COO - Pharma

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Experience: 18+ yrs

Location: Hyderabad, Telangana, India

Job Type: Full-time

We are looking for an experienced and commercially astute Chief Operating Officer (COO) - Pharma to lead and scale operations across a multi-site pharmaceutical manufacturing environment. The role will have end-to-end responsibility for operational excellence, manufacturing performance, quality, supply chain, cost management, and execution across multiple plants and clusters.

The ideal candidate will bring extensive experience in API manufacturing, multi-site operations, plant leadership, and cluster-level management. The role requires a strong understanding of pharmaceutical manufacturing, regulatory expectations, operational transformation, and business performance.

Requirements

Key Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end pharmaceutical manufacturing operations across multiple API manufacturing sites and clusters.
• Develop and execute the overall operations strategy in alignment with business growth and profitability objectives.
• Drive operational excellence across manufacturing, quality, engineering, maintenance, EHS, supply chain, and plant support functions.
• Establish consistent operating standards, performance metrics, governance mechanisms, and best practices across multiple sites.
• Improve plant productivity, capacity utilisation, yield, throughput, cost efficiency, and overall equipment effectiveness.
• Ensure manufacturing operations comply with applicable GMP, regulatory, quality, safety, and environmental requirements.
• Partner with Quality and Regulatory teams to maintain inspection readiness and strengthen quality systems.
• Lead initiatives focused on cost optimisation, process improvement, productivity enhancement, and operational transformation.
• Review manufacturing capacity, demand, production planning, inventory, and supply-chain performance across sites.
• Identify operational bottlenecks, risks, and improvement opportunities and ensure timely corrective actions.
• Lead capital expenditure planning for plant expansion, modernisation, technology upgrades, and capacity enhancement.
• Oversee operational integration and performance management across different plants within the assigned cluster.
• Develop and mentor Plant Heads and senior operations leaders while building a strong succession pipeline.
• Establish regular operational reviews covering production, quality, safety, cost, delivery, productivity, and financial performance.
• Support new product introductions, technology transfers, manufacturing scale-up, and capacity expansion initiatives.
• Collaborate with senior leadership on strategic investments, acquisitions, site development, and long-term operational planning.
• Drive a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, operational discipline, and performance excellence.

What Makes You a Great Fit

• 18+ years of experience in pharmaceutical manufacturing, operations, plant leadership, or a closely related field.
• Extensive experience in API manufacturing and pharmaceutical production environments.
• Proven experience managing multiple manufacturing sites, plants, or operational clusters.
• Strong understanding of pharmaceutical GMP, quality systems, regulatory compliance, EHS, and manufacturing controls.
• Demonstrated ability to manage large-scale manufacturing operations with responsibility for productivity, cost, quality, and delivery.
• Strong experience in operational excellence, lean manufacturing, process optimisation, and continuous improvement.
• Experience managing Plant Heads, senior functional leaders, and cross-functional operational teams.
• Strong financial and commercial understanding, including budgets, CAPEX, operational costs, and profitability drivers.
• Experience leading plant expansions, capacity enhancement, technology transfers, or major operational transformation programs.
• Strong strategic thinking combined with the ability to drive execution at plant and shop-floor levels.
• Excellent stakeholder-management, leadership, communication, and decision-making skills.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities with a data-driven approach to operational management.
• Ability to manage complex multi-site and cluster operations in a fast-paced pharmaceutical environment.
• A degree in Pharmacy, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related discipline is preferred; advanced management qualifications would be an advantage.