Job Description

Company Description

Here at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, we are proud to provide expert, compassionate care for our local population. We are ranked as the third in the country for research, embedding education and training across the organisation. Our main hub is the Queen Alexandra Hospital, which is one of the largest hospitals on the south coast employing over 8,700 staff.

Our patients come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds because it makes our hospital stronger. If you share our values and our enthusiasm for getting it right for patients, colleagues, and our community, you will find a home at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust.

Job Description

NHS Band 8b Salary: £66,582 - £77,386 per annum

Hours Per Week: Full time 37.5 hrs

Contract Type: Permanent

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced pharmacy manufacturing leader to join Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust as our Production and Operations Manager for the Pharmacy Manufacturing Unit (PMU)

This pivotal senior leadership role is responsible for leading all operational aspects of our licensed Pharmacy Manufacturing Unit, delivering high-quality services to patients across Portsmouth, the Isle of Wight and beyond. The successful candidate will play a critical role in ensuring regulatory compliance, operational excellence, workforce development and the strategic growth of our manufacturing services

The unit is one of the largest NHS licensed units in the UK and provides a range of aseptic products to Portsmouth Hospital University NHS Trust, Isle of Wight NHS Trust and multiple other NHS Trusts across the UK.

Key Responsibilities

You will:

• Lead all operational activities within the Pharmacy Manufacturing Unit, ensuring safe, effective and efficient production services.
• Act as the person responsible for production under the MHRA licence and maintain compliance with GMP and GDP requirements.
• Provide strategic and operational leadership for aseptic, chemotherapy, TPN and non-sterile manufacturing services.
• Lead service improvement, business planning and future development of manufacturing services across the Trust and wider healthcare system.
• Manage substantial staffing, drug procurement and operational budgets.
• Work closely with senior clinicians, Quality Assurance teams, regional partners and external customers to ensure continuity of supply and excellent patient outcomes.
• Support innovation, performance improvement and organisational change within a highly regulated environment.

Why join our Pharmacy team?

At Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, we are committed to delivering outstanding patient care and continually improving our services. You will join a forward-thinking pharmacy leadership team and have the opportunity to shape the future of pharmacy manufacturing services across the Trust and wider Integrated Care System.

We offer:

• A challenging and rewarding senior leadership role
• Opportunities to influence regional pharmaceutical manufacturing strategy
• Access to leadership development programmes
• A supportive and collaborative working environment
• A commitment to professional development and continuous learning

For full job details and person specification please refer to the Job Description

Qualifications

• Pharmacist or pharmacy technician registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council, or Science Manufacturing Unit registered with the relevant Professional body.
• Up-to-date training in Good Manufacturing Practice, Good Distribution Practice and Good Clinical Practice.
• Specialist professional training in aseptic manufacturing (e.g. Diploma or MSc in Pharmaceutical Technology & Quality Assurance) or equivalent experience (minimum 10 years working in aseptic manufacturing).
• Specialist operational management training or equivalent experience.

Experience

Essential:

• Registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council as a pharmacist or pharmacy technician.
• Significant experience of MHRA inspection process for licensed aseptic production unit.
• Operational Management pharmacy experience within a large aseptic production unit.
• Significant experience of successful working as part of a multi-disciplinary team.
• Successful performance as a directorate/team leader at senior level in a previous post.
• Successful planning and implementing significant service developments and organisational change.
• Experience of successfully managing large groups of staff.
• Proven ability to work independently at an advanced level.
• Proven ability to deliver innovations within service delivery.
• Demonstrated evidence of being able to manage change and improve service quality within Production services.

Additional Information

We welcome the unique contributions that you can bring in terms of your education, opinions, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity and expression, nation of origin, age, languages spoken, veteran’s status, colour, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and beliefs.

For more information, please see our People and OD Strategy 2026

We welcome the unique contributions that you can bring in terms of your education, opinions, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity and expression, nation of origin, age, languages spoken, veteran’s status, colour, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and beliefs.

For more information, please see our People and OD Strategy 2026

Smoke Free Policy:

All of our hospitals operate a strict no smoking policy. Smoking cigarettes or tobacco products is not allowed on any of the grounds or in any of the buildings run by us. This applies to patients, staff, carers and visitors to Trust premises.

Our goal is to improve the health and wellbeing of everyone we care for and, by making sure that our NHS services are smoke-free, we benefit the health of people who use our services as well as the health of the people who work for us.