National AI Awards 2025Discover AI's trailblazers! Join us to celebrate innovation and nominate industry leaders.

Nominate & Attend

Director SMA

AbbVie Inc
Maidenhead
2 weeks ago
Create job alert


Company Description

The Director, Study Management Association Organization (SMAO) plays a pivotal role in driving operational excellence across AbbVie's clinical study execution. The Director, SMAO ensures that we have the right talent pipeline and resource planning strategies in place to deliver best-in-class study execution. This role is accountable for the comprehensive strategic resource planning and capability development of the SMAO organization. This includes setting the geographic footprint strategy, rigorous resource forecasting, and dynamically shifting resources to support evolving business priorities. It also includes the cultivation of an upskilling curriculum designed to continuously elevate SMA capabilities. This experienced, adept, and inspirational people manager reports to a Clinical Study Leadership (CSL) Vice President and is a people leader for up to 15 SMAO Line Managers and approximately 200 indirect reports.


Job Description

•Spearhead strategic workforce planning and resource management to maintain business continuity, respond agilely to changes, and meet or exceed organizational deliverables and goals across the portfolio.
•Develop and implement a robust, white glove role-focused training program to standardize skills, elevate performance, and enable exemplary study execution from each SMA.
•Cultivate an inclusive, innovative community that promotes continuous learning, empowers professional career growth, and develops leadership skills in the future leaders of AbbVie.
•Drive a high-performance culture by implementing an evergreen performance feedback process focused on setting clear expectations, coaching, providing growth opportunities, and proactive performance management.
•Nurture strategic partnerships across the matrix environment to inspire cohesive teamwork, enhance collaboration and productivity, and increase the likelihood of achieving aggressive execution targets.
•Adeptly communicate strategy and drive stakeholder alignment as a respected leadership voice.
•Apply structured problem-solving to navigate complex challenges, leverage data to drive decisions, and reconcile diverse perspectives to drive business deliverables.
•Contribute expertise to developing operational policies and procedures including Quality Systems Documents (QSDs), change management, and the SMAO training curriculum.
•Identify opportunities and champion initiatives within SMAO/CSL/CDO that drive organizational efficiencies, optimize processes, and adopt best practice.
.


Qualifications

•Bachelor's degree required, degree in healthcare, life sciences or scientific field preferred.
•Minimum of 10 years of relevant clinical research experience in the pharmaceutical/biotech setting and/or relevant clinical research organization.
•At least (5) years of direct people management experience.
•Proven record of successfully leading and developing high-performing teams whilst managing multiple priorities in a fast‐paced environment.
•Exceptional ability to inspire, influence, and build trust across the matrix.
•Strong collaboration, coaching/ mentoring, and leadership experience.
•Excellent communicator able to clearly articulate vision and convey complex information.
•Strong analytical skills and strategic problem-solving mindset. Ability to evaluate complex issues from multiple perspectives and implement solutions to solve root cause problems.
•Ability to adapt easily to rapidly changing needs, requirements and situations while modeling AbbVie’s leadership attributes. High integrity, ethics and commitment to AbbVie's values and leadership principles.
•Extensive working knowledge of GCP and regulatory environment for drug development.
.

Study Management Associates, SMAO Line Managers, SMAO Directors, CSL TA Heads/Directors, CSL Program Leads, CSL Study Project Managers, CDO Chief of Staffs, CDO-LT, R&D Strategic Resourcing (RDSR), Vendor Strategy & Relationships (VSR)


.


Additional Information

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, visithttps://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


#J-18808-Ljbffr

Related Jobs

View all jobs

Consulting Director: Business Transformation

IT AV Manager - Contract - London to Nov 2027

Director Market Access & Reimbursement EMEA - Shockwave

Associate Director, Information and Cyber Security

Director Market Access & Reimbursement EMEA - Shockwave

Associate Director, Information and Cyber Security

National AI Awards 2025

Subscribe to Future Tech Insights for the latest jobs & insights, direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of service.

Industry Insights

Discover insightful articles, industry insights, expert tips, and curated resources.

How to Present Biotech Concepts to Non-Scientists: A Public Speaking Guide for Job Seekers

In today’s biotechnology job market, your ability to explain complex science clearly is just as important as your lab skills. Whether you're applying for a research role, pitching to investors, or collaborating with marketing teams, you'll often need to present technical information to people without a scientific background. This blog explores how biotechnology job seekers can develop and deliver compelling presentations that make sense to non-scientists. From structuring your content to designing effective slides and using storytelling to bring data to life, these techniques will help you stand out in interviews and on the job.

Biotech Jobs Employer Hotlist 2025: 50 UK Companies Actively Hiring Right Now 

Bookmark this guide – we refresh it every quarter so you always know who’s really expanding their life‑science teams. The UK biotechnology scene is on a tear in 2025. Venture & follow‑on funding hit £3.5 billion last year, up 94 % on 2023, and Q1 2025 alone brought in another £924 million of equity for scaling therapeutics, diagnostics & deep‑tech platforms  bioindustry.org. Meanwhile, Westminster’s new industrial strategy pledges a record £86 billion for science & tech, with life sciences top of the eight “high‑growth” priority sectors . The consequence? Hiring is white‑hot. From big‑pharma giants to gene‑editing start‑ups, employers need research scientists, QC analysts, bioprocess engineers, bioinformaticians, regulatory specialists & commercial leads – right now. Below you’ll find 50 organisations that have posted UK vacancies or announced head‑count growth during the past eight weeks. They’re grouped into five bite‑size categories so you can jump straight to the type of employer – & mission – that excites you. For every entry you’ll see: Main UK hub Example recent vacancy Why it’s worth your time (tech, culture, impact) Use the internal search on BiotechnologyJobs.co.uk to pull up live roles, or set a free alert so fresh openings land in your inbox.

Return-to-Work Pathways: Relaunch Your Biotechnology Career with Returnships, Flexible & Hybrid Roles

Returning to work after a career break can feel like stepping into a new frontier—especially in a fast-evolving sector such as biotechnology. Whether you’ve paused your professional journey for parenting, caring responsibilities or another life chapter, the UK’s biotech industry now offers a variety of return-to-work pathways designed to help you transition back smoothly. From formal returnships and part-time contracts to hybrid and fully flexible roles, these programmes acknowledge the value of your transferable skills and life experience. In this guide tailored for parents and carers, you’ll discover how to: Grasp the current demand for biotech talent in the UK Translate your organisational, communication and resilience skills into the laboratory and beyond Tackle common re-entry challenges with practical solutions Refresh your scientific and technical knowledge through targeted learning Access returnship and re-entry programmes specifically in biotech Find roles that fit around family commitments—be they flexible, hybrid or full-time Balance work with caring duties Navigate applications, interviews and networking in the biotech world Learn from inspiring returner success stories Get quick answers in our FAQ section Whether you’re keen to step back into a research lab, quality control, regulatory affairs or bioinformatics team, this article will map out the steps and resources you need to reignite your biotechnology career.