Head of Supply Chain

Head of Supply Chain

Full time, on-site, Melbourn, Cambridgeshire

Cell therapies are changing what is possible for patients with cancer, autoimmune disease and neurological conditions. They offer hope where treatments once ran out. But turning that promise into reality for thousands of patients depends on manufacturing systems that can scale without compromising quality, safety or control.

At Cellular Origins, we are developing the automated factory platforms that make this possible. As Head of Supply Chain, you’ll play a central role in making sure everything behind those platforms works as it should, from specialist equipment and consumables to long-term supplier partnerships. Your work will directly support the delivery of therapies that can change lives.

This is an opportunity to build something meaningful from the ground up. You’ll join us as we develop our first deployments, shaping a supply chain function that grows with the business and supports our mission for the long term.

About the role

As our first Head of Supply Chain, you’ll define and lead the strategy, organisation and execution of supply across Cellular Origins. You’ll be responsible for how we source, contract, manage and scale everything needed to design, build, deploy and support our Constellation systems.

This is both a strategic and hands-on leadership role. You’ll work closely with Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Field Operations and PMO, ensuring supply decisions support GMP requirements, commercial realities and customer expectations. As the company grows, you’ll grow the team, the capability and the operating model alongside it.

What you’ll do

You’ll design and embed a supply chain operating model that supports the full lifecycle of our systems, from development through to customer deployment and long-term service. That includes equipment, consumables, software suppliers, sub-contractors and service partners.

A large part of your role will be building strong, pragmatic supplier relationships. You’ll lead commercial and contractual negotiations, working closely with Legal to ensure agreements are robust, balanced and appropriate for a regulated life sciences environment. You’ll take clear ownership of supplier risk, continuity planning, change control and long-lead items, helping the business move quickly without taking unnecessary risk.

You’ll also build and lead a high-performing supply chain and procurement team. You’ll define roles, interfaces and priorities, creating simple structures that work now and can scale over time. As we move from early deployments into broader commercial delivery, you’ll evolve governance, planning, inventory and supplier performance management in a way that supports predictability without slowing us down.

In the first 6 to 12 months, you’ll focus on stabilising critical supply paths for upcoming deployments, strengthening supplier contracts in high-impact areas, introducing lightweight planning and inventory approaches, and ensuring we can consistently provide the evidence and traceability expected by regulated customers.

About you

You enjoy building capability where none existed before, then helping it mature as complexity grows. You’re comfortable working in environments where not everything is defined yet, and you bring sound judgement to balancing pace, quality and risk.

You’ll bring significant experience leading supply chain or procurement activity in complex, regulated environments such as cell and gene therapy, biopharma manufacturing, medical devices, automation, instrumentation or closely related life sciences fields. You’ve built or scaled supply chain functions before, and you’re comfortable moving between hands-on detail and longer-term design.

You understand what good looks like in GMP-relevant supply, from equipment configuration and consumables control to documentation, traceability and change management. You work well with Quality and Regulatory colleagues, and you appreciate how supply chain decisions affect validation, compliance and customer confidence.

You’re also an experienced people leader. You’ve built and developed teams, created clarity around ownership and expectations, and fostered collaborative ways of working. You bring a pragmatic mindset, commercial awareness and a genuine interest in how your work supports patients at the end of the chain.

Benefits

Cellular Origins is based on the TTP Campus, within purpose-built sustainable offices, labs and green surroundings, 10 miles south of Cambridge. Our working culture encourages entrepreneurship, shared ideas and collaboration, while providing you the freedom to do your best work.

Our employee benefits include:

• Annual bonus
• 25 days holiday
• Employer pension contribution of 10% of salary
• Free lunch and all-day refreshments
• Private medical insurance for employees and dependants
• Enhanced family friendly leave
• Life insurance worth 6x salary
• Electric car leasing scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Season ticket loan
• Activities and community that supports healthy activities that bring colleagues together; whether it’s lunchtime squash or football, Zumba or our own rock band. Colleagues initiate new clubs and outings whenever they feel there’s something missing!
• Local sports facilities and theatre discounts and memberships.

Ready to apply?

If you’d like to build a supply chain that helps advanced cell therapies reach more patients, we’d love to hear from you. Apply now to join a team focused on turning scientific potential into reliable, scalable reality.

Every application will be reviewed by the hiring team and will receive a response.