Associate Director of Quality Compliance & Validation
Location: Craigavon, Northern Ireland
Hours: 35 hours per week, Monday Friday. Flexible working pattern.
Business Unit: Almac Pharma Services
Open To: Internal and external applicants welcome to apply
Ref No.: HRJOB11628
The Opportunity
Pharma Services plays a vital role in supporting pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies through the manufacture and packaging of medicines for patients around the world. Working within a highly regulated environment, our teams are committed to maintaining the highest standards of quality, compliance and operational excellence.
Due to continued growth, we are now seeking an Associate Director Quality Compliance & Validation to provide leadership across the Craigavon sites Validation and Quality Compliance teams. This is a key leadership role where you will oversee the systems, people and processes that help ensure our facilities, equipment, utilities and computerised systems remain in a compliant and controlled state, while also supporting the effective operation of the wider pharmaceutical quality system at the Craigavon site.
In this role, you will lead experienced managers and specialist teams, providing direction, governance and oversight across site quality compliance and validation activities. You will play an important part in maintaining inspection readiness, monitoring quality performance, identifying opportunities for continuous improvement, and ensuring the business is supported with the right resources, skills and systems to meet both operational and regulatory expectations.
This opportunity would suit a strong quality leader who enjoys working across teams, influencing at a senior level, and driving high standards in a fast-paced pharmaceutical manufacturing environment. You will also act as a subject matter expert in good manufacturing practice, internal quality processes and validation strategies contributing to projects, audits, inspections and strategic quality improvements across site.
Key responsibilities include:
- Leading the Validation and Quality Compliance teams on the Craigavon site
- Providing governance and oversight of site quality systems and validation activity
- Ensuring facilities, equipment, utilities and computerised systems are maintained in a compliant state
- Monitoring quality and performance metrics and driving improvements
- Supporting regulatory inspections, client audits and internal audit activity
- Acting as an escalation point for complex compliance and validation issues
- Representing Quality Assurance and/or Validation on cross-functional and site-wide project teams
Joining Almac means becoming part of a fastpaced, growing organisation within a highly regulated industry. We offer a supportive and collaborative working environment, with excellent opportunities for learning, development and longterm career progression across the Almac Group.
Our approach is simple we support, develop and reward our people, build fulfilling careers and together we advance human health. More information can be found here; Life at Almac
What you need to be successful
To succeed in this role, you will bring significant leadership experience within a pharmaceutical quality environment, along with a strong understanding of regulatory expectations governing the manufacture of medicinal products in Europe. You will be confident leading teams, influencing stakeholders, solving problems, and driving a culture of compliance and continuous improvement.
We are particularly interested in hearing from candidates who have:
- A degree level qualification in a science-related discipline
- Significant experience managing a diverse quality function supporting the development and maintenance of pharmaceutical quality systems.
- Experience in the development and application of validation strategies for facilities, equipment, utilities and computerised systems.
- Experience in the quality and validation aspects of solid oral dose forms.
- Strong working knowledge of pharmaceutical quality management systems
- Proven knowledge of UK, EU and US regulatory requirements governing the pharmaceutical industry.
Desirable criteria include:
- A postgraduate qualification in a quality-related discipline
- Experience supporting regulatory inspections and/or client audits
- Knowledge of contract manufacturing organisation business models
- Knowledge of the requirements of ISO quality systems
Further information
This role is primarily based in Craigavon and may require coverage beyond normal working hours as and when required. For more information, please review our candidate spec - Pharma - Quality Assurance roles - 1
The successful candidate will report to the Director of Quality Assurance and will have line management responsibility for the Validation and Quality Compliance Managers.
How to apply
Apply online and tailor your CV to outline how you meet the role criteria. Please upload your CV in PDF format where possible.
Closing Date
We will no longer be accepting applications after 5pm on Sunday 19th July 2026
RECRUITMENT AGENCIES PLEASE NOTE:
Almac will only accept applications from agencies/business partners that have been invited to work on this role by our Talent Acquisition team. Speculative candidate CVs received or submitted directly to Hiring Managers will be considered unsolicited and no fee will be payable. Thank you for your cooperation.
