Associate Director, Quality Assurance Operations

Why Join Us?   Be a hero for our rare disease patients   At Ultragenyx, we fundamentally believe that taking real impactful action to care for the needs of patients and our people is always the right thing to do. To achieve this goal, our vision is to lead the future of rare disease medicine. For us, this means going where other biopharma companies won’t go – challenging the status quo and creating a new model that advances our field so more patients and caregivers can benefit from life-changing treatments. We do this by following the science, applying a novel rapid development approach, making innovative medicines at fair and reasonable prices, and creating a collaborative ecosystem to reach patients in ways that are most meaningful for them.    Our commitment and care for patients extends to our people, so culture is an essential cornerstone for Ultragenyx. We remain continuously focused on creating a supportive and inclusive environment of profound learning and growth – so employees can thrive in all areas of their lives, in and outside of work. Ultimately, we want to be an organization where we would be proud for our family, friends and children to work.   If you want to have a meaningful impact, do the best work of your career, and grow a lot, both professionally and personally, come join our team.

Position Summary:

ultrafocused – Work together to fearlessly uncover new possibilities

The Associate Director, Quality Assurance (Operations) will be responsible for Quality Assurance activities related to Drug Substance manufacturing operations at the Gene Therapy Manufacturing Facility (GTMF) located in Bedford, MA.  The role will provide "on the floor" oversite of drug substance manufacturing activities.  These activities include "on the floor" guidance during unexpected events, batch record review, room clearance, deviation, change control management and drug substance disposition support activities.  You will partner with Manufacturing, Facilities, MSAT, Validation, and Quality Control to support manufacturing and product release activities or ongoing projects/initiatives.  You will provide quality expertise to ensure compliant manufacture of GMP material (clinical or commercial).  Operational excellence initiatives must be supported and driven from this level.  You will be required to work independently since the role requires limited supervision and guidance.  This role is responsible for quality decisions related to Drug Substance manufacturing operations, material/product movement, and multi-product controls at the site.  This role will also manage the performance and development of direct reports to ensure achievement of organizational and department goals within a product and effective environment.   

Work Model:

Core Lab & Ops: This role typically requires that the majority of the work be conducted on-site.

Responsibilities:

1. Provide on the floor quality operations support for all areas and own the master batch record lifecycle processes including final review and approval. 
2. Provide technical quality guidance as part of teams conducting investigations for complex manufacturing events; ask the tough questions and drive robust root cause analysis, product impact assessments, and risk based CAPA. 
3. Review and approve complex deviations and/or Investigations that are site specific. 
4. Actively support and/or lead preparation activities for Pre-approval Inspections and/or responses to observations. 
5. Work with product release teams to support issuance of drug substance Certificates of Conformance and any other disposition required activities. 
6. Manage CAPA records and may be required to function as a CAPA manager for minor or major CAPA as needed. 
7. Serve as QA Reviewer or impact assessor for downstream purification change control records.  
8. Support and/or review various reports from quality systems and ensure quality mindset is strong. 
9. Own various Quality p