Senior Quality Assurance/Quality Control(QA/QC) Officer (Microbiology)

NHS; Colchester; On-site; GBP 37,000 - 45,000

Job description

Senior Quality Assurance/Quality Control(QA/QC) Officer (Microbiology)

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

Have you got the enthusiasm, knowledge and experience to take up this exciting challenge? We are looking for a Specialist Quality Assurance Officer to cover maternity leave until 30th March 2026.

We require you to be responsible for the supervision of the Quality Assurance (QA) officers and assistants, under the guidance of the Head of Pharmacy Quality Assurance (HPQA) and QC Lead Microbiologist.

As a Senior Quality Assurance / Quality Control (QA/QC) Officer you will manage the running of the QA Microbiology Laboratory, such that an efficient system of workflow through the department is maintained.

You will also manage and be responsible for routine and non-routine sampling and testing (e.g. physical and microbiological environmental monitoring and TVC testing), trending, and investigations, to maintain MHRA regulatory compliance in a licensed aseptic and non-sterile production facility.

Main duties of the job

1. Investigate/root cause microbiological Out-of-Limit (OOL) or unusual results. Undertake trending and routine reporting of microbiological status of facilities.
2. Manage the training/proficiency testing of relevant staff including assistants, students, technicians and pre-registration pharmacy graduates in Microbiological laboratory techniques and the principles of Quality Assurance.
3. Manage the recruitment, development and appraisal of the Quality Assurance staff.
4. Maintain the cross site Microbiological Reporting System (MRS).
5. Manage SLAs with external companies with regards microbiological testing.
6. Develop and validate microbiological enumeration test methods for raw materials and finished products.

About us

We are ESNEFT and we provide hospital and community health services to almost one million people across east Suffolk and north Essex. Our dedicated staff deliver care from acute hospitals in Colchester and Ipswich, community hospitals, surgeries, community clinics and in patients' own homes.

We are one of the largest NHS organisations in England, employing more than 12,000 staff.

We pride ourselves on supporting our staff. We offer a wide range of training and development opportunities, as well as flexible working options.

Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offers a variety of services.

Our philosophy is that Time Matters to everyone. Across the Trust, we concentrate on improving the things we do and removing those which cause time delays for our staff and patients.

If you are passionate about patient care and want to develop your skills and knowledge, then we want to hear from you.

Job responsibilities

For full details of the responsibilities and duties of this role please see the attached job description.

Person Specification

Experience

• Significant experience of microbiology techniques used within a modern Pharmacy/QC Microbiology Laboratory conforming to standards of Good Manufacturing Practice, Good Laboratory Practice and Safe Laboratory Practice.
• Previous experience of training staff within a Pharmaceutical Quality Control Laboratory.
• Pharmaceutical/relevant Microbiology experience.

Qualifications

• BSc or equivalent in scientific or related subject.
• MSc or equivalent in scientific or related subject.
• Appropriate professional membership (where appropriate).

Knowledge

• Experience of Microbiological analytical techniques.
• A thorough knowledge of all aspects of GMP and QA and their application to pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Employer name

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

£37,338 to £44,962 a year per annum pro rata