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Associate Director, Clinical Trial Patient Safety

AbbVie · North Chicago, IL · Remote available · Full time · Other

Posted Sep 25, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Oct 6, 2026

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Likely interview questions for this role

Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.

About your past

Tell me about a time your team was falling behind on safety case or data review timelines. What did you do?

What they are checking: Whether they can lead a team out of a backlog without cutting corners, since safety timelines are both regulated and critical.

How do you develop staff and build their knowledge in a technical safety function?

What they are checking: Whether they invest in building their staff's skills, because safety work demands deep, specialized knowledge that takes time to grow.

Tell me about a process improvement you led in pharmacovigilance or safety data review.

What they are checking: Whether they actively improve safety processes, rather than only managing existing ones, which keeps the function efficient as work grows.

What would you do

You find a pattern of late SAE reporting from several sites in one study. What steps do you take?

What they are checking: Whether they can find the cause of late safety reporting and work with clinical operations to fix it, protecting patients.

How would you turn a director's vision for the team into actions your staff can execute?

What they are checking: Whether they can turn a leader's broad vision into concrete steps their team can follow, which is central to this role.

Two studies need the same experienced reviewer this month. How do you decide?

What they are checking: Whether they prioritize resources by risk to patients, which is the right basis for decisions in clinical safety work.

About the work

Walk me through how adverse event surveillance works across clinical studies for a compound.

What they are checking: Whether they understand how safety surveillance works across a compound's studies, since this role oversees it to protect trial participants.

What does inspection ready mean for a clinical trial safety team, day to day?

What they are checking: Whether they know what daily inspection readiness looks like, because regulators expect safety records to be timely and complete at all times.

How do you project workload for a safety team when study timelines keep moving?

What they are checking: Whether they can forecast workload sensibly when timelines shift, so the safety team stays staffed and avoids missed deadlines.

What systems have you used for safety data, and how do you make sure they support quality outputs?

What they are checking: Whether they know safety systems well enough to oversee them, since good outputs depend on reliable tools and data.

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The full job description

As published by AbbVie.

Purpose : This position supports the Clinical Trial Patient Safety (CTPS) organization to achieve its mission of evaluating and ensuring the quality of clinical trial patient safety data by consistent and accurate delivery of high-quality, relevant and timely data review. To create a culture of process improvement, employee development, performance measures, project prioritization, and to develop/implement successful solutions leading the CTPS team, translating the business vision into broad and actionable strategies. Responsibilities : This position is responsible for world-wide surveillance of clinical trial patient safety data, including organization, resourcing and continuous improvement efforts. Supports Director of CTPS. Core Job Responsibilities include: • Manages assigned operational area(s)compound associated clinical studies and related systems to ensure clinical safety adverse event surveillance is managed in a compliant and timely manner meeting quality outputs within an inspection-ready environment. • Establish, monitor, evaluate, and communicate workload projections and metrics for operational area(s). • Supports department and divisional training programs, ongoing knowledge attainment, and development of staff by effectively identifying department and division needs and successfully presenting them to management. • Creates and sustains an environment that attracts, develops, and retains talented scientific professionals. Plans and conducts active talent management. • Assist management with strategic planning and department development. Develop and participate in special projects for respective teams or CTPS initiatives. • Applies advanced knowledge of ICH, FDA, EMA regulations and guidelines affecting drug safety issues to assigned responsibilities as they impact on CTPS processes, procedures, and global reporting requirements. • Partner with therapeutic area MDs/medical monitors to provide oversight of medical safety review at the compound study level, including ad-hoc safety reports, IRB/IEC safety issues, narratives, etc. • Provide oversight of narrative deliverables, issue management, document management systems, and centralized data review for assigned compound associated clinical studies. Effectively communicates/escalates relevant study and/or team-related information to appropriate clinical team members and/or management. • Understands, implements and improves department SOPs as part of continuous improvement, including implementation of new regulatory requirements. • Aligns and maintains effective communication channels with key clinical, medical, study team, including regulatory, compliance, and pharmacovigilance counterparts. Provides perspective, insight and benchmark information and approaches for business-related initiatives. • Manages 5 to 10 people. • Bachelor’s degree in a healthcare discipline (i.e. Life Science, Pharmacy, Nursing or healthcare profession, or biomedical disciplines). Graduate degree preferred. 10 years of experience in clinical research in the pharmaceutical industry. • Project management experience with cross-functional projects. Knowledge of the drug development process which includes clinical trial conduct, scientific strategy and operations management for the planning, execution and reporting of clinical development programs, regulatory requirements for submission, product launch and post marketing support. • Experience in one or more of the following areas: clinical operations management, clinical study management, drug development, risk management, and/or drug safety operations. Understanding tools, standards and approaches to efficiently evaluate drug safety. • Demonstrated effectiveness in working in a multidisciplinary, matrix team environment with the ability to manage change. • Leadership and communication skills that minimally include: effective and timely communication of project objectives, issues/risks and other project information required to keep the team and management informed. • Demonstrated sound judgment to manage conflict and negotiations constructively and develop effective working relationships to enable high performing teams. 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

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