Associate Director, Business Process Owner

AbbVie•North Chicago, IL

4h•$141,500 - $268,500

About The Position

The Associate Director, Clinical Business Process Owner (BPO) is accountable for continually optimizing high-complexity, end-to-end clinical business processes — defined as process areas with a high number of cross-functional stakeholders and significant process steps — including leading the cross-functional working teams that identify and define improvement opportunities and ensure accurate documentation, training, compliance, and system alignment. The Associate Director, BPO will identify, plan, and execute opportunities to drive innovative, enterprise-aligned process excellence and deliver on organizational strategies, goals, and objectives. They serve as the primary point of contact for continuous process improvement and change management activities for their assigned processes, and communicate key updates and strategic recommendations to senior leadership for alignment and endorsement.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree strongly preferred (e.g., life sciences, engineering, or related discipline).
Minimum 8 years in Pharmaceutical, Healthcare, or a regulated industry; 6+ years with Master's, 4+ years with PhD (required); demonstrated experience owning and governing end-to-end business processes in a regulated environment (clinical development, GxP, quality systems, or similar).
Minimum 5+ years of process management and continuous improvement experience preferred; demonstrated experience managing high-complexity processes with a high number of cross-functional stakeholders.
Strong understanding of clinical development operations and the regulatory/inspection context; ability to apply this knowledge to process decisions and risk management.
Proven ability to lead cross-functional alignment and stakeholder management, including conflict resolution and escalation when needed; track record of delivering impactful, transformative change in a complex matrixed organization.
Experience defining process performance measures, monitoring process health, and driving continuous improvement using data and structured problem solving; strong business insight and ability to generate robust business cases and impact analyses.
Familiarity with process design and documentation standards and methods (e.g., process mapping/BPMN, Lean/Six Sigma concepts), including partnering effectively with process architects/engineers.
Experience partnering with technology/system owners on process-to-system alignment and change impacts (requirements, readiness, and UAT support).
Strong change leadership skills, including partnering on communications, training alignment, and adoption/sustainment planning.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to translate complex process topics into clear guidance for diverse audiences, including senior leadership.
Understanding of Lean/Six Sigma; Black Belt, BPMP, or similar preferred.

Responsibilities

Serve as the accountable owner for assigned high-complexity clinical business processes across their lifecycle (Engage → Evaluate → Execute → Measure → Sustain), defining process scope, intended outcomes, and decision rights; operate with significant independence to partner with functional leaders and SMEs to streamline and optimize complex, cross-functional process areas.
Establish and maintain an end-to-end process governance model (standards, forums, escalations, and stakeholder alignment) to ensure consistent global execution and a unified, authoritative voice to the business across high-complexity domains.
Own process health and sustainability by defining and monitoring key process signals and KPIs, performing periodic process reviews and listening sessions with stakeholders, identifying emerging risks, and driving timely mitigation and continuous improvement; escalate strategic risks to leadership for decision on alignment.
Translate complex business and regulatory needs into clear process requirements and partner with Process Excellence roles (e.g., process design/engineering) to ensure documentation is complete, consistent, and inspection-ready across high-complexity areas.
Act as the authoritative point of contact for process questions within the domain; curate and maintain process knowledge content and ensure fit-for-purpose guidance for end users, proactively alerting leadership of trends, knowledge gaps, and remediation plans.
Lead cross-functional and GBO working teams to align priorities, trade-offs, and adoption plans; manage competing stakeholder interests and navigate ambiguity to ensure decisions are transparent, strategic, and durable.
Partner with stakeholders to ensure change narratives, communications, and role-based training enable effective adoption and sustained performance across complex, multi-stakeholder process domains.
Coordinate and coach a domain SME network to support process adherence, identify improvement opportunities, and reinforce standard ways of working; embed innovation and digital/AI enablement into process oversight where appropriate.
Partner with system and business owners to ensure process-to-system alignment, impact assessment for changes, and effective implementation support (e.g., acceptance criteria, UAT input, and readiness planning).
May manage 0–4 direct reports; responsible for performance management, development planning, and building a high-performing, accountable team culture.