Associate Director, Quality Risk Specialist -Princeton NJ

Associate Director, RBQM – Hematology, Oncology, Cell Therapy, Immunology, Cardiology and Neuroscience

The Associate Director, RBQM – Hematology, Oncology, Cell Therapy, Immunology, Cardiology and Neuroscience will mainly be responsible for developing the Quality Narrative at the study and/or ASSET and Therapeutic Area levels to document end-to-end RBQM for critical to quality (CtQ) data, processes, and vendors, demonstrating effective risk and issue management. Provide quality and compliance consultation to clinical trials teams throughout study lifecycle and establish a feedback loop to ensure mitigation strategies are adjusted when new or unanticipated issues arise once the trial has begun.

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop the Quality Narrative (or equivalent) at a study and/or ASSET and TA level, to document the end-to-end risk-based quality management for CtQ data, processes and vendors demonstrating effective risk and issue management. This will involve collecting all the relevant inputs from the RBM framework (CORM) as well as R&D Quality Clinical Quality Assurance on audits and inspections.
• As part of the upstream protocol authoring process, partner with Drug Development, in particular the CORM function, to embed Quality by Design principles and help identify study specific critical to quality (CtQ) data, processes and vendors and ensure adequate risk mitigation strategies have been implemented.
• During trial conduct, provide feedback on risks to study specific critical to quality factors and ensure mitigation strategies are adjusted when new or unanticipated issues arise once the trial has begun. This will involve partnering with the CAPA CoE and Serious Breach pillar and Clinical Quality Assurance to gather input from audits, inspections, internal quality events, significant issues, and external intelligence to inform QbD.
• At the study level, conduct spot checks to ensure risk mitigation strategies are accurately translated into operational plans.
• Assist the business in defining and establishing Acceptable Ranges/QTL and KRIs for CtQ data.
• Support for cause, critical and/or complex quality issues as well as serious breaches for the TA, where deemed necessary.
• Provide quality and compliance consultation to clinical trials teams (where relevant, in partnership with CORM) throughout study lifecycle.
• Provide regulatory intelligence on current and upcoming regulations to ensure we remain compliant with all applicable requirements.
• Establish strong partnership with business stakeholders.
• Partner with the study teams to ensure effective management of significant quality issues/noncompliance and important protocol deviations for CtQ data, processes and vendors.
• Support the monitoring and evaluation of CtQ factors throughout the study lifecycle and adapt Quality plans accordingly.
• Provide R&D Quality expertise, critical thinking, deliver training and share best practices and lessons learned into future trials.
• Ensure rapid communication and escalation of quality issues, including potential misconduct or issues of significant deviations with project/products, to the business and Health Authorities, as needed.
• Ensure compliance with ICH (E8, E6, E9) and other relevant regulatory requirements.
• External engagement as needed with industry/trade/QA associations, regulatory agencies, vendors, and licensing partners as well as pharmaceutical company peers.

Other:

• Drive quality into the business through proactive quality support, mentoring and/or coaching and consultation.
• Provide guidance and expectations to the business to enable execution of external and internal regulations on a global and cross functional level.
• Lead multidisciplinary or cross-functional work/project teams; serve as part of strategic team(s) within the group/discipline.
• Lead and/or contribute to the implementation of large-scale initiatives and/or organizational changes (such as functional optimization) that affect the department.
• Act as a highly credible technical/ functional expert; routinely provide technical/functional guidance/coaching to direct and indirect reports/peers within the line or crosslines.
• May influence the external environment through interactions with regulators, trade associations, or professional societies.
• Actively share knowledge with others across multiple disciplines and across lines through existing knowledge sharing processes and systems.