National AI Awards 2025Discover AI's trailblazers! Join us to celebrate innovation and nominate industry leaders.

Nominate & Attend

Head of Operations – Pharmaceutical

Pod Talent
London
2 days ago
Create job alert

Head of Operations – Pharmaceutical


Location:North-West London (with some national travel)


Package:£70,000 – £80,000 + Bonus


We’re pleased retained exclusively with a growing pharmaceutical business on their search for a high-impactHead of Operations. This is a unique opportunity to build and lead the operational strategy for UK&I, including a capex projects and oversight of additional locations as the business expands.


This role is ideal for a driven, high-energy operations leader with a deep understanding of GDP and MHRA requirements, a passion for building high-performing teams, and the drive to embed scalable processes in a growing, regulated environment.


Your Role:

As Head of Operations, you will take full ownership of operational leadership across the UK network, with an immediate focus on establishing and optimising a brand-new distribution centre. You’ll be accountable for compliance, fulfilment performance, site safety, and team development - ensuring every process supports both operational excellence and regulatory requirements.

Reporting to the Operations Director, this is a visible, hands-on leadership role with the opportunity to shape national infrastructure as the business continues its rapid growth.


Key Responsibilities:

  • Lead all operational activity across the UK, including strategy agenda, fulfilment performance, operational development, transport, and facilities management.
  • Build and mentor a warehouse team and site leadership structure focused on safety, ownership, and continuous improvement.
  • Implement GDP/MHRA-compliant SOPs across warehousing, handling, and storage, ensuring audit readiness and high standards at all times.
  • Drive improvement in warehouse processes, layout, systems and vendor performance, working closely with QA, Supply Chain and Commercial teams.
  • Act as a strategic partner to the senior team - providing insights on capacity, expansion opportunities, and operational risk.


What You’ll Bring:

  • Strong experience in operations leadership within a pharmaceutical/medical grade environment
  • Excellent understanding of GDP, MHRA and medical-grade warehousing standards.
  • Demonstrated experience building and improving operations in fast paced businesses including warehouse layout, SOPs, and tech adoption.
  • A proven people leader who can coach and inspire teams at all levels, with a track record of developing future leaders.
  • Commercially aware, confident in using data to improve performance, reduce risk, and make fast decisions.
  • A self-starter with the energy and mindset to lead from the front - especially in ambiguous, high-growth environments.


What We Offer:

  • The chance to lead the national operations agenda in a growing business, bringing your expertise and leadership to shape it from the ground up.
  • Autonomy to design and optimise how the UK distribution network functions, with backing from a forward-thinking leadership team.
  • A performance and people driven culture that values mentorship, initiative, and innovation with genuine opportunity to grow with the business.


Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that underrepresented groups are less like to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. Pod Talent is dedicated to building diverse and inclusive teams with our clients So if you are excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every requirement, we encourage you to apply as we are always on the lookout for great talent!


If this is an opportunity you feel would be suited to your skills and experience and are interested in finding out more then click Apply now or contact Seb Taylor at Pod Talent.

Related Jobs

View all jobs

Head of Operations – Pharmaceutical

Head of Operations – Pharmaceutical

Head of Operations - Pharmaceutical

Head of Commercial Innovative Initiatives (2 years contract)

Operations Manager

Operations Manager

National AI Awards 2025

Subscribe to Future Tech Insights for the latest jobs & insights, direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of service.

Industry Insights

Discover insightful articles, industry insights, expert tips, and curated resources.

How to Present Biotech Concepts to Non-Scientists: A Public Speaking Guide for Job Seekers

In today’s biotechnology job market, your ability to explain complex science clearly is just as important as your lab skills. Whether you're applying for a research role, pitching to investors, or collaborating with marketing teams, you'll often need to present technical information to people without a scientific background. This blog explores how biotechnology job seekers can develop and deliver compelling presentations that make sense to non-scientists. From structuring your content to designing effective slides and using storytelling to bring data to life, these techniques will help you stand out in interviews and on the job.

Biotech Jobs Employer Hotlist 2025: 50 UK Companies Actively Hiring Right Now 

Bookmark this guide – we refresh it every quarter so you always know who’s really expanding their life‑science teams. The UK biotechnology scene is on a tear in 2025. Venture & follow‑on funding hit £3.5 billion last year, up 94 % on 2023, and Q1 2025 alone brought in another £924 million of equity for scaling therapeutics, diagnostics & deep‑tech platforms  bioindustry.org. Meanwhile, Westminster’s new industrial strategy pledges a record £86 billion for science & tech, with life sciences top of the eight “high‑growth” priority sectors . The consequence? Hiring is white‑hot. From big‑pharma giants to gene‑editing start‑ups, employers need research scientists, QC analysts, bioprocess engineers, bioinformaticians, regulatory specialists & commercial leads – right now. Below you’ll find 50 organisations that have posted UK vacancies or announced head‑count growth during the past eight weeks. They’re grouped into five bite‑size categories so you can jump straight to the type of employer – & mission – that excites you. For every entry you’ll see: Main UK hub Example recent vacancy Why it’s worth your time (tech, culture, impact) Use the internal search on BiotechnologyJobs.co.uk to pull up live roles, or set a free alert so fresh openings land in your inbox.

Return-to-Work Pathways: Relaunch Your Biotechnology Career with Returnships, Flexible & Hybrid Roles

Returning to work after a career break can feel like stepping into a new frontier—especially in a fast-evolving sector such as biotechnology. Whether you’ve paused your professional journey for parenting, caring responsibilities or another life chapter, the UK’s biotech industry now offers a variety of return-to-work pathways designed to help you transition back smoothly. From formal returnships and part-time contracts to hybrid and fully flexible roles, these programmes acknowledge the value of your transferable skills and life experience. In this guide tailored for parents and carers, you’ll discover how to: Grasp the current demand for biotech talent in the UK Translate your organisational, communication and resilience skills into the laboratory and beyond Tackle common re-entry challenges with practical solutions Refresh your scientific and technical knowledge through targeted learning Access returnship and re-entry programmes specifically in biotech Find roles that fit around family commitments—be they flexible, hybrid or full-time Balance work with caring duties Navigate applications, interviews and networking in the biotech world Learn from inspiring returner success stories Get quick answers in our FAQ section Whether you’re keen to step back into a research lab, quality control, regulatory affairs or bioinformatics team, this article will map out the steps and resources you need to reignite your biotechnology career.