AstraZeneca Posted November 10, 2026

QA Specialist

Athlone, Ireland Full time
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AstraZeneca 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

This is what you will do:

The QA Specialist for the Bulk Drug Substance (BDS) facility at AAMF will be Responsible for delivery of quality assurance activities at the Drug Substance Athlone facility ensuring commercial and/or clinical products are manufactured in accordance with cGMP, Corporate and Regulatory requirements. This role will oversee quality activities associated with the manufacturing and disposition of bulk drug substances at AAMF. He/she is responsible for ensuring that manufacturing, testing, labeling, and storage of Bulk Drug Substances comply with all applicable regulations. This responsibility includes the oversight of the AAMF QMS to ensure that quality and compliance requirements are followed in line with business needs.

The QA Specialist executes the site QA activities at Alexion Athlone in order to protect the safety, quality and efficacy of our products, thereby ensuring the availability of correct, safe product for our Patients, and assuring the security of the company’s business and global markets. This key role must ensure effective interaction with other departments and locations regarding GMP Document review and approval. In particular, this will involve partnering with major stakeholders such as Operations, QC, Technical Services and Engineering to optimize patient supply.

You will be responsible for:

· Provide quality and cGMP input and oversight for all manufacturing activities for the Bulk Drug Substance facility.

· Review and approval of technical support documentation. (Examples include cleaning, process, method validation).

· Review and approval of functional area documentation (e.g. SOPs, Work Instructions, technical reports and protocols)

· Participate in quality risk assessments and provide quality oversight to ensure quality risk assessments are effectively maintained/ controlled.

· Review and approve Validation protocols as required.

· Provide support and expertise for inspection readiness activities, during health authority inspections including interaction with inspectors, responses to inspection observations, to monitor progress of follow up actions.

· Responsible for review and approval of Master Batch Records in accordance with Alexion’s internal procedures and GMP principles.

· Provide oversight of quality management system activities including Preventive Maintenance, Deviation and CAPA Management and Change Control Programs.

· Provide quality oversight of calibration and preventative maintenance criticality assessments as required.

· Author, review and approve Quality Related Procedures as required.

· Support the Vendor/Supplier Management Program.

· Support the Raw Material Qualification Program.

· Develop and report quality metrics

· Oversee the effective documentation and tracking of quality management system activities including deviations, change control and CAPAs.

· Review and approve of Validation protocols as required.

· Perform day-to-day tasks, as well as assist with projects that support company objectives and continuous improvement initiatives.

You will need to have:

· B.Sc. in Science/Engineering with a minimum of 3 years’ experience in cGMP Quality environment; or equivalent combination of education and experience.

· Minimum 3 years’ experience in a QA environment within the pharma industry or a related field.

· Strong knowledge of cGMP requirements for pharmaceutical manufacturing required.

· Direct experience of GMP management within a pharma/biopharma company is essential, and will include exposure to FDA, HPRA or other authorities of similar standing.

· Excellent accuracy and attention to detail.

· Good knowledge of relevant computer packages e.g. Trackwise or similar.

· Planning and organizing skills are required to plan, execute and track commitments of Quality Assurance and to adjust to changing priorities.

· Excellent interpersonal skills are required, as is the ability to communicate well, both verbally and written.

· Excellent time management organizational skills along with a proven ability to multi-task.

We would prefer for you to have:

· Experience of sterility assurance for drug substance and/or drug products and in manufacturing processes for pharmaceutical products and processes strongly desirable.

· High level technical skills including auditing, pharmaceutical manufacturing and regulatory inspection management.

Date Posted

10-Nov-2026

Closing Date

24-Nov-2026

Our mission is to build an inclusive and equitable environment. We want people to feel they belong at AstraZeneca and Alexion, starting with our recruitment process. We welcome and consider applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of characteristics. We offer reasonable adjustments/accommodations to help all candidates to perform at their best. If you have a need for any adjustments/accommodations, please complete the section in the application form.

Job details

Seniority
Not listed
Function
Quality
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Athlone, Ireland
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 1473 comparable Quality roles across 144 biopharma companies.

1473Comparable roles tracked
1323Currently active
144Companies hiring similar roles
53Countries represented

Salary context

261 of 1473 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 Not listed on this posting
Lowest disclosed · QC Lab Technician (Lilly Contractor - Fixed Term) · Lilly $13/hr – $29/hr (≈ $26,998–$60,507/yr)
Highest disclosed · VP, Quality Assurance · City Therapeutics $340,000/yr – $360,000/yr
Peer group range $43,753 – $350,000 (median $123,250)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 1473 comparable roles

United States590
Ireland90
Germany72
China69
France67
India56

+ 47 more countries

Seniority mix

726 of 1473 peers have a known seniority level

Manager220
Senior187
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc98
Associate66
Director47
Associate Director45
Principal31
Senior Director25
Executive/VP7

Therapeutic area mix

3 of 1473 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Vaccines & Infectious Disease2
Respiratory1

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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
McDermott Laboratories Limited Northern Cross, Ireland Manager
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Mylan Teoranta Inverin, Ireland Manager
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40%similar
Mylan Teoranta Inverin, Ireland
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40%similar
Mylan Teoranta Inverin, Ireland Senior
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Regeneron Ireland Limerick, Ireland Senior
Same function Same country
40%similar
Regeneron Ireland Limerick, Ireland
Same function Same country

Notify me about similar jobs

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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%
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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.