Senior Vice President Operations
About The Position
Harvard Bioscience is a publicly traded life sciences tools company with approximately $100 million in revenue. It develops, manufactures, and sells products and services for drug discovery and preclinical testing to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, contract research organizations, and academic institutions. Its manufacturing and supply chain operations span the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Spain, and China. The Vice President of Operations leads global manufacturing operations, supply chain, procurement, quality, and regulatory functions. Reporting directly to the CEO and serving on the Senior Leadership Team, the role focuses on reducing costs, improving product quality and service, and establishing durable operational processes across a global, multi-site organization. The leader is expected to be execution-focused, action-oriented, and demonstrate extreme ownership. The role will transform manufacturing, supply chain, and procurement through improved processes, systems, capabilities, and operating discipline to support growth. It will establish a high-performing manufacturing leadership team accountable for safety, quality, delivery, and cost; lead operating plans and financial management for the function; and champion Lean, Six Sigma, continuous improvement, and a robust S&OP process. The position also ensures compliance with applicable quality and regulatory requirements and fosters a quality-first culture. The position requires 20–40% travel to Harvard Bioscience sites in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Spain, and China. The position is FLSA exempt.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in operations, manufacturing, engineering, or a related discipline, or equivalent experience.
- 20 or more years of manufacturing and operations leadership experience, including multi-site and multinational responsibility.
- Experience in life science tools or another highly regulated manufacturing environment.
- Demonstrated success delivering significant and sustainable improvements in cost, quality, and service.
- Experience establishing manufacturing operating systems incorporating Lean, continuous improvement, S&OP, vendor selection, and optimization.
- Experience with manufacturing automation, advanced manufacturing technologies, and transitions from manual to increasingly automated production environments.
- Strong understanding of new product introduction, design transfer, process validation, manufacturing readiness, and production scale-up.
- Working knowledge of ISO quality management systems and applicable requirements for regulated manufacturing.
- Strong strategic and financial acumen, including manufacturing capacity and footprint planning, capital investments, operating budgets, productivity, and cost management.
- Demonstrated ability to build and develop high-performing manufacturing organizations and leadership teams through significant growth and change.
- Exceptional leadership, communication, and change management skills, with the ability to operate effectively from the executive level to the manufacturing floor.
- Ability to travel 20–40% of the time to company sites in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Spain, and China.
Nice To Haves
- Experience in life science tools, instrumentation, or medical devices is preferred.
- Prior experience integrating acquired businesses and driving operational synergies across global teams.
Responsibilities
- Lead global manufacturing operations and establish a high-performing manufacturing leadership team accountable for safety, quality, delivery, and cost.
- Transform manufacturing operations, supply chain, and procurement by optimizing processes, systems, capabilities, and operating discipline to support growth.
- Implement a robust S&OP process throughout the organization.
- Champion Lean, Six Sigma, and continuous improvement to reduce variability, eliminate waste and bottlenecks, and improve operational performance.
- Lead the manufacturing, supply chain, and procurement functions.
- Establish metrics and formulate and administer key policies while managing organizational structure and processes.
- Set monthly, quarterly, and annual operations plans with the CEO and CFO, including managing expenses and cash flow in areas of functional ownership.
- Collaborate with executive team members on strategic initiatives, including major RFPs and new market expansion.
- Ensure manufacturing operations comply with ISO 13485 quality management systems and other applicable global regulatory requirements.
- Promote a quality-first culture that embeds product quality, customer impact, risk management, and regulatory compliance in operations and decision-making.
- Ensure manufacturing processes, documentation, training systems, and controls remain capable and compliant as production volumes and organizational complexity increase.
- Coordinate and manage global teams to realize operational synergies through site consolidations, vendor management, end-to-end process optimization, and expense management.
- Build and develop high-performing manufacturing organizations and leadership teams through growth and change.
- Travel to company sites in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Spain, and China 20–40% of the time.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Executive
