Associate Director, Training and Deviations

Job description

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. At Bristol Myers Squibb we are reimagining the future of cell therapy. With our bold ambition, backed by a best-in-the-industry team and long-term commitment, we are leading the way to unlock the full promise of cell therapy as we strive to put more patients on the path to a cure. If you are ready to challenge yourself, accelerate your career, and give new hope to patients, there’s no better place than here at BMS with our Cell Therapy team. The Associate Director, Training and Deviations, is a leadership role that serves as the cornerstone of a compliant, capable, and continuously evolving manufacturing organization. This role is accountable for shaping and delivering a site-specific manufacturing training strategy while ensuring the consistent production of thorough, high-quality deviation assessments and investigations that safeguard product quality and regulatory compliance. As an integral member of the Process Improvement and Compliance Team, this leader directly oversees two specialized teams — Manufacturing Trainers and Deviation Assessment Writers — uniting their efforts to drive a culture of learning, accountability, and operational excellence across both product lines. Working in close partnership with the Sr. Director, this role takes a proactive approach to workforce development and quality event management, ensuring that people, processes, and compliance standards at the site level are continuously strengthened. Given the demands of a 24-hour, 365-day manufacturing operation, this role is critical in ensuring that training readiness and deviation management support are consistently available and responsive across all shifts and operational cycles — leaving no gap in compliance coverage or workforce competency. In summary, this role exists to ensure the right people have the right knowledge at the right time — and that when things go wrong, the organization learns, adapts, and improves. Shift Available: Monday - Friday, Onsite Day Shift, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. (flexibility to support evening team as needed) Responsibilities: Values Leads by example, modeling BMS values and holding their team accountable to the same standards of integrity, inclusion, and excellence. Builds and sustains an engaging, accountable, and learning-focused team culture that inspires continuous growth and high performance across the Training and Deviation Assessment teams. Actively supports the manufacturing operational team by ensuring they are equipped with the knowledge, competencies, and resources needed to perform at their best — fostering a collaborative environment where learning and operational excellence go hand in hand. Quality Accountable for the oversight and delivery of the site-specific manufacturing training programs and deviation assessments, ensuring alignment with GMP regulations, BMS policies, and all applicable regulatory requirements. Ensures training documentation, deviation records, and associated quality artifacts are always maintained in a consistently audit-ready state. Accountable for the integration and adherence to global quality standards and metrics as they relate to training compliance and deviation management. Drives Right First Time (RFT) principles within the manufacturing organization by identifying training gaps that contribute to deviations and implementing targeted interventions to reduce recurrence. RFT in the development of robust training materials by proactively assessing the learning needs of the manufacturing organization and providing flexible, audience-centered delivery approaches — ensuring training content is relevant, effective, and impactful the first time it is introduced. Represents the Training and Deviations function in quality councils and associated review boards, including CCRB, IRB, and other applicable forums, as applicable. Supports and leads internal and external audits related to training and deviation management, developing appropriate improvement strategies to maintain operational processes within compliance and licensure guidance. Identifies, assesses, and prioritizes risks related to workforce competency and deviation trends, implementing proactive strategies to mitigate their impact on compliance, product quality, and safety. Responsible for setting the strategic direction for the Training and Deviations function, ensuring alignment with site and global compliance, budgetary, safety, and technical requirements. Provides compliant, practical solutions to training and deviation-related challenges, supporting continuous improvement programs across the manufacturing organization. Participates in, facilitates, and drives meaningful CAPAs and Change Control implementation arising from deviation investigations and training effectiveness findings. Conducts regular Quality Gemba walks with functional area owners to directly observe manufacturing operations, identify training gaps, assess deviation trends at the source, and ensure processes and practices remain aligned with GMP standards and audit-readiness expectations. Safety Accountable for fostering a strong safety culture within the Training and Deviations function by embedding safety awareness into training programs and deviation assessment processes. Responsible for the integration and maintenance of global EOHSS standards within manufacturing training content owned by the Training and Deviations department. Participates in regular safety Gemba walks with functional area owners and site leadership team members to observe working conditions, identify safety training needs, and drive improvements. Performance Accountable for the quality and compliance of all training records and deviation assessments produced by the Training and Deviations team. Serves as the primary point of contact for escalated training compliance issues and major deviation investigations arising within the manufacturing organization. Proactively develops and implements strategies that reinforce a Right First Time culture through effective workforce training and thorough deviation investigations. Accountable for adherence to Training and Deviations performance KPIs, including training completion rates, deviation closure timelines, and repeat deviation rates. Identifies, assesses, and prioritizes potential risks associated with workforce competency and deviation trends, developing and executing strategies to mitigate impacts on safety, compliance, and organizational performance. Ensures that training and deviation management support is accessible and responsive across a 24-hour, 365-day manufacturing operation — maintaining consistent coverage across all shifts and operational cycles to prevent gaps in compliance, workforce competency, or deviation response. Continuous Improvement / Lean Deployment Responsible for identifying and implementing training and deviation process improvements that contribute to BMS and site-level goals. Applies lean principles to drive efficiency and reduce waste within training delivery and deviation investigation workflows, while ensuring all processes