Process Engineering Team Lead

Macclesfield

Make a meaningful impact on people’s lives with life-changing medicines.

We are driven by our commitment to deliver accelerated growth for AstraZeneca and to make people’s lives better. It pushes us to keep building on our foundations and progressing as we turn our ever-growing and increasingly complex pipeline from molecule to medicine. Be part of evolving how we work with Lean, cutting-edge science, digitalisation and sustainable practices.

Pharmaceutical Technology and Development (PT&D) is the bridge that turns forward-thinking science into actual medicines that help millions of people. We work across the entire value chain, designing and delivering active ingredients, formulations and devices required to support new medicines – from supplies for use in early toxicology studies and clinical trials to developing the technology to ensure drugs can be scaled up for commercial manufacture.

Drug Substance Manufacture (DSM) is responsible for the internal manufacture of Drug Substance / API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient) for formulation development, pre-clinical and clinical development studies. Our manufacturing assets include 5 Pilot Plant facilities and a Particle Size Reduction (PSR) facility.

We also support the rapid development of commercial processes by flexible accommodation processes and experimentation at scale. DSM is part of the Clinical Manufacturing and Supply (CM&S) function within PT&D, Operations.

What you'll do:

This opportunity is a Process Engineering Team Leader working within the DSM Technical and Operations Team. Collaborating with a team of technical managers, you will lead a small team of process engineers to deliver the API, process data and scale-up learning to support the AZ development programme. You will be accountable for delivery of technical work packages and engineering projects within the DSM pilot plants.

You will be accountable for delivery of the process engineering activities required to support accommodation of new manufacturing processes and technology within the Pilot Plant. You will be the business process owner for process engineering activities required to support introduction of new API manufacturing processes into the DSM Pilot Plants, ensuring they are compliant with safety, health and environmental standards. You will ensure that key process engineering competencies are maintained.

You'll be a change owner within the facilities, accountable for crafting and managing temporary and permanent plant changes, to support specific product accommodations, along with installation of new technology and improvements to build the pilot plant capability. You will also be required to support product manufacture by providing technical understanding to facilitate problem-solving, and may act as an engineering specialist on larger capital project teams.

We're looking for inspiring leaders to develop and deliver processes through their team. You'll be a capable leader and coach with excellent communication skills. You'll be managing performance and development of both your team and individuals, and will role model Lean Leadership behaviours.

We'll expect you to be able to work collaboratively, leading interactions within multi-functional teams including DSM operational and maintenance teams, site project teams, external contractors and AZ support functions including SHE and QA teams.

You will also need to develop networks, in particular building, and maintaining excellent working relationships with other Process Engineering teams within PT&D. You will be expected to share scale-up learning and successes across the wider business, and may provide engineering mentorship to junior engineers and apprentices.

Essential criteria:

• You will hold a relevant chemical engineering degree (preferred) or recognised chemical engineering training route (e.g. apprenticeship with HNC/HND or equivalent)
• A confident and engaging communicator with proven collaboration and interpersonal leadership skills
• Comfortable working in a dynamic environment and managing risk
• Significant experience of chemical / API manufacture within the pharmaceutical sector
• Proven leadership promoting motivation and empowering others to accomplish individual, team and organisational objectives
• Demonstrated ability to set and manage priorities, resources, performance targets

Desirable criteria:

• Chartered or a clear timeline towards Chartership with an appropriate engineering institution
• Experience of Lean manufacturing and problem-solving
• Experience of handling plant changes in a regulated environment

Date Posted

Closing Date

AstraZeneca embraces diversity and equality of opportunity. We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse team representing all backgrounds, with as wide a range of perspectives as possible, and harnessing industry-leading skills. We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be. We welcome and consider applications to join our team from all qualified candidates, regardless of their characteristics. We comply with all applicable laws and regulations on non-discrimination in employment (and recruitment), as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements.