Associate Director - Statistics, Specialty TA (Hybrid)
Posted Sep 9, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Oct 6, 2026
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
How do you represent statistics on a project team where everyone wants a faster path?
What they are checking: Whether they protect statistical rigor on a team pushing for speed, while still helping find a responsible faster path.
You'd train and mentor staff on statistical methodology. How do you develop a statistician who is technically strong but can't explain their work?
What they are checking: Whether they can develop communication skills in strong technical staff, a common gap that limits a statistician's influence.
How do you explain a statistical limitation to a clinical team that wants a clear answer?
What they are checking: Whether they can give a clinical team a clear answer while keeping the important caveat intact and understood.
Tell me about a time your statistical view held up a decision people wanted to make.
What they are checking: Whether they have held their ground when the statistics were unwelcome, which protects patients and the company's credibility with regulators.
What would you do
Interim results look promising but not conclusive. What do you advise?
What they are checking: Whether they stay disciplined with ambiguous interim data, resisting pressure to read more into it than the evidence supports.
This is a hybrid role based at North Chicago. Does that arrangement work for you?
What they are checking: Whether the hybrid schedule at North Chicago genuinely works for them, so there are no surprises after an offer is made.
About the work
This role gives statistical leadership for clinical development in a specialty therapeutic area. Walk me through your part in designing a pivotal trial.
What they are checking: Whether they have shaped trial design themselves, not only analyzed data after others set the design and endpoints.
The posting names leading regulatory submission strategy. What's your experience with a submission, and what did you own in it?
What they are checking: Whether they have owned real parts of a regulatory submission, since this role leads statistical strategy for filings.
The role asks you to propose novel statistical methodological approaches. When is a novel method worth the regulatory risk, and when isn't it?
What they are checking: Whether they weigh the benefit of a novel method against regulatory acceptance risk, rather than pursuing novelty for its own sake.
How do you decide on a sample size when the assumptions are uncertain?
What they are checking: Whether they set sample size with sensitivity to uncertain assumptions, since that one number drives the cost and success of a trial.
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Practice this out loudThe full job description
As published by AbbVie.