Strategic Category Lead Pharmaceutical Diagnostics

Overview

Job Type: Full time, permanent position

Locations: Amersham, Buckinghamshire, UK (hybrid)

Remuneration: Competitive salary and benefits package

Working for one of the industry’s leading medical technology companies, you will be responsible for supporting the coordination and management of all the procurement and sourcing activities for R&D (pre-clinical and clinical) for all aspects of drug product development, planned and current clinical trials globally. This position will require working in partnership with Clinical Research Organisations (CRO) and suppliers, R&D, Program Management and functional leadership teams to create, develop and deliver the category strategy for R&D globally for Pharmaceutical Diagnostics.

This position will also be responsible for ensuring we maximise the value obtained from partnerships with suppliers and includes supplier identification and selection, request for proposal (RFx), bid defenses, negotiating contracts, supplier performance metrics, and supplier oversight and governance.

Roles and Responsibilities

• As an integral member of the Sourcing and R&D teams, you will be responsible for developing and maintaining a lean and strategic approach to our CRO suppliers for the R&D.
• Ensure all activities with external suppliers are awarded and maintained in compliance with Good Clinical Practice, Standard Operating Procedures, and Corporate Policies, Guidelines and Standards.
• Responsible for maintaining internal collaboration between R&D, Product Management, Supply Chain & Direct material Sourcing (commercial launch planning), Quality and regulatory organisations within the Pharmaceutical diagnostics business.
• Execute agreed strategic sourcing strategy within the category and sub-categories to develop appropriate contracting frameworks to commercially capture the outputs, and manage all ongoing performance against live agreements.
• Responsible for supporting new suppliers onto the Approved Supplier List for the current and future business needs, identifying gaps and suitable suppliers to address the business need both regionally and globally.
• Support and manage the identification and selection process of clinical suppliers such as CROs, central labs, IVRS, Imaging, ePRO, etc., and support suppliers for R&D efforts such as regulatory, quality, etc.
• Generate Requests for Information (RFI), Request for Quotations (RFQ) and Requests for Proposals (RFP).
• Coordinate bid defenses and proposal review meetings and provide analysis to project teams.
• Contract lifecycle management: including support the drafting and management of R&D contracts and change orders, including active negotiation of scope of work, payment terms and budgets.
• Work with the R&D Operations team, Clinical Project Directors, Portfolio Operations Manager and Contract Managers and/or the Legal Team to support requirements and contractual needs and Change Orders.
• Work with Finance on budget/forecasting needs, cash flow, project budgets, etc.
• In partnership with the Quality and Supplier Quality organisations, ensure quality oversight of suppliers.
• Develop and maintain relationships with external partners, ensuring ongoing feedback and issue escalation is performed where needed.
• Measure supplier performance utilizing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Scorecard/Metric activities; and communicate feedback to the supplier, encouraging adaptation on best practices across supplier types and development of continuous process improvements/maintenance.
• Support supplier governance meetings and operating reviews.
• Develop effective partnerships with suppliers and internal stakeholders.
• Identify current trends in practices in the industry and develop a strategy around these trends that is then well communicated to internal stakeholders and implemented.
• Support and contribute to complex functional or company initiatives and special projects as identified by executive management or business need.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in a relevant subject, together with 5+ years of related industry experience.
• Previous experience in the pre-clinical and clinical category.
• Experience in category management and sourcing along with defining and delivering effective category strategies which achieved significant cost transformations.
• Experience working within a preclinical or CRO environment.
• Experience in pharmaceutical research operations, compliance, clinical study execution and supplier management.
• Established project management skills with the ability to document, plan, market, and execute projects.
• Strong business acumen and capacity to understand complex industry dynamics (supplier/partner/product relationships).
• Excellent communication skills and ability to interact and partner with all levels of management in the company.
• Project management skills to execute complex projects with multiple stakeholders.
• Fast learner: ability to learn enough of a complex industry and products to interact with highly technical experts, internal stakeholders and lead discussions, negotiations.
• Willing to travel internationally up to 15% of time.

This is an excellent opportunity to join a leading business going through a period of growth. This position is a very senior position within the business so will look for a hands-on leader who has experience in all aspects of procurement. Please note you must hold the FULL right to work in the locations provided, this role does not provide job sponsorship or relocation.