Leading Vaccine Manufacturer Emergent Biosolutions Searching for Quality Talent for Three Facilities Across Maryland
Emergent Biosolutions (Emergent) is a global biopharmaceutical company, Maryland’s leading vaccine manufacturer, and one of the key life science anchor organizations of the BioHealth Capital Region (BCHR). The company is actively hiring for dozens of full-time Quality Control team positions to support a growing portfolio of programs, including several for COVID-19 vaccine candidate production.
Emergent is currently hiring for the following positions within their Quality Control (QC) teams at several of its Maryland sites, including (click on job for more information):
- Specialist l, Batch Record Review
- Specialist I, QA on the Floor Pkng 2nd Shift
- Associate Specialist, Metrology Technical Systems
- Analyst II, QC Microbiology – Fill Line
- Facilities Engineer Controls
- Analyst III, QC Data Reviewer
Members of the Emergent team, including BJ Hull, VP and GM (Baltimore and Rockville), Joe Rogalewicz, VP, Quality Vaccines (Bayview), Michele Huggins, Director Quality Control (Bayview), and other key staff, recently held a virtual recruiting event to explore the many immediate job opportunities at the Bayview and Camden campuses in Baltimore, Maryland as well as the Rockville, Maryland location. Emergent’s Bayview facility is designated as a Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing (CIADM) by BARDA and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
It’s an exciting and rewarding time to be a part of the Emergent team.
“Everything begins with our promise: Emergent delivers peace of mind in an uncertain world. This has taken on new meaning today with COVID-19 activities and the challenges the country and the world are facing today. Emergent has really stepped up. We are really passionate about our role in this. This promise has led to the growth in everything we do today,” stated BJ Hull, VP and GM of the Baltimore and Rockville sites.
“Our vision is 1 billion lives protected or enhanced by 2030. This is a novel goal and we are driven and everything we do at this organization is to protect and enhance lives,” he added.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Emergent has been all over the news regarding COVID-19-related contracts and partnerships. The company recently appeared on USA Today’s list of companies receiving the largest COVID-19 government contracts. In mid-June, the company announced a manufacturing partnership with AstraZeneca to produce its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, valued at approximately $87M. In late April of this year, Emergent BioSolutions announced a partnership with Johnson & Johnson (J&J) to provide contract development and manufacturing services to support J&J’s COVID-19 vaccine efforts. The company also signed two contract agreements with Novavax, one to manufacture Novavax’s NanoFlu™ and the other to support Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
Just a few weeks ago, Emergent announced that its partnership with AZ had expanded with the signing of a $174M vaccine agreement between the two companies.
Emergent employs approximately 1,800 staff across 19 global locations; the company has 10 marketed products, 15 products in its pipeline and has a market cap of $3.1B with $1.1B of total revenue generated in 2019. The business focuses on four sectors: vaccines, therapeutics, devices and its Contract Manufacturing and Development
(CDMO) arm. Emergent’s marketed products include its Anthrax and Smallpox franchises; it has an Opioid and Chemical business groups as well as a Botulism group.
Elizabeth Miclette, Emergent’s Director of HR, stated, “Emergent is rapidly growing and we have so many dynamic roles available in Quality…there are so many places that you can make a difference. I joined Emergent a year ago and it was the best decision of my life. I’m really excited to see how our company can be a great fit for you as well.”
Joe Rogalewicz, VP, Quality Vaccines (Bayview), shared, “Why do we do it? You can have all the bricks and structure and strategy but at the end of the day it’s about the patients receiving the vaccine who expect to get a vaccine that will prevent them from getting a disease. We have an ethical responsibility to make sure that the product is safe and efficacious.”
“The world is a little different now. The Bayview site is built for pandemics to be sure we have the manufacturing space when these events occur. We have an opportunity here to show the world what we can do to manufacture vaccines…The heart and soul of this process is quality assurance. We coach and teach and instill the DNA of quality as a first intent within all of the manufacturing and operations functions,” he added.
The Director of Quality Control at the Bayview facility, Michele Huggins, took some time to review the 7-team structure of the Quality Control function, the testing methods quality deploys and its control programs. “We are very excited about the opportunities we have right now with the COVID projects…we are very close knit and work well together and we welcome anyone to apply for any of the openings. We have openings in all of the areas I mentioned earlier,” stated Huggins.
Huggins’ counterpart in the Camden facility, Director of Laboratory Services Thomas Voigt added, “I started in the lab at this site back in 2006 and was able to work my way up to Director. It was a great experience and I’ve really enjoyed working for Emergent and they have provided us great opportunities and great working conditions. At the end of the day knowing we are making medications that will help people around the world is such a great feeling.” Voigt also provided an overview of the Lab Services group’s focus areas and responsibilities.
“Emergent’s hiring process has gone virtual since March and we’ve staffed up our team a little bit and we’re being very diligent. Our needs are real-time and we’re really ramping up to support our efforts…We do a virtual panel process, which takes about one or two sessions where candidates talk to folks across roles so you fully understand the roles and the culture to see if it’s a good fit for you,” shared Linda Gillen, Director of Talent Acquisition. “We want you to understand who we are so you can make an informed decision.”
Emergent’s Quality Virtual Hiring event was highly informative, enabling virtual attendees to hear from a host of the company’s leadership from across the growing organization, while also receiving an in-depth overview of the important role Quality plays in Emergent’s efforts to protect and enhance 1 billion lives by 2030.
For more information on available Quality positions at Emergent, please visit their careers page or contact Erica Gourdine at erica(at)biobuzz(dot)io
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
Steve brings nearly twenty years of experience in marketing and content creation to the WorkForce Genetics team. He loves writing engaging content and working with partners, companies, and individuals to share their unique stories and showcase their work. Steve holds a BA in English from Providence College and an MA in American Literature from Montclair State University. He lives in Frederick, Maryland with his wife, two sons, and the family dog.
