Novartis Posted September 30, 2026

Manufacturing Quality Assurance Specialist

Durham, United States FULL_TIME
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Novartis is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

Quality is not just a checkpoint here, it is the promise we make to patients. As a Manufacturing Quality Assurance Specialist at Novartis, you will be a hands-on partner to manufacturing teams, ensuring every stage of production meets the highest standards of quality, compliance, and scientific rigor. From shop floor presence to final product release, your expertise will directly influence patient safety and product integrity while helping drive continuous improvement in a fast-paced, purpose-driven manufacturing environment.

Location: This position will be located in Durham, NC and will be an onsite role.Novartis is unable to offer relocation support for this role: please only apply if this location is accessible for you.Shift:This will be a third shift role working 11:00 pm - 7:30 am, Monday - FridayKey Responsibilities:Provide proactive quality oversight through shop floor presence, walkthroughs, and real-time manufacturing support.Review and approve master and executed batch records to ensure compliant clinical and commercial production.Partner with manufacturing teams to ensure consistent, compliant processes aligned with GMP requirements.Support media, buffer, cell expansion, upstream, downstream, and aseptic filling manufacturing operations.Lead deviation and corrective action investigations, ensuring thorough root cause analysis and effective remediation.Review alarms, data integrity, and electronic records to confirm accuracy and regulatory compliance.Support internal and external audits, inspections, and regulatory readiness activities.Provide quality expertise in manufacturing batch record design, review, and continuous improvement.Analyze quality metrics, identify trends, and communicate actionable insights to management.Lead or contribute to continuous improvement and quality system enhancement projects.Essential Requirements:Bachelor of Science degree in microbiology, chemistry, biochemistry, or a related scientific discipline.Minimum of five years of experience working in a regulated GMP manufacturing environment.Strong working knowledge and application of CFR, FDA, and EU regulatory requirements.Proven experience supporting or participating in FDA and EU regulatory inspections and audits.Hands-on experience reviewing, authoring, and approving quality procedures and standard operating documents.Demonstrated ability to manage deviations, investigations, and corrective and preventive actions to closure.Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret data, identify trends, and recommend compliant paths forward.Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to collaborate effectively across functions.Desirable Requirements:Experience supporting viral gene therapies or orphan disease manufacturing programs.Experience leading or coordinating internal quality audits and inspection readiness activities.Novartis Compensation and Benefit Summary:The salary for this position is expected to range between $43.08 and $80.00 per hour.The final salary offered is determined based on factors like, but not limited to, relevant skills and experience, and upon joining Novartis will be reviewed periodically. Novartis may change the published salary range based on company and market factors.Your compensation will include a performance-based cash incentive and, depending on the level of the role, eligibility to be considered for annual equity awards.US-based eligible employees will receive a comprehensive benefits package that includes health, life and disability benefits, a 401(k) with company contribution and match, and a variety of other benefits. In addition, employees are eligible for a generous time off package including vacation, personal days, holidays and other leaves.#LI-Onsite

Job details

Seniority
Not listed
Function
Quality
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Durham, United States
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Quality role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 1052 comparable Quality roles across 134 biopharma companies.

1052Comparable roles tracked
971Currently active
134Companies hiring similar roles
49Countries represented

Salary context

203 of 1052 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function. This posting doesn't list a seniority level, so peers aren't narrowed by seniority either -- the range below may span more levels than usual.

This roleSubject $43/hr – $80/hr (≈ $89,606–$166,400/yr)
Lowest disclosed · Quality Inspector I · Johnson & Johnson $38,500/yr – $61,985/yr
Highest disclosed · Quality Assurance Specialist · Merck KGaA $65,100/yr – $976,000/yr
Peer group range $50,243 – $520,550 (median $134,100)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 1052 comparable roles

United States366
Ireland56
Germany54
China53
India42
Switzerland40

+ 43 more countries

Seniority mix

515 of 1052 peers have a known seniority level

Manager164
Senior122
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc60
Associate43
Associate Director41
Director34
Principal23
Senior Director20
Executive/VP8

Therapeutic area mix

2 of 1052 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Respiratory1
Vaccines & Infectious Disease1

Similar opportunities

The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.

40%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Associate
Same function Same country
40%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Director
Same function Same country
40%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Manager
Same function Same country
40%similar
Novartis Cambridge (USA), United States Director
Same function Same country
40%similar
Novartis Cambridge (USA), United States Principal
Same function Same country
40%similar
Gilead Sciences, Inc. Foster City, United States Associate Director
Same function Same country

Notify me about similar jobs

Get an email when we spot other openings like this one – same job function, comparable seniority, roles you'd actually want to see.

How we calculate "similar"

No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.

Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.

40%
Advisor, Physicochemical Properties and Compound Quality
Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Associate
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
Director, Study Quality and Compliance - Nonclinical Safety/Toxicology
Novartis · Cambridge (USA), United States · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
QA Specialist III
Gilead Sciences, Inc. · La Verne, United States · Seniority not listed
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
QA Operations Specialist - Shift Based
Novartis · Carlsbad, United States · Seniority not listed
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.