strong execution, reliable delivery, and alignment to study milestones and clinical development priorities. Identifies opportunities to reduce fragmentation across vendor relationships and improve efficiency, speed, and quality in study execution 

• ​Data-Driven Decision Support: Translates vendor performance data and insights into actionable recommendations, enabling portfolio trade-offs across cost, speed, quality, and risk 

• ​Portfolio-Level Risk & Issue Management: Identifies systemic vendor risks and trends; leads resolution of cross-study and enterprise-level issues with clear escalation and mitigation strategies 

• ​Vendor Segmentation & Governance Model: Defines and applies vendor segmentation and differentiated governance approaches based on business impact, risk, and strategic importance 

• ​Operating Model & Ways of Working: Establishes and evolves vendor operating models, governance structures, and standardized processes to improve consistency, efficiency, and scalability. Responsible for compliance with applicable Corporate and Divisional policies and procedures, including adherence to contractual/SOW requirements. 

• ​Team Leadership & Culture: Builds and fosters a high-performing, collaborative culture across internal teams and external vendor partners by promoting shared accountability, clear communication, trust, and alignment to clinical development priorities. 

• ​​Bachelor’s degree (or country equivalent) in a relevant field such as business, economics, health administration, or life sciences; Master’s degree preferred. 

• ​12+ years of clinical development experience and/or applicable work experience, including significant experience working with global third-party vendors. 

• ​Demonstrated experience leading strategic vendor partnerships, governance forums, and performance management processes. 

• ​Strong leadership skills with the ability to influence without direct authority and foster collaboration across functions. 

• ​Proven ability to build trusted relationships with senior leaders, internal partners, and external vendors. 

• ​Strong analytical and decision-making skills, including the ability to synthesize data into actionable recommendations. 

• ​Experience partnering with Procurement, Finance, and other support functions to support effective operating models and business decisions. 

• ​Effective problem-solving, risk mitigation, and conflict-resolution skills in a complex global environment. 

• ​Demonstrated ability to drive accountability, align stakeholders, and improve business outcomes through strong leadership and governance.

Key Stakeholders: TA Directors, CDO Leadership Team Members, Procurement, Finance, Regulatory, Legal IT and external clinical vendors 

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.

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. 

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