At Bristol Myers Squibb, our employees often ask, “Who are you working for?”—a question that fuels collaboration, accountability, and urgency in our work. Our purpose-driven culture inspires us to discover, develop, and deliver innovative medicines to prevail over serious diseases. We offer uniquely interesting and meaningful work, opportunities for growth, and a supportive environment that values inclusion, wellbeing, flexibility, and comprehensive benefits. This is work that transforms the lives of patients, and the careers of those who do it.
A Role at the Heart of Cell Therapy Manufacturing BMS Leiden is where science becomes reality. In our cell therapy manufacturing facility, every batch matters, every process step counts, and every person on the floor plays a direct part in what we are building here. We are looking for a Manager, Manufacturing, Cell Therapy to lead one of our manufacturing teams — someone who brings both technical grounding and genuine people leadership to this work.
What This Role Is As a first-line people manager, you will be responsible for the safe, compliant, and on-schedule execution of manufacturing operations within your assigned area. Reporting to a Senior Manager or Associate Director, you will lead a team of manufacturing associates — building their capability, holding the standard, and making sure operations run right the first time, every time.
This is a hands-on leadership role. You will be present on the floor, coaching in real time, troubleshooting process issues, and representing your team in daily accountability and cross-functional meetings.
What You Will Do
- People Leadership: You will own the full people management cycle for your direct reports — from onboarding and goal setting through to performance management, development planning, and day-to-day coaching. You will give direct, timely feedback, manage shift coverage and capacity, and create an environment where people feel accountable, supported, and able to speak up.
- Manufacturing Operations: You will plan, assign, and oversee the daily activities of your area — the flow of people, product, and materials. You will be accountable for schedule adherence, cycle time, and right-first-time execution, and will maintain a consistent presence on the floor to oversee, coach, and troubleshoot as needed.
- Quality, Compliance and Safety: You will foster a culture where safety, product quality, and cGMP compliance come first. You will initiate deviations and change controls, lead investigations of low to medium complexity, maintain GMP documentation and batch records, and support audit and Health Authority inspection readiness for your area.
- Continuous Improvement: You will monitor performance data and trends, identify improvement opportunities, and lead or contribute to initiatives that make operations better. You will also help capture knowledge in procedures and training materials, so that expertise lives in the system — not just in people's heads.
- Collaboration: You will work closely with Quality, MSAT, Supply Chain & Logistics, Facilities & Engineering, IT, and EHS&S to resolve issues and deliver the schedule. You will provide clear, accurate operational updates to management and represent manufacturing on cross-functional projects as needed.
What You Bring - You have 5 or more years of experience in cGMP cell therapy manufacturing, bioprocessing, or a closely related field, along with at least one year of team leadership experience — or demonstrated leadership in a technical lead, shift lead, or matrix capacity.
- You have a solid working knowledge of cGMP regulations and a genuine feel for manufacturing systems and engineering principles. You are approachable, accountable, and technically confident — someone who can coach associates in the moment, resolve issues at the local level, and escalate when the situation calls for it.
- Experience in aseptic processing, cell expansion, cell washing, cryopreservation, and handling human-derived materials in BSL-2 / ML-1 environments is a strong advantage.
- An HBO in a science-related field, or equivalent combination of education and experience, is required for this Netherlands-based role.
A Note on the Working Environment - This is an active, physical role. You will work in a cleanroom environment requiring full gowning and PPE, stand and move for extended periods, and handle production equipment and materials on a regular basis. Shift work, including evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays, is part of the role.
Why Leiden, Why Now The Leiden Cell Therapy Facility is a site on the rise, and the people leading manufacturing teams here are central to how it gets there. If you take quality personally, lead with integrity, and find meaning in work that demands both precision and heart, we would like to hear from you.
We hire for skills and capabilities, not just credentials – if this role excites you, but doesn’t perfectly match your resume, we encourage you to apply anyway.
How We Work Where you work matters – because collaboration, innovation and patient impact happen in many settings. Our roles are structured across four work models: site-essential, site-by-design, field-based and remote-by-design. The model assigned to this role is based on its core responsibilities. Learn more at
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R1606066 : Manager, Manufacturing, Cell Therapy