Director, Government Affairs - Canada

JOB DESCRIPTION:

Working at Abbott

The Opportunity

Bring strengths in advocacy business knowledge judgement and process management to successfully lead Government Affairs efforts for Abbott Canada. Advance Abbotts interests before legislative bodies government agencies/ministries policymakers diplomats and politicians. Engage with and educate allies and influencers including trade associations patient groups practitioner groups consumer groups suppliers political media NGOs and employees. Build the reputation of Abbott Canada Government Affairs as the preferred go-to trusted partner for policymakers allies and our businesses.

What Youll Work On

• Establish and maintain relationships with key members of legislatures ministries civil service and executive offices. This involves identifying key targets prioritizing resources networking with their office staffs and developing outreach and grassroots programs.
• Stay apprised of business goals and strategies to assess the impact of federal or provincial legislative executive and regulatory activities. Consult with appropriate business and corporate personnel in making such determinations providing recommendations and developing action plans.
• Identify health care economic and other policy developments that could impact Abbotts business and operation. Proactively identify opportunities to pursue favorable policies and effectively defend Abbott against policies that could harm patient and shareholder interests. Develop plans to influence legislation and agency actions for both macro and business/product specific initiatives.
• Increase the management and business unit understanding of and participation in the policy-making and political process. Collaborate with the business units for input on critical issues and involve appropriate executives to advance Abbotts positions with policymakers.
• Deliver strong messaging in support of Abbott positions - combining the right substance with a credible trusted approach. Work collaboratively with public affairs legal and other functions as necessary to ensure message consistency and delivery to key targets.
• Participate in or lead projects to maximize team effectiveness such as public events programs community engagement and public speaking.

Deliverables:

• Target: Deep understanding of target policymakers allies and influencers.
• Coverage: The best network (strong ongoing trusted relationships) to reach key players directly and via allies and other key influencers.
• Analysis: Clear understanding of Abbott priorities within and across businesses and compelling data and messaging to convey positions.
• Offer: Delivery of Abbotts desired outcomes by successfully communicating and negotiating with those developing policies (policymakers allies influencers).

Qualifications

• Bachelors degree required.
• Masters degree in political science public policy public health or MBA is preferable. Legal degree a plus.
• Minimum 10 years required in positions of increasing responsibility and experience. Experience in government government affairs public affairs or public policy in best-in-class health care/consumer products industry is strongly desired.
• Proven extensive contact network involvement and success in influencing the development of government policies/legislation and strong knowledge of the process.
• Exceptional skill influencing and managing relationships to develop implement and coordinate strategic direction action plans and tactics.
• Effective relationships with legislators regulators policymakers and leaders in the health care and business community.
• Ability to interface well with key policymakers at senior levels major ally and association policy teams and Abbott executives.
• Experience with federal and provincial legislative and executive branch processes rules and systems.
• Ability to work across government arenas impacting Abbott including Health Canada Environment and Climate Change Canada Finance provincial reimbursement entities and provincial sustainability organizations.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills to synthesize key government issues develop strategy and persuade constituencies.
• Bilingual proficiency in English and French (spoken and written).
• Strong analytical skills to dissect complex range of public issues and assess potential impacts to Abbott.
• High degree of strategic thinking decision-making and tactical skills to develop broad strategy and policy options and recommendations. Ability to coordinate with trade/business/ally organizations to promote Abbotts position with urgency and tight deadlines.

The base pay for this position is

In specific locations the pay range may vary from the range posted.

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