BMS Japan Posted May 18, 2026

Associate Director, External Manufacturing Quality, Cell Therapy Global Quality

Otemachi-JP, Japan Full time
Quality Associate Director

BMS Japan is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

Working with Us

Challenging. Meaningful. Life-changing. Those aren’t words that are usually associated with a job. But working at Bristol Myers Squibb is anything but usual. Here, uniquely interesting work happens every day, in every department. From optimizing a production line to the latest breakthroughs in cell therapy, this is work that transforms the lives of patients, and the careers of those who do it. You’ll get the chance to grow and thrive through opportunities uncommon in scale and scope, alongside high-achieving teams. Take your career farther than you thought possible.

Bristol Myers Squibb recognizes the importance of balance and flexibility in our work environment. We offer a wide variety of competitive benefits, services and programs that provide our employees with the resources to pursue their goals, both at work and in their personal lives. Read more: careers.bms.com/working-with-us .

Position Summary

The Associate Director, APAC External Manufacturing Quality, Cell Therapy is responsible for providing Quality oversight of Contract Manufacturing Organizations (CMOs), Contract Testing Labs (CTLs), Logistics Service Provider if applicable in support of BMS’s product portfolio under the Director of the function (APAC External Manufacturing Quality, Cell Therapy).

This role is to:

Provide QA oversight of CMOs such as Deviations, CAPAs, Change Controls, Batch Record Review, Lot disposition and CoT/CoA generation to support the clinical and commercial release of Drug product in a timely manner.

Ensure CMOs remain compliant with regulatory and internal procedures via annual risk assessments and routine/for-cause audits leveraging Quality and risk-Based principles.

Proactively identifying risks and improvement opportunities and influencing decision‑making for management to ensure business continuity, regulatory success, and sustainable growth.

Duties/Responsibilities

Provide Quality Oversight of technology transfer and routine GCTP/GMP operations at CMOs in support of cell therapy intermediate product manufacturing.

Partner with CMO Quality to provide oversight of manufacturing operations and ensure work is performed in accordance with approved regulatory submissions, master service and/or quality agreements and applicable regulatory requirements.

Provide quality compliance guidance and oversee readiness for pre-license inspection including the remediation of any GCTP/GMP deficiencies in order to ensure a timely approval and commercial launch

Collaborate with other leaders across the organization and assist in the continuous improvement and lifecycle management of CMO oversight program

Responsible for batch record review and product batch disposition

Responsible for review and/or approval of CMO deviation investigations, CAPA, controlled documents (Master Batch Records)

Act as QA impact assessor and approver of CMO related changes

Responsible for review and approval of protocol/reports in support of regulatory submissions

Responsible for review and/or approval of COI risk assessment and process map

Responsible for quality risk assessment

Develop and approve annual product review reports generated by CMOs

Collaborate with Global Quality Systems and ensure CMO’s timely implementation of corrective actions resulted from BMS’s audits

Assist in CMO GCTP/GMP audits, as required

Influencing to key stakeholders internally and externally.

Support Management Review activities and oversee trending of key quality, product and GCTP/GMP metrics related to CMO

Proactively provide teaching and coaching for junior team members

Develop departmental goals and ensure timely completion of all deliverables

Reporting Relationship

Director, APAC External Manufacturing Quality, Cell Therapy

Qualifications

Specific Knowledge, Skills, Abilities:

Expertise in GCTP/GMP compliance and Japan regulations is required

Background in aseptic processing is required

Demonstrated excellence in written and verbal communication in both Japanese and English

Independent decision-making capability and ability to think conceptually and understand impact of decisions.

Demonstrated ability to work cross-functionally and to develop and maintain strong business partner relationships

Proven strong leadership, logical thinking and demonstrated ability to engage/ influence team in a complex business situation

Advanced project management capabilities, Six Sigma methodologies, such as process mapping, root cause analysis, and effective problem-solving techniques.

Education/Experience/ Licenses/Certifications:

Master’s or bachelor’s in biochemistry, biology, microbiology, chemistry, engineering, pharmacy, or a related field.

At least 10 years of experience in the biotech or pharmaceutical industry, including a minimum of 5 years overseeing Quality Assurance in a commercial manufacturing facility for Biologics or Cell Therapy drug products.

Experience with overseeing GCTP/GMP operations in a commercial CMO manufacturing facility is preferred

Continuous improvement, operational excellence, and Six Sigma experience preferred.

