Head of MSAT Viral and Bacterial Platform, Vaccines Business Partner

Role Summary

Global Head of MSAT Viral & bacterial platform and Vaccines Business Partner, leading approximately 380 professionals across 6 countries focused on biopharma viral processes. Responsible for industrial development using mRNA, viral and bacterial strains and cell-based recombinant proteins, manufacturing support, Phase 3 material production, CMC strategy development, and new product introductions. Influences a vaccines business generating over €10 billion in annual sales and represents MSAT in executive leadership teams and scientific boards.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership: Shape and implement drug substance technology strategies that drive profitability, growth, and successful launches across the vaccine portfolio; provide scientific and technological direction across vaccine modalities (cell culture, egg-based platforms, microbial/pathogen systems, mRNA); represent MSAT on the Vaccines Leadership Team and voice Vaccines within MSAT.
• Organizational Excellence: Lead organizational transformation to deliver exceptional business value; foster a performance-driven culture; develop talent and drive mindset shifts to enhance capabilities and outcomes.
• Technical & Scientific Leadership: Own process internalization, development and scale-up, process validation, and control strategies for new products; ensure scientific leadership for commercial products to prevent process-related deviations; lead interdisciplinary teams to develop innovative, sustainable manufacturing processes; secure IP through patent filings; lead MSAT pilot plant capabilities and GMP batch production; guide Environmental Sustainability by Design initiatives.
• Innovation & Partnerships: Cultivate strategic partnerships with academic laboratories and biotechnology partners; advance automation, high-throughput experimentation, self-healing and continuous processing.
• Business Management: Manage resources including €120M OPEX and project costs, plus ~€20M yearly CAPEX.
• Role Distinction: Balance strategic vision with operational excellence and collaborate with senior leadership across multiple countries to shape the future of vaccine manufacturing.

Qualifications

• Required: Broad and long-term experience in vaccines, biologics, or pharmaceutical industry; proven track record across R&D, industrial development, and operations with strong GMP and global CMC project understanding; experience leading in matrix, cross-functional, multi-site teams; global exposure with ability to navigate complex stakeholder environments.
• Leadership & People Skills: Inspirational leadership, talent development, exceptional communication with stakeholder management, and change-agent capabilities in ambiguous, fast-moving environments.
• Strategic & Business Acumen: Strategic thinker with ability to drive initiatives from concept to execution; patient-centric focus; strong financial understanding and ability to build business cases balanced with scientific excellence.
• Technical Expertise: Deep knowledge of CMC development, mRNA, recombinant proteins, virology and bacteriology processes, scale-up, technology transfer, and operations; change management; project leadership; strong problem-solving and decision-making skills.
• Education: PhD or Master’s degree in Life Sciences, Biochemical Engineering, Biotechnology, Biology, Biochemistry, Pharmacy, Immunology, or related field.

Skills

• Strategic leadership and organizational transformation
• Cross-functional collaboration across R&D, Manufacturing, Regulatory, and Finance
• Advanced knowledge of vaccine modalities and CMC processes
• IP strategy and patent intelligence
• Operational excellence in GMP batch production and pilot plant operations
• Digital & automation fluency and data-driven decision making

Education

• PhD or Master’s degree in Life Sciences, Biochemical Engineering, Biotechnology, Biology, Biochemistry, Pharmacy, Immunology, or related field

Additional Requirements

• No explicit travel or physical demands specified in the source