Continuous Improvement & Program Management Manager, 12-month contract
Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Type of Role: Contract position, Inside IR35
Contract length: 12 months
Location: Hybrid, 3 days on site in Paddington, London.
Department: Distribution & Market Quality
This position reports directly to: Director CIPM

Looking for opportunities with purpose, impact and possibilities? Our client, Vertex, is a global biotechnology company that invests in scientific innovation. As they grow their pipeline at pace, they are strengthening their reputation for creating transformative medicines for people with serious diseases.

Position Summary:
The CIPM Manager is responsible for overseeing and coordinating the portfolio of Continuous Improvement (CI) initiatives and projects across Distribution and Market Quality (DMQ).
The role establishes governance and reporting cadences to ensure initiatives are progressing to plan, proactively identifies and escalates risks and issues, and works with cross-functional stakeholders to remove roadblocks and resolve dependencies.
The CIPM Manager may act as project manager for selected, higher-risk or cross-functional initiatives, and partners with Quality/DMQ and data owners to develop and monitor leading metrics and predictive indicators that enable proactive decision-making and sustained performance.

Key Responsibilities:

• Oversee the portfolio of Continuous Improvement (CI) initiatives and projects across Distribution and Market Quality (DMQ), ensuring scope, milestones, dependencies, risks and deliverables are defined, tracked and progressing to plan.
• Establish and run project governance (e.g., regular status reviews, action tracking, decision logs and stakeholder updates) and provide clear, concise reporting to Quality Leadership Teams and senior stakeholders on progress, risks and required decisions.
• Identify, escalate and help remove obstacles to delivery (resourcing, data availability, process gaps, cross-functional dependencies), partnering with functional leaders to drive timely resolution and maintain momentum.
• Act as project manager for selected CI initiatives when required (e.g., higher-risk or cross-functional efforts), applying fit-for-purpose PM tools to manage scope, schedule, budget and communications.
• Standardise and continuously improve CI project execution practices (charters, RACI, RAID logs, tollgates, lessons learned), coaching teams to apply problem-solving and risk-based approaches consistently.
• Facilitate end-to-end process mapping and root-cause/problem-solving sessions to identify improvement opportunities, and support leaders in prioritising initiatives based on risk, compliance impact and value.
• Partner with DMQ/Quality and data owners to define, develop and monitor leading metrics and predictive indicators; build dashboards and insights that enable proactive risk identification, trend management and decision-making.
• Own the action tracking for DMQ and CI KPI/metric trends, ensuring mitigation plans are defined, resourced, executed and closed, with clear documentation of outcomes and sustained performance.
• Coordinate cross-functionally (e.g., Supply Chain/CMC, Regulatory, International teams) to align CI roadmaps, clarify ownership and manage interdependencies so DMQ commitments are integrated into broader business initiatives.
• Support DMQ programmes such as geographic expansion, product launches and distribution model changes by ensuring CI/Quality actions are built into integrated plans, monitored through execution and delivered to commitment.
• Support CI portfolio prioritisation, resourcing and scheduling in partnership with DMQ leaders; manage and facilitate key governance forums (e.g., monthly reviews) to enable decision-making and sustained delivery.

• Bachelor’s degree in a scientific or allied health field.
• Experience or qualifications in managing CI programs in a regulated pharma industry, GDP experience highly desirable.
• Good understanding of ICH Q9 and the ability to apply risk-based approaches to lead and development of efficient solutions that balance compliance and business requirements. 
• Ability to proactively identify risk and develop mitigation strategies.
• Ability to collaborate cross functionally with good communication skills and the ability to influence others by leveraging active listening and deliver articulate and convincing ideas.
• Ability to align and adjust activities within one’s scope of ownership to positively embrace change and support business growth and process improvements.
• Demonstrates ability to effectively communicate to one’s team, local, international and global audiences, with integrity.
• Ability to leverage critical and strategic thinking to determine and mitigate complex challenges and impact.
• Ability to apply business acumen, and leadership skills; across all relevant aspects of one’s role;  skilled at time and resource management.