Associate Director, Site Supply Chain - Materials Management

AstraZeneca • Los Angeles, CA

1d

About The Position

At AstraZeneca Cell Therapy, the Associate Director, Materials Management leads patient materials management at the Santa Monica and Tarzana manufacturing facilities across autologous cell therapy programs. The role leads patient material traceability at the manufacturing site, including processes and systems for chain of identity (COI) and chain of custody (COC) verification from patient material receipt through drug product pack-out. It also oversees material flow and verification of GMP healthy donor apheresis for allogeneic cell therapy programs.

The role is part of the Site Supply Chain operations model and uses digital systems, milestone visibility, and defined escalation pathways to maintain compliance and integrity in patient and healthy donor materials management. It reports to the Site Supply Chain Director.

The position offers the opportunity to lead the daily execution of Vein-to-Vein Operations and influence service reliability, patient journey continuity, and customer experience. The annual base pay ranges from $124,069.60 to $186,104.40. The role is eligible for short-term incentive bonuses and equity-based awards.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Engineering, Life Sciences, or a related field.
• 8+ years of experience in biopharma supply chain, logistics, or cell therapy operations.
• Strong understanding of cell therapy COI/COC controls and operational requirements for patient material receipt and drug product pack-out.
• Demonstrated experience in real-time issue resolution, exception management, shipment recovery, temperature excursion response, escalation handling, operational investigations, and corrective action leadership in a complex, regulated environment.
• Working knowledge of GDP, GMP, and GxP requirements, including deviation and quality processes.
• Ability to lead through influence, balance competing operational priorities, and maintain high execution quality in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to provide concise operational updates and clearly escalate risks.

Nice To Haves

• Advanced degree such as an MS or MBA.
• Experience in site manufacturing operations, cell therapy logistics, or a 24/7 monitoring environment.
• Experience with Power BI, Excel, or Smartsheet for operational reporting and analysis.
• Experience supporting launches, hypercare, and/or expansion into new countries or studies.

Responsibilities

• Lead patient materials management across autologous cell therapy programs, ensuring COI and COC from apheresis receipt through manufacturing and drug product pack-out.
• Lead healthy donor materials management across allogeneic cell therapy programs, ensuring COC of apheresis and lot traceability from drug substance through drug product manufacturing and pack-out.
• Coordinate apheresis receipt and drug product pack-out schedules with manufacturing, production scheduling, quality, and logistics teams, including day-to-day changes and rescheduling.
• Own the manufacturing site’s COI and COC processes, including site SOPs and work instructions, and monitor status across receipt, manufacturing release, and drug product pack-out using digital tools and real-time milestone visibility.
• Reinforce adherence to approved workflows, documentation requirements, SOPs, work instructions, and data capture expectations.
• Support operational readiness and hypercare for new studies, products, and countries, including site onboarding and mock shipments where applicable.
• Lead exception management and escalation when patient traceability does not follow the expected process, coordinating recovery actions with internal teams and external partners.
• Support fact-finding investigations, root cause assessment, and corrective action identification for COI or COC verification issues, partnering with Quality where formal deviations or CAPAs are required.
• Support impact assessments and identify change actions for new product launches and expansions into new countries or studies.
• Track operational metrics and identify improvement opportunities, providing insights on recurring issues, execution risks, and corrective actions.

Benefits

• Eligibility for short-term incentive bonuses.
• Equity-based awards for salaried roles.
• Qualified retirement programs.
• Paid time off, including vacation, holidays, and leaves.
• Health coverage.
• Dental coverage.
• Vision coverage.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director