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 Officer

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 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 QA 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 Officer

  • 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

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 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.

 

 

 

 

North West England

North West England is one of nine official regions of England.  It consists of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside.   Major towns and cities in the North West include Manchester, Liverpool, Bolton, Carlisle, Macclesfield, Knutsford, Blackpool and Warrington.

Cumbria in the north of the region is largely rural whereas the south of the region is much more densely populated.  The North West is known as the “Northern Powerhouse” thanks to its strong history in manufacturing.  In days gone by the region was particularly famous for its textile industry, but the manufacturing today is based  more on food and drink, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and transport.   Digital technology, including games and software development, is also a major sector in the region, particularly in Liverpool and Manchester which have both seen huge growth in tech start-ups.

Famous people born in the North West:  Wayne Rooney, footballer and Paul McCartney, musician.

North West England is a great place to further your career in life sciences. If you are a looking for pharmaceutical jobs in North West England, scientific careers in North West England or want to discuss cell therapy, gene therapy, ATMP, medical device, technology, biotech or pharmaceutical job opportunities in North West England, give our Next Phase team a call. The North West 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 North West, 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 given area.