European Senior Quality Director - Medical Cannabis / Pharmaceuticals
European Senior Quality Director - Medical Cannabis / Pharmaceuticals
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Industry: Medical Cannabis / Pharmaceuticals
Company Overview
Our client is one of the largest medical cannabis producers, distributors, and brands in Europe. Established in 2006, the company employs over 1,000 people globally, with 140+ in Europe and 110+ in Germany. They are a well-known and highly respected player in the EU and global medical cannabis market and were among the first to establish stable supply chains in Germany and the UK for cannabis medicines.
The company forms part of a larger publicly listed Canadian group and is widely regarded as a “household name” within the global cannabis industry. With over seven years of commercial medical cannabis activity in Europe, the business continues to expand its European manufacturing, distribution, and regulatory footprint.
To support continued European growth, they are now seeking a European Senior Quality Director to lead all European quality functions, develop the regional quality organisation, and act as a key partner to the Canadian headquarters, reporting directly to the Global Vice President of Quality.
Role Overview
The Senior Director, Quality Europe is a key member of the Quality Leadership Team, responsible for shaping and executing enterprise-level quality strategy across European operations. The role provides senior leadership across manufacturing, packaging, testing, and distribution sites, ensuring compliance, operational excellence, and a proactive quality culture.
Reporting to the Global VP of Quality, the Senior Director leads multi-disciplinary Quality teams, ensuring alignment with global strategy, regulatory requirements, and internal standards. This role acts as a critical bridge between Canadian Global Quality leadership and the European Quality organisation, translating global strategy into effective regional execution while accounting for local regulatory and operational realities.
Operating within a highly matrixed organisation, the role partners closely with global and regional stakeholders across Quality, Operations, Supply Chain, Regulatory Affairs, R&D, Engineering, and Commercial teams to ensure quality strategy supports broader business objectives.
The Senior Director is expected to apply sound judgment and risk-based decision-making within highly regulated GMP environments, navigating complexity and ambiguity while enabling business progress without compromising compliance or patient safety.
This role carries direct accountability for leading and developing the European Quality leadership team, including oversight of senior leaders such as the Director of Quality. Responsibilities include setting strategic direction, closing capability gaps, implementing performance frameworks (KPIs), and building a high-performing, accountable quality organisation.
The position holds end-to-end responsibility for all European quality activities across key markets including Germany, the UK, Poland, France, and other current and future European operations. This is a European-wide leadership role with a global mindset, not a Germany-only position.
While the company operates at global scale, the European quality organisation is currently lean (approx. 15 team members, including two direct reports). The role therefore requires comfort leading smaller, high-impact teams while operating at enterprise level.
Responsibilities
• Lead design and execution of a multi-year European quality strategy aligned with global expansion, operations, and product pipelines
• Act as strategic partner to the VP of Quality and senior leadership on compliance, risk, and long-term quality maturity
• Translate complex regulatory expectations into pragmatic, risk-based strategies
• Provide strategic oversight of QA and QC across European manufacturing, distribution, and testing sites
• Lead cross-border compliance readiness and global regulatory expansion initiatives
• Define and monitor KPIs for enterprise quality performance
• Ensure site compliance with GMP and applicable regulatory frameworks
• Maintain continuous inspection readiness and lead audit response strategies
• Provide executive leadership during regulatory inspections, audits, and customer visits
• Lead adoption and governance of digital quality systems (QMS, LIMS, Isolocity, SAGE)
• Drive quality modernisation, data integrity, and operational excellence initiatives
• Implement harmonised systems and processes to reduce compliance risk
• Lead, coach, and develop cross-functional QA/QC teams across Europe
• Build leadership pipeline, succession planning, and talent development frameworks
• Embed a strong culture of quality, accountability, and continuous improvement
• Act as trusted advisor to Operations, Supply Chain, R&D, Regulatory, Engineering, and Commercial leaders
• Ensure quality across the full product lifecycle, from development to post-market
• Support M&A, new product launches, and site integrations from a quality perspective
• Own and manage the European quality operations budget and resource allocation
Requirements
• Deep expertise in QMS, GMP, and global regulatory frameworks with strong business alignment
• Strong background in manufacturing quality operations (batch release, deviations, CAPAs, change control, document management)
• Proven success managing regulatory inspections and audits across Europe
• Advanced risk-based quality decision-making capability
• Experience applying Lean, Six Sigma, or continuous improvement methodologies
• Strong cross-functional leadership within matrixed organisations
• Demonstrated success leading quality transformations and cultural change
• Ability to develop high-performing teams and future quality leaders
• Excellent communication skills across technical and executive audiences
• Strong data-driven mindset with experience using digital quality tools and dashboards
• Budget ownership and resource planning experience
• High ethical standards and commitment to patient safety
• Enterprise-level quality leadership experience within highly regulated industries (pharma, medical cannabis, biotech, medical devices, consumer health)
• Ability to define and communicate a compelling vision for quality excellence
• Proven stakeholder engagement and influence at all organisational levels
• Experience leading through ambiguity, inspections, recalls, or restructuring
• Strong collaboration across Operations, Regulatory, R&D, and Supply Chain
Experience Required
• 10+ years progressive experience in Quality roles within GMP-regulated industries
• 5+ years in senior Quality leadership with multi-site or enterprise accountability
• Deep knowledge of European quality requirements
• Proven success leading audits, inspections, and cross-functional initiatives
• Strong English and German
• Medical cannabis experience advantageous but not essential
• Experience across multiple regulated industries advantageous
• International / European experience beyond Germany preferred
Compensation
• Competitive compensation package including performance bonus and full legal German benefits
• Hybrid working environment
How to Apply
If this role sounds interesting, please email aj.mishra@luminorecruit.com with your application.
Seniority level
* Seniority level
Mid-Senior level
Employment type
* Employment type
Full-time
Job function
* Job function
Quality Assurance, Management, and Strategy/Planning
* Industries
Pharmaceutical Manufacturing
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