Chief Product Officer — Quality And Supply Network

The mandate

A pharmaceutical quality-and-supply network is approaching patent expiry across several markets, yet product lifecycle decisions remain split among commercial, supply, regulatory and technical functions. Pack variants, formulations, sites and change programmes continue without one accountable economic or patient thesis. The replacement CPO will govern products across their complete regulated life.

Approximately 925 employees and material partners work across product management, technical operations, quality, supply, regulatory, device, packaging and commercial interfaces from Copenhagen. The CPO owns product lifecycle strategy, portfolio requirements, change prioritisation, product economics and cross-functional decisions, reporting to the Group Chief Executive or nominated sponsor. Quality, medical and regulatory functions retain authorised authority.

The product unit is the medicine and its deliverable patient proposition, not a marketing brand or factory code. The CPO will connect indications, formulation, strength, pack, device, market, supply route, evidence and obligations. Product leaders should understand which variants serve a distinct need and which persist through organisational inertia.

Patent-expiry scenarios will inform the lifecycle roadmap. Volume, price, channel, tender and competitor entry vary by market. The CPO will decide which changes protect patient value, continuity or sustainable economics, distinguishing them from activity whose main purpose is obstructing legitimate competition.

Pack and market complexity needs reduction. Low-volume configurations may create material, artwork, inventory, release and change burden. Retirement decisions will examine patient access, substitution, regulatory notice, inventory and communication. A low-margin pack may remain essential in a specific pathway; an apparently profitable one may destroy value through complexity.

Technical changes will compete for scarce capacity. Site transfer, formulation, supplier, method, device and packaging changes need quality and regulatory evidence. The CPO will prioritise by patient need, continuity, compliance and lifecycle return, preventing patent-expiry projects from crowding out critical pipeline work without enterprise decision.

Product economics will include the whole lifecycle. Revenue and manufacturing cost alone omit quality control, regulatory maintenance, minimum batches, expiry, complaints, medical information and change burden. Finance and product teams will establish transparent cost-to-serve and option value.

Supply continuity remains a product outcome. Forecast uncertainty and declining volume can make campaigns uneconomic. The CPO will work with supply leaders on batch strategy, inventory, alternate source and end-of-life buys. Risk should be visible and board-approved, not silently absorbed by excess stock or shortage exposure.

External suppliers and partners need a coherent product roadmap. Changes initiated for their efficiency may affect registrations or patient use. The CPO will define requirements, decision rights and notification. Supplier negotiation cannot commit a product change before qualified functions assess it.

Lifecycle evidence may still matter after expiry. Safety, adherence, formulation or service work can support responsible use and access. The CPO will require a specific patient or payer decision and appropriate scientific governance. Evidence generation without a decision pathway will not survive prioritisation.

Product change control will connect strategy and execution. Each material change needs product rationale, impacted markets, benefit, risk, owner and post-implementation review. The CPO will not replace validated quality change control, but will ensure enterprise priority and lifecycle consequence are decided before technical work proceeds.

End-of-life governance must be deliberate. A market withdrawal requires regulatory, supply, customer, patient, data and archive plans. The CPO will set decision dates early enough to avoid emergency last batches or expired inventory. Partners may preserve access where internal economics no longer work.

The product organisation will develop leaders able to cross scientific, technical and commercial boundaries. Successors will receive real lifecycle decisions and understand authorised limits. The incumbent's knowledge of products, suppliers and unresolved changes must transfer through observed work, not document handover alone.

What you will own

• Regulated product lifecycle and portfolio architecture.
• Patent-expiry scenarios and product roadmaps.
• Formulation, pack, market and site complexity choices.
• Product economics and technical-change prioritisation.
• Supply continuity and end-of-life governance.
• External partner and evidence strategy.
• Product change rationale and benefit review.
• Product leadership and succession.

The first 12 months

Within 60 days, map product variants, obligations and technical changes, identify complexity without clear patient or economic rationale and complete incumbent knowledge transfer.

By month six, approve lifecycle roadmaps, retire selected configurations and align technical capacity to highest-priority changes. Establish end-of-life and partner routes.

At twelve months, reduce active pack and market complexity by 20%, release DKK 250 million in lifecycle cost or working capital and achieve 95% on-time decisions for critical product changes. No retirement should cause an avoidable patient supply gap, and every retained variant should have a documented need, economics and accountable owner.

What the sponsor will examine

• Product defined across patient and regulated life.
• Complexity retained only for evidenced need.
• Technical capacity following enterprise priority.
• Full lifecycle cost informing decisions.
• Supply risk governed through decline.
• Product knowledge transferring beyond the incumbent.

The person

You bring 22–28 years in pharmaceutical product, technical, supply or portfolio leadership, including global lifecycle accountability. Your record includes patent expiry, formulation or pack rationalisation, regulated change and product withdrawal across several markets.

Candidates must show a variant retained for patient need and another retired despite local resistance. The permanent role is onsite in Copenhagen with global site, market and supplier engagement.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is DKK 2,550,000–3,500,000 plus annual incentive and long-term participation linked to lifecycle value, complexity, continuity, change quality and leadership. The permanent onsite Copenhagen appointment reports to the Group Chief Executive or nominated executive-committee sponsor. Planned replacement enables structured product handover.

Confidentiality

The enterprise, products, formulations, packs, markets, suppliers, technical changes and economics remain confidential. Further material follows conflicts and signed confidentiality. Applicants must not contact pharmaceutical companies or suppliers to identify the client.