Make your mark for patients

To strengthen our Internal Manufacturing Quality department, we are looking for a talented profile to fill the position of: Global QA for QC Lead – Global Network and Process Management – Braine l’Alleud, Belgium

About the role

As a Global QA lead within the Global QA for QC Operations team, you will serve as a strategic quality leader driving excellence and compliance across UCB’s worldwide QC network. This global role is instrumental in safeguarding product quality and patient safety by ensuring QC operations meet the highest regulatory standards and industry practices. You will oversee and continuously enhance critical QC processes including but not limited to specification & method lifecycle management, stability program, and critical raw material oversight across UCB’s manufacturing network. Acting as a trusted QA partner, you will support and challenge the QC teams in their operations to proactively identify risks, optimize performance, and embed a culture of continuous improvement.

You will work with

You will be a key quality interface between global QC operations and cross-functional QA stakeholders (Internal/External Manufacturing QA, CMC QA, Site QA), ensuring alignment, transparency and harmonization of practices across the network. Your leadership will directly influence global quality strategy and operational robustness, positioning UCB to meet evolving regulatory expectations and deliver on its commitment to patients worldwide.

What you will do

• Provide strategic QA oversight across Global QC Ops on critical QC processes, including but not limited to:
• Specification lifecycle management
• Stability program and testing
• Critical laboratory materials and raw materials qualification
• Method Life Cycle
• Pharmacopeial change management
• Ensure Global Regulatory Compliance and Inspection Readiness: Maintain alignment with international regulations (FDA, EMA, ICH, WHO,…) and internal UCB procedures, anticipating regulatory trends and leading initiatives to sustain state of control.
• Enable timely and compliant QC release of products across the global network, ensuring uninterrupted supply and on-time delivery to markets while maintaining regulatory and quality standards
• Drive risk management and proactive quality assurance: Evaluate risks within QC processes, implement mitigation strategies and foster a culture of prevention through cross-functional collaboration and advanced robust quality systems.
• Champion Harmonization and Governance: Collaborate with global stakeholders to harmonize QC practices across sites and drive alignment with corporate governance.
• Lead Continuous Improvement and Innovation: Contribute to or lead quality improvement initiatives aimed at strengthening compliance, operational robustness and efficiency within QC labs.
• Act as a Key QA Interface during regulatory inspections and audits related to QC processes, ensuring clear communication and successful outcomes.
• Deliver strategic quality insight: Prepare comprehensive quality oversight reports (KPIs, trends, issues, improvements) to senior leadership, influencing decision-making and resource prioritization.
• Strengthen investigations and CAPAs effectiveness: support root cause analysis and corrective actions related to QC operations, focusing on systemic improvements and lessons learned.
• Foster Knowledge Sharing and Best Practice Development: Promote global collaboration, training and dissemination of QA/QC best practices to elevate quality maturity across the network.
• Manage and Empower the Quality network of Quality stakeholders in relation with QC excellence worldwide.

Interested? For this position you’ll need the following education, experience and skills

• Scientific degree (Master’s or PhD) in a relevant field (Pharmacy, Biochemistry, Life Sciences)
• At least 10 years’ experience the pharmaceutical or biopharmaceutical industry, with solid experience in Quality Control operations and Quality Assurance
• Fluent English communication (oral and written); any additional languages are a plus
• Proven understanding of QC processes: method lifecycle, stability studies, material management, specification management
• Strong knowledge of regulatory requirements and quality standards (GMP, ICH, USP, WHO)
• Ability to assess risk, propose pragmatic solutions, and manage complexity in a global matrix environment
• Effective communicator with strong interpersonal skills, able to influence and support cross-functional teams
• Experience in continuous improvement, harmonization projects, or change management is an asset.

Are you ready to ‘go beyond’ to create value and make your mark for patients? If this sounds like you, then we would love to hear from you!

About us
UCB is a global biopharmaceutical company, focusing on neurology and immunology. We are over 9.000 people in all four corners of the globe, inspired by patients and driven by science.

Why work with us?
At UCB, we don’t just complete tasks, we create value. We aren’t afraid to push forward, collaborate, and innovate to make our mark for patients. We have a caring, supportive culture where everyone feels included, respected, and has equal opportunities to do their best work. We ‘go beyond’ to create value for our patients, and always with a human focus, whether that’s on our patients, our employees, or our planet. Working for us, you will discover a place where you can grow, and have the freedom to carve your own career path to achieve your full potential.

At UCB, we’ve embraced a hybrid-first approach to work, bringing teams together in local hubs to foster collaborative curiosity. Unless expressly stated in the description or precluded by the nature of the position, roles are hybrid with 40% of your time spent in the office.

UCB is an equal opportunity employer. All employment decisions will be made without regard to any characteristic protected by applicable laws.

Should you require any adjustments to our process to assist you in demonstrating your strengths and capabilities contact us on EMEA-Reasonable_Accommodation@ucb.com. Please note should your enquiry not relate to adjustments; we will not be able to support you through this channel.