Quality Specialist II

Christiana Donor Center - Newark, DE

In 1954, the Blood Bank of Delmarva was established in the Delmarva region as a private, not for profit agency to collect, test, and distribute blood products. Today, the Blood Bank of Delmarva is a division of New York Blood Center and is among the nation's premium providers of blood products and services and an integral part of the Delmarva community's health care system. As of October 2019, the Blood Bank of Delmarva employs approximately 175 full- and part-time employees. Our employees are committed to the Blood Center's mission of providing a safe and adequate blood for patients within our community.

Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am-4:00pm

The Quality Specialist II works to ensure the quality and safety of products and services by applying knowledge of quality principles and practices to the design, implementation, control, monitoring, assessment, and continuous improvement of work processes. 

The incumbent participates in the implementation and maintenance of the quality management system (QMS), with a focus on collection of blood and cellular therapy products, manufacturing and distribution, clinical services, transfusion services, laboratory services, and clinical research, as well as organization-wide support functions such as information systems, facilities, and safety.

• Protects the safety of patients and blood or HCT/P donors by taking immediate action with input from a Quality Manager when there is a critical quality issue that warrants a stop to production and/or delivery of products and services.
• Contributes to the design and participates in implementation and maintenance of the quality management system, including development, improvement and review of related SOPs, processes, IT solutions, and quality tools as assigned.
• Independently performs quality assurance activities in support of NYBCe program areas.
  • Ensures that appropriate specifications for NYBCe services and products have been defined according to their intended use.
  • Verifies that products and services consistently meet defined specifications.
  • Confirms that operational SOPs comply with applicable regulations, accreditation standards, and current NYBCe policy.
  • Verifies that document management and record keeping systems comply with regulatory and accreditation requirements.
  • Reviews and approves validation studies for critical processes, equipment, and computer systems to assure that they will consistently perform as expected.
  • Manages quality events such as adverse events, lookbacks, post-donation information, and complaints.
  • Performs and approves consignee notification and FDA reporting of errors.
• Independently monitors and assesses quality performance and compliance of operational systems.
  • Manages deviation reporting process, including classification, analysis and follow up.
  • Leads or participates in quality audits.
  • Tracks, trends, analyzes, and creates reports of quality and process performance data.
• Contributes to process improvement efforts and facilitates team projects as needed.
  • Advises staff on the development of corrective action and preventive action plans.
  • Performs verification and effectiveness checks for CAPAs.
  • Identifies opportunities for improvement and makes recommendations based on monitoring and assessment activities.
  • Leads or participates in formal process improvement team projects as assigned.
• Leads or actively participates in regularly scheduled quality management system review meetings with operational staff and managers.
• Coaches NYBCe staff in GMP and quality principles. Advises staff regarding regulatory and quality issues, and facilitates staff awareness, training, and understanding of applicable regulations. Trains staff in the use of quality tools.
• Provides Quality and GMP training for new employees, as assigned.

Education: 

• Bachelor's degree in life sciences, pharmaceutical, biotech or biologics manufacturing, or quality management. Bachelor’s degree in another field of study may be considered with strong, relevant work experience.

Related Experience: 

• Minimum 2 years specialized experience (includes performing activities of a quality professional in a healthcare or drugs/biologics/medical devices manufacturing setting).

• Minimum 4 years total relevant experience (includes any combination of: specialized experience described above, and clinical or technical work performed in a healthcare, laboratory, or drugs/biologics/medical devices manufacturing setting).

Any combination of education and experience equivalent to the requirements listed above has supplied the necessary knowledge, skills, and experience to perform the essential functions of the job equivalent to the job requirements above.