Operational Excellence and Digitalization Specialist

Operational Excellence and Digitalization Specialist

Are you looking for an exciting opportunity to develop your skills in an international pharmaceutical company, with the aspiration of becoming the global leader in allergy treatment? Join ALK, a leading global pharmaceutical company dedicated to improving lives for people living with allergies, as our new Operational Excellence and Digitalization Specialist. We believe in empowering our people and fostering a collaborative, high-performance environment where your expertise can truly make an impact.

Position Purpose

The Operational Excellence Technician supports the execution of Continuous Improvement (CI), Operational Excellence (OPEX), and Digitalization initiatives within the Product Supply area at ALK Spain.
The role contributes to the site’s performance by identifying improvement opportunities, coordinating multidisciplinary teams, implementing Lean methodologies, and delivering quantifiable economic impact (e.g., waste reduction, efficiency increase, digital workflows).

This role is ideal for someone early in their career, with technical/engineering background, enthusiasm, strong communication skills, and a desire to grow in CI and Project Management within a regulated pharma environment.  Appetite to transform Manual/Paper processes into Digital. Desire to learn and implement digital solutions.

Key responsibilities:

• Operational Excellence: Identify and execute CI opportunities (waste, throughput, standardization), lead problem-solving/CI workshops, reduce scrap, increase OEE (bottleneck analysis, downtime categorization), and optimize processes.
• Data & dashboards: Collect/analyze operational data, define KPIs, ensure data integrity, build visual management and dashboards for TIER routines, document data sources and calculations.
• Digitalization: Translate needs into requirements, help create dashboards/automations, support existing IT systems, and improve digital standards and data structures.
• Project management: Coordinate cross-functional tasks (Operations, Product Supply, QC, QA, Procurement), plan and track projects, manage risks/stakeholders, prepare documentation, and apply change management.
• Benefits tracking: Prioritize CI pipeline, quantify financial impact, and track baselines/targets/realization.

Required qualifications:

• Bachelor in technical field.
• 2–5 years of experience in Continuous Improvement, Operational Excellence, Digitalization, Manufacturing, Engineering, Quality, or related fields. Preferable in production and/or laboratory environment.
• Strong communicator; able to coordinate multidisciplinary teams.
• Spanish fluent; English B2–C1.
• Proactive, analytical, strong problem-solver.

Nice to have:

• Experience with SAP, LIMS, Microsoft Teams.
• Experience with Power BI (reporting, dashboards).
• Experience with Minitab for statistical analysis, or other statistical tool.
• Advanced Excel skills (pivot tables, formulas, data analysis).
• Experience with Power Automate (workflow automation).
• Familiarity with project management methodologies.
• Understanding of GMP or regulated environments (pharma, biotech, medical devices).
• Basic knowledge of digitalization and data management concepts.

Core competencies:

• Communication: Able to engage and align cross-functional stakeholders.
• Problem-solving: Structured, analytical, fact-based approach.
• Initiative & enthusiasm: Positive attitude, proactive, eager to learn.
• Teamwork: Ability to work with multiple departments and profiles.
• Continuous Improvement mindset: Curiosity to challenge and improve current processes.
• Adaptability: Comfortable working in changing environments and learning new tools.

Reporting & Collaboration:

• Reports to Product Supply VP; collaborates with Operations Project Manager; works across Product Supply, QA, Procurement; no direct reports.

What we offer:

• Career growth in OpEx and Project Management in a leading pharma company.
• Impactful projects with measurable results; strong learning in Lean/CI/digital.
• Collaborative environment; benefits per ALK policy (up to 1 day/week remote).
• International exposure to global teams.

Location: Madrid, Spain (on-site; up to 1 day/week remote)
Travel: Up to 10%
Department: Operations (Product Supply)
Reporting to: Reports directly to Product Supply Vice President, but working in close collaboration with Operations Project Manager
Employment Type: Full-time
Contract type: Permanent
Schedule: Flexible