Quality Control Manager

At Johnson & Johnson, we believe health is everything. Our strength in healthcare innovation empowers us to build a world where complex diseases are prevented, treated, and cured, where treatments are smarter and less invasive, and solutions are personal. Through our expertise in Innovative Medicine and MedTech, we are uniquely positioned to innovate across the full spectrum of healthcare solutions today to deliver the breakthroughs of tomorrow, and profoundly impact health for humanity. Learn more at jnj.com .

As guided by Our Credo, Johnson & Johnson is responsible to our employees who work with us throughout the world. We provide an inclusive work environment where each person is considered as an individual. At Johnson & Johnson, we respect the diversity and dignity of our employees and recognize their merit.

Job Function:

Quality

Job Sub Function:

Quality Control

Job Category:

People Leader

All Job Posting Locations:

Latina, Italy

Job Description:

Are you ready to lead quality excellence in a dynamic pharmaceutical organization? We are looking for a positive, curious, and inclusive leader who develops talent, embraces innovation, navigates change, and builds trust across cultures, functions, and organizational levels, from colleagues on the shop floor to local and global senior leaders. If this sounds like you, we invite you to explore this exciting opportunity.

J&J is a pioneering pharmaceutical company dedicated to improving health outcomes through innovative solutions. Our commitment to quality, compliance, and patient safety is unwavering, and we are looking for an authentic, inclusive leader who approaches challenges with curiosity, constructive energy, and a strong sense of accountability.

The Latina site is one of the most innovative drug product manufacturing sites in the J&J Supply Chain Synthetic Platform. We ensure that our life-saving medicines reach patients safely, reliably, and competitively, always. As the Drug Product Launch and Grow site for the synthetic platform, Latina works in close partnership with our R&D organization and our API launch site in Geel, Belgium.

Position Summary

We are seeking a forward-thinking Quality Control Manager to lead and transform the chemical laboratory activities supporting new products and the microbiological laboratory activities supporting products, environmental monitoring, and related testing. The successful candidate will play an active role in cross-functional project teams, ensuring that analytical strategies, methods, processes, and control plans support a robust product at launch and throughout its lifecycle. The role requires proactive stakeholder engagement and the ability to build strong relationships across Quality, Operations, Engineering, and other partner functions. The successful candidate will lead a team of approximately 40 professionals, combining operational excellence with strong people and stakeholder leadership. Equally comfortable engaging on the shop floor and influencing managers, directors, and cross-functional partners at local and global level, this leader will listen actively, ask insightful questions, build trust, and translate diverse perspectives into clear priorities and effective action. The role will balance day-to-day delivery with transformational initiatives, enabling Quality Control to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving pharmaceutical environment.

The Quality Control Manager will be based in Latina, Italy, and will report directly to the QC Director.

The role requires Quality Control experience, sound knowledge of pharmaceutical processes, and a demonstrated ability to coach teams, lead change, and influence stakeholders across functions, geographies, and organizational levels.

Main Challenges:

Leading Change with Curiosity: Identify improvement opportunities, ask insightful questions, challenge the status quo constructively, and implement new technologies and ways of working. Help the team understand, embrace, and sustain change.

Key Responsibilities:

Lead day-to-day laboratory operations, ensuring timely chemical testing for new products and microbiological testing for products, environmental monitoring, and related analyses.

Actively represent Quality Control in cross-functional project teams, providing timely scientific and operational input to ensure analytical methods, laboratory processes, control strategies, and readiness plans support a robust and sustainable product launch.

Drive laboratory readiness and product robustness for NPI launches by anticipating analytical risks, supporting technical decisions, escalating issues promptly, and ensuring effective knowledge transfer into routine operations.

Lead stakeholder engagement for laboratory related activities, maintaining proactive and transparent relationships with Quality, Operations, Engineering, and other partner functions local and global to align priorities, manage risks, and ensure timely decisions for product testing and environmental monitoring.

Develop and execute strategic plans that strengthen laboratory capability, performance, compliance, and long-term readiness.

Champion change by implementing fit-for-purpose technologies, workflows, and procedures while engaging the team and minimizing disruption.

Coach, mentor, and develop team members, fostering inclusion, accountability, continuous learning, and career growth.

Spend time with teams on the shop floor to understand operational realities, remove barriers, and reinforce quality ownership.

Build trusted partnerships across local and global functions, adapting communication and influencing effectively at every organizational level.

Create alignment among diverse stakeholders by listening actively, making complex topics clear, and translating different perspectives into decisions and action.

Promote curiosity and experimentation, encouraging the team to challenge established approaches constructively and identify better ways of working.

Ensure compliance with GMP requirements, data integrity principles, company policies, and applicable regulations.

Monitor and communicate QC performance, resource needs, costs, and risks, taking timely action to deliver sustainable results within budget.

Key Qualifications:

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Chemistry, Pharmacy, Biology, or a related scientific field.

Relevant experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including experiences in a people-management role.

Sound knowledge of pharmaceutical Quality Control, GMP, data integrity, and regulatory requirements.

Positive, resilient, and solution-oriented leadership style, especially when navigating ambiguity, pressure, and change.

Demonstrated ability to coach, mentor, and develop talent while creating an inclusive culture of learning, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Intellectual curiosity and learning agility, with the confidence to ask thoughtful questions, challenge the status quo constructively, and explore new approaches.

Demonstrated ability to build trusted relationships and influence stakeholders across functions, geographies, cultures, and organizational levels.

Ability to adapt communication style to engage effectively with shop-floor colleagues, technical experts, managers, and senior leaders in local and global environments.

Strong listening, cultural awareness, negotiation, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to connect diverse perspectives around shared objectives.

Experience improving workflows and introducing innovative solutions that increase operational efficiency and cost effectiveness without compromising quality.

Fluency in English is essential; proficiency in Italian is strongly preferred.

If you are a positive and curious leader who can connect with people at every level, turn complexity into clear action, and deliver quality excellence through others, we encourage you to apply.

Required Skills:

Quality Control (QC)

Preferred Skills:

Leadership, Quality Standards, Team Management

The anticipated base pay range for this position is:

€56 100,00 - €96 945,00

Benefits:

In addition to base pay, we offer the following benefits*: an annual bonus with set target (% of pay) depending on pay grade / location, where the actual amount is based on the employees’ and companies’ performance of the previous calendar year, or sales commissions. Moreover, we offer vacation days, parental leave for a minimum of 12 weeks, bereavement leave, caregiver leave, volunteer leave, well-being reimbursement, programs for financial, physical and mental health. We also offer service anniversary and recognition awards, and subject to the terms of their respective plans, employees - and in some location’s eligible dependents - can participate in several insurance plans. For more information, visit Employee benefits | Supporting well-being & career growth | Johnson & Johnson Careers.

*This is for informative purposes only. Amounts and actual benefits may vary by location and are subject to change.