Government Affairs Director, Russia & CIS

Government Affairs Director, Russia & CIS

The Government Affairs Director, Russia & CIS, is a senior strategic leadership role responsible for shaping the external policy environment, protecting AbbVie’s innovation-driven portfolio, and enabling sustainable patient access to innovative medicines across Russia and CIS markets. The role leads enterprise-level engagement with policymakers, regulators, industry associations, patient organizations, and other external stakeholders, while partnering closely with regional, global, and cross-functional leaders to translate policy priorities into measurable business impact.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the development and execution of AbbVie’s government affairs strategy for Russia and CIS markets, ensuring strong alignment with business priorities, portfolio strategy, market access objectives, and regional/global direction.

• Shape the external healthcare policy environment by building trusted, senior-level relationships with policymakers, regulators, industry associations, expert communities, patient organizations, and other relevant stakeholders.

• Anticipate, assess, and manage material political, policy, regulatory, reimbursement, and market access risks that may affect AbbVie’s strategic brands, launch plans, investment decisions, or long-term commercial sustainability.

• Develop evidence-based advocacy strategies, policy positions, engagement plans, and external materials that reinforce the value of innovation and support sustainable access to original medicines.

• Serve as a senior strategic advisor to local, regional, and global leadership on external environment dynamics, policy risks, stakeholder expectations, and implications for AbbVie’s portfolio and business plans.

• Partner with Commercial, Market Access, Medical, Regulatory, Legal, OEC, Finance, Supply Chain, and Corporate Affairs teams to ensure coordinated execution of priority policy and access initiatives.

• Strengthen AbbVie’s government affairs capabilities, operating discipline, and external reputation by applying best practices, clear governance, high-quality analysis, and proactive stakeholder management.

• Represent AbbVie’s priorities in appropriate external forums and industry platforms, ensuring consistent, compliant, and business-relevant positioning on healthcare policy, innovation, and access topics.

• Strategic Project Coordination and Portfolio Protection

• Coordinate high-impact, cross-functional strategic projects within the area of responsibility, ensuring clear governance, senior stakeholder alignment, disciplined execution, and measurable outcomes.

• Lead portfolio-protection initiatives focused on intellectual property, compulsory licensing risk, localization and procurement-preference policies, pricing pressure, and other protectionist measures that may affect AbbVie’s innovation agenda.

• Establish early-warning and mitigation approaches for external policy changes that could impact launch readiness, portfolio sustainability, or patient access to innovative medicines.

• Shape credible policy alternatives and engagement strategies that balance government affordability objectives with sustainable access to innovation and protection of the value of original medicines.

• Provide senior leadership with concise, decision-oriented updates on policy risks, mitigation actions, stakeholder dynamics, and implications for AbbVie’s strategic brands and long-term access strategy.

Qualifications:

• Senior-level experience in government affairs, public policy, market access, external affairs, healthcare policy, or a related field, preferably within the pharmaceutical, healthcare, life sciences, trade association, or government environment.

• Strong understanding of healthcare policy, regulatory decision-making, reimbursement dynamics, intellectual property considerations, and the external factors that influence access to innovative medicines.

• Proven ability to engage, influence, and build trust with senior external stakeholders, including policymakers, regulators, industry bodies, expert communities, and patient organizations.

• Demonstrated ability to lead complex cross-functional projects in a matrix organization, aligning diverse stakeholders around clear priorities, governance, timelines, and outcomes.

• Strong strategic judgment, analytical capability, and business acumen, with the ability to translate external environment developments into practical options, recommendations, and mitigation plans.

• Excellent executive communication skills, including the ability to develop clear narratives, persuasive policy positions, leadership updates, and high-quality written materials.

• High degree of independence, accountability, integrity, and resilience, with the ability to operate effectively in a complex, fast-moving, and highly regulated environment.

• Strong collaboration skills and the ability to partner effectively with Commercial, Market Access, Medical, Regulatory, Legal, OEC, Finance, Supply Chain, regional, and global teams.

• Fluent English and Russian, both spoken and written; additional CIS-market language capability is a plus.