Head of Business Operations

Global Drug Substance CDMO | France / Germany

About the Company

Our client is a global Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation (CDMO) specialising in drug substance development and manufacturing for pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers.

With a growing international customer base and operations across multiple regions, the organisation is continuing to expand its European presence and is looking to appoint a Head of Business Operations – Europe to provide strategic and operational leadership across its European territories.

This is a highly visible role working across commercial, scientific, project management, technical operations and customer-facing functions, with responsibility for ensuring projects and customer relationships are delivered effectively from development through to manufacturing.

The Role

As Head of Business Operations – Europe, you will be responsible for driving operational performance across the European business, ensuring that customer programmes are effectively planned, resourced and executed.

The ideal candidate will have started their career within a scientific, technical or engineering discipline, subsequently moving into project management, programme management, project direction or business operations within a CDMO environment.

You will act as a key interface between European customers and internal technical and operational teams, ensuring that complex drug substance programmes are delivered against agreed timelines, budgets, quality requirements and customer expectations.

This is an ideal opportunity for an experienced CDMO Project Director, Programme Director, Senior Project Manager, Business Operations Leader or Technical Operations professional looking to take a broader leadership position.

Key Responsibilities

European Business Operations

• Lead and coordinate business operations across the European region.
• Develop and implement operational strategies aligned with the wider global CDMO organisation.
• Drive consistency in project execution, governance and operational processes across European sites.
• Monitor business performance, project portfolios, capacity and resource requirements.
• Identify operational risks and implement appropriate mitigation strategies.
• Work closely with global leadership to align European operations with wider company objectives.
• Provide senior oversight of complex customer programmes from development through to commercial manufacturing.
• Support and, where required, directly lead major strategic customer programmes.
• Establish appropriate project governance, milestones, KPIs and reporting structures.
• Ensure projects remain aligned to agreed scope, timelines, budgets and quality requirements.
• Coordinate cross-functional teams spanning process development, analytical development, manufacturing, quality, regulatory, engineering and supply chain.
• Escalate and resolve project risks, technical challenges and customer issues.
• Provide senior-level project direction where programmes require additional leadership.

Customer & Commercial Interface

• Build strong relationships with pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers.
• Act as a senior operational point of contact for key European customers.
• Translate customer requirements into clear internal operational priorities.
• Partner with Business Development and Commercial teams during new business opportunities, technical due diligence and project onboarding.
• Support proposals, project scoping and customer negotiations from an operational and technical perspective.
• Ensure successful handover from commercial opportunity through to project execution.

Scientific & Technical Leadership

• Utilise your scientific/technical background to understand complex drug substance development and manufacturing programmes.
• Work closely with technical functions to understand process, scale-up, technology transfer and manufacturing requirements.
• Challenge project assumptions and identify potential technical or operational risks.
• Provide credibility when engaging with senior technical stakeholders and customers.
• Ensure that operational decisions are grounded in a strong understanding of pharmaceutical development and manufacturing.
• Identify opportunities to improve project delivery, customer experience and operational efficiency.
• Establish and monitor appropriate operational KPIs.
• Drive improvements in project governance, resource planning and cross-functional collaboration.
• Contribute to the continued development and scalability of the European organisation.

Candidate Profile

We are looking for an experienced CDMO professional with a scientific or technical foundation who has progressed into project, programme or business leadership.

• Scientific, pharmaceutical, chemical engineering or related technical degree.
• Significant experience within a CDMO, CMO or pharmaceutical development/manufacturing environment.
• Strong understanding of drug substance development and/or manufacturing.
• Proven experience in project management, programme management, project direction or business operations.
• Experience managing complex, cross-functional pharmaceutical programmes.
• Strong customer-facing experience within a CDMO environment.
• Experience working across multiple functions and/or international sites.
• Strong commercial awareness and understanding of the customer–CDMO relationship.
• Demonstrated ability to operate at senior stakeholder level.

Ideally

• Experience progressing from a scientific/technical role into Project Management → Programme Management → Project/Programme Direction or Business Operations.
• Previous experience as a Project Director, Programme Director, Senior Project Manager, Technical Operations Manager or Business Operations Leader.
• Experience with API/drug substance development and manufacturing.
• Exposure to technology transfer, scale-up, process development or commercial manufacturing.
• Experience managing European pharmaceutical customers.Experience working within a global CDMO organisation.
• French or German language skills would be advantageous depending on location.

Typical Backgrounds

We would be particularly interested in candidates coming from backgrounds such as:

• Head of Business Operations – CDMO
• Director of Business Operations
• Director / Head of Project Management
• Project Director – CDMO
• Senior Project Director
• Head of Customer Projects
• Technical Operations Director
• Director of Client Services
• Senior Technical Project Manager

The strongest candidates are likely to have started their career scientifically or technically before moving into increasingly senior project, programme and operational leadership positions.

Location

Preferred location: France or Germany

The role will have responsibility across European territories and will require regular interaction with European customers, manufacturing sites and global leadership.

International travel will therefore be expected.

What Makes This Role Interesting?

This is an opportunity to move beyond traditional project management into a broader European business leadership position within a global drug substance CDMO.

You will have the opportunity to influence:

• European operational strategy
• Project and programme governance
• Customer relationships
• Resource and capacity planning
• Business growth and operational scalability

The successful candidate will become a key link between scientific/technical expertise, project execution, customer management and European business operations.