Logistics Specialist

Location : Tarzana, CA,91356 or Gaithersburg, MD, 20878

Duration : 12 months Contract-possible conversion

pay rate-Tarzana, CA- $48/h to $52/h

Gaithersburg, MD- pay rate-$40/h to $43/h on W2

Shift-1st

Interview Process:- 1hr Teams Interview

Position Summary

Interview Process:

• 1st Round: Screening Video Interview
• 2nd Round: Panel Video Interview with Team

About the Role

AstraZeneca is making a significant investment in Cell Therapy, building a portfolio across autologous, allogeneic, and in vivo modalities to bring transformative treatments to patients globally.

The Senior Specialist, Cell Therapy Vein-to-Vein Coordinator plays a critical role in coordinating patient and product journeys from slot scheduling and apheresis collection through transportation, manufacturing, release, and final product delivery.

This is a highly detail-oriented, mission-critical logistics role within a regulated pharmaceutical/biotech environment. The successful candidate will coordinate multiple stakeholders, monitor time-sensitive shipments, maintain accurate tracking and documentation, and respond quickly to operational issues that may impact the patient journey.

Key Responsibilities

• Coordinate active patient and product journeys from collection through final product delivery.
• Manage slot scheduling, booking, confirmation, adjustment, and rescheduling activities.
• Maintain accurate visibility of active cases, milestones, dependencies, and operational handoffs.
• Monitor product journeys in real time across collection, transportation, manufacturing, release, and delivery.
• Book, coordinate, and track time-critical shipments, including cold chain, cryogenic, refrigerated, ambient, and specialized courier shipments.
• Monitor shipments for delays, missed pickups/deliveries, temperature excursions, transit disruptions, and courier issues.
• Identify off-path events and initiate appropriate escalation and recovery actions.
• Coordinate with couriers, logistics providers, treatment centers, and internal teams to resolve issues and maintain continuity of care.
• Maintain accurate Chain of Identity (COI) and Chain of Custody (COC) documentation and traceability.
• Perform timely and accurate data entry in orchestration systems, scheduling platforms, spreadsheets, and logistics portals.
• Provide proactive and professional status updates and communication to internal and external stakeholders.
• Support investigations, deviation follow-up, courier investigations, corrective actions, and timeline reconstruction.
• Follow SOPs, work instructions, templates, and exception playbooks.
• Support onboarding, mock shipments, readiness activities, and hypercare for new studies, sites, products, countries, or logistics lanes.
• Maintain operational metrics and contribute to continuous improvement initiatives.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Life Sciences, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience.
• 5+ years of experience in biopharma clinical/commercial logistics, supply chain, cell therapy operations, or a similar highly controlled logistics environment.
• Experience coordinating time-critical shipments and multiple active logistics activities.
• Working knowledge of GDP, GxP, and GMP requirements.
• Strong understanding of documentation accuracy, traceability, and deviation awareness.
• Excellent attention to detail, organization, and time-management skills.
• Ability to prioritize and manage multiple competing priorities across different timelines and time zones.
• Strong problem-solving skills and sound judgment when handling operational issues.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Professional, collaborative, empathetic, and patient-focused approach.
• Willingness to work flexible hours based on patient needs and business requirements.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in cell therapy, particularly autologous cell therapy.
• Clinical trial logistics or patient operations experience.
• Experience in control tower / real-time logistics monitoring.
• Knowledge of patient and order orchestration and COI/COC controls.
• Experience with specialized cold chain, cryogenic, or temperature-controlled logistics.
• Experience with cell orchestration platforms, courier portals, or logistics service provider systems.
• Experience with Excel, Power BI, Tableau, or Smartsheet.
• Pharmaceutical or biotech industry experience strongly preferred.