Travel

This position requires travel to CMO ​

If you come across a role that intrigues you but doesn’t perfectly line up with your resume, we encourage you to apply anyway. You could be one step away from work that will transform your life and career.

Uniquely Interesting Work, Life-changing Careers

With a single vision as inspiring as “Transforming patients’ lives through science™ ”, every BMS employee plays an integral role in work that goes far beyond ordinary. Each of us is empowered to apply our individual talents and unique perspectives in a supportive culture, promoting global participation in clinical trials, while our shared values of passion, innovation, urgency, accountability, inclusion and integrity bring out the highest potential of each of our colleagues.

On-site Protocol

BMS has an occupancy structure that determines where an employee is required to conduct their work. This structure includes site-essential, site-by-design, field-based and remote-by-design jobs. The occupancy type that you are assigned is determined by the nature and responsibilities of your role:

Site-essential roles require 100% of shifts onsite at your assigned facility. Site-by-design roles may be eligible for a hybrid work model with at least 50% onsite at your assigned facility. For these roles, onsite presence is considered an essential job function and is critical to collaboration, innovation, productivity, and a positive Company culture. For field-based and remote-by-design roles the ability to physically travel to visit customers, patients or business partners and to attend meetings on behalf of BMS as directed is an essential job function.

Supporting People with Disabilities

BMS is dedicated to ensuring that people with disabilities can excel through a transparent recruitment process, reasonable workplace accommodations/adjustments and ongoing support in their roles. Applicants can request a reasonable workplace accommodation/adjustment prior to accepting a job offer. If you require reasonable accommodations/adjustments in completing this application, or in any part of the recruitment process, direct your inquiries to [email protected] . Visit careers.bms.com/ eeo -accessibility to access our complete Equal Employment Opportunity statement.

Candidate Rights

BMS will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, pursuant to applicable laws in your area.

If you live in or expect to work from Los Angeles County if hired for this position, please visit this page for important additional information:  https://careers.bms.com/california-residents/

Data Protection

We will never request payments, financial information, or social security numbers during our application or recruitment process. Learn more about protecting yourself at https://careers.bms.com/fraud-protection .

Any data processed in connection with role applications will be treated in accordance with applicable data privacy policies and regulations.

If you believe that the job posting is missing information required by local law or incorrect in any way, please contact BMS at [email protected] . Please provide the Job Title and Requisition number so we can review. Communications related to your application should not be sent to this email and you will not receive a response. Inquiries related to the status of your application should be directed to Chat with Ripley.

R1599748 : Associate Director, External Manufacturing Quality, Cell Therapy Global Quality

Job details

Seniority
Associate Director
Function
Quality
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Otemachi-JP, Japan
Employment type
Full time

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Quality role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 238 comparable Associate Director Quality roles across 55 biopharma companies.

238Comparable roles tracked
221Currently active
55Companies hiring similar roles
28Countries represented

Salary context

50 of 238 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.

This roleSubject Not listed on this posting
Peer group range $98,050 – $219,500 (median $159,000)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 238 comparable roles

United States107
India26
Ireland22
China16
Singapore15
Japan9

+ 22 more countries

Seniority mix

238 of 238 peers have a known seniority level

Manager116
Senior97
Associate Director25

Therapeutic area mix

0 of 238 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

No peers with a known therapeutic area yet.

Similar opportunities

The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.

50%similar
Gilead Sciences K.K. Tokyo, Japan Manager
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country
50%similar
Regeneron Japan KK Tokyo, Japan Manager
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country
50%similar
BMS Japan Otemachi-JP, Japan Manager
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country
50%similar
Sanofi KK (Japan) Tokyo, Japan Senior
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country
50%similar
Amgen K.K. Tokyo, Japan Manager
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country
50%similar
Amgen K.K. Tokyo, Japan Manager
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country

How we calculate "similar"

No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.

Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.

50%
Manager / Sr. Manager, Quality Assurance, Commercial QA
Gilead Sciences K.K. · Tokyo, Japan · Manager
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
50%
Senior Quality Specialist
Sanofi KK (Japan) · Tokyo, Japan · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
50%
RLT QC manager
Novartis · Sasayama, Japan · Manager
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
45%
Associate Director, Quality Assurance Compliance
Gilead Sciences, Inc. · Foster City, United States · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.