Welcome to Next Phase Recruitment! Please see below our current jobs that match your search criteria. For a broader job search please visit the home page or call us on 01403 216216 to discuss career options in other areas of Life Science and Technology.

Welcome to Next Phase Recruitment! Please use the above link to see our current jobs that match your search criteria. For a broader job search please visit the home page or call us on 01403 216216 to discuss career options in other areas of Life Science and Technology.

Quality Assurance Manager

Quality Assurance (QA) is a vital function within all Pharmaceutical and Medical Device companies.  Job titles within the QA area can vary a great deal across different companies, with titles including QA Coordinator, QA Associate, QA Officer, QA Specialist, QA Officer and QA Scientist, then progressing to QA Manager, QA Lead etc. The QA terms, especially at junior-to-intermediate level, are often quite interchangeable.

The QA team is typically responsible for ensuring that the quality standards and systems followed in the manufacture of drugs is in compliance with Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and meets the specific quality standards laid out in the company’s Quality Management System (QMS). A QMS will include quality standards for internal audits, deviations, change controls, corrective actions, quality review reports, clean room monitoring, batch record review, and external documentation reviews.   

A pharmaceutical QA professional’s responsibilities will include analysing the production process of pharmaceuticals, identifying areas where errors prevail, root cause analysis, observing every activity,  monitoring the drugs being manufactured or packed for visible defects, testing the drugs (or at least interpreting the data from lab-based QC analysis), noting down observations gathered from the quality control process, and accepting or rejecting batches of drugs on the basis of samples (Batch Release). Quality Assurance teams will often be divided into different groups, with some more focused on batch record review while others are more involved in non-conformance investigations and SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) updates.

Skills and Experience required to become a Quality Assurance Manager

  • Science degree (this is not always essential)
  • Experience gained in a GMP / ISO environment
  • QA processes and systems
  • Diplomacy
  • Batch record processing
  • Ability to multi-task
  • Previous experience in a QA role at a more junior level

Salary Levels

Quality Assurance salaries can vary enormously depending on what specific QA duties the person will be undertaking. If the QA role is a relatively entry-level or administrative one, focused on batch review or entry and processing of Quality Assurance documents / data, salaries could be in the £18k - £24k range. Salaries can then increase steadily once you start to specialise in a particular QA area, especially if this means getting involved in hosting / conducting internal or external audits, continuous improvement initiatives, team leadership, or training. Quality Assurance offers a varied and interesting career path and you could earn up to £40k in a non-management role and significantly more than this once you are in a management-level position.

 

 

 

 

Wales has become home to some of the world’s most progressive companies within the Life Sciences industry. The sector has developed into established clusters of excellence in high-growth markets including, in vitro diagnostic, single use technology and Wound care.

Medical technology companies in Wales vary from large corporate multinationals (including Thermo Fisher Scientific and Zimmer/Biomet) to smaller start-ups built around innovation arising from the Welsh academic research base such as MedaPhor and Cyden.

Wales can boast some world leading anchor companies. Employment in the Welsh medical technology sector is dominated by significant and leading enterprises, such as GE Healthcare, Siemens Healthcare, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Zimmer Biomet.

Their eight universities are home to over 160,000 students, 12,000 of these in Life Sciences, and take part in a wide range of research and technology projects offering meaningful partnering opportunities for Life Sciences businesses.

Wales is a great place to further your career in life sciences. If you are a looking for pharmaceutical jobs in Wales, scientific careers in Wales or want to discuss cell therapy, gene therapy, ATMP, medical device, technology, biotech or pharmaceutical job opportunities in Wales, give our Next Phase team a call. The Welsh area is continuing to expand as a centre for jobs in science, process development, technology, software development, project management, informatics, quality, reg affairs and supply chain.

 

At Next Phase we help people find new jobs in life sciences across the UK, Europe and USA. This page lists some of the job opportunities in the UK, and if you give us a call we can also talk to you about other scientific jobs, pharmaceutical career opportunities and the latest updates in cell and gene therapy and ATMP development in the area.