Jobs / United States / Astrazeneca Pharmaceuticals Lp
Principle Process Engineer, Viral Vector Process Characterization and Commercialization
Astrazeneca Pharmaceuticals Lp · 🇺🇸 US - Gaithersburg - MD
Sponsorship verdict
Sponsorship possible
One solid signal, not two — worth applying, and worth asking about sponsorship early.
- Employer is on a government sponsor recordThe US Department of Labor certified 99 H-1B/E-3 labor condition applications for this employer between Oct 2025 and Jun 2026 (latest Jun 2026) — the step every H-1B hire needs first. USCIS also records 31 H-1B approvals in FY2023. Source: LCA disclosure data (US Department of Labor (OFLC)).
- The posting doesn’t mention sponsorshipSilence isn’t a refusal — ask the recruiter before investing much time.
- No salary bar for this routeH-1B has no fixed salary bar: the employer must pay at least the prevailing wage for the role and area. Cap-subject employers enter a lottery weighted by wage level. Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/12/29/2025-23853/weighted-selection-process-for-registrants-and-petitioners-seeking-to-file-cap-subject-h-1b, rules effective 2026-02-27.
- What Astrazeneca Pharmaceuticals Lp paid sponsored hires in similar roles12 certified filings for “Assoc. Princ. Scientist, Vector Engineering & Cell Line Dev.” (Molecular and Cellular Biologists) in MD: $103k–$158k, median $136k. Most were filed at wage level IV (33%) — 4 lottery entries, ≈61% projected selection odds for cap-subject employers. Source: US Department of Labor LCA disclosure data (Oct 2025 – Jun 2026).
- Confirmed live todayWhen a source last listed this job as open.
US H-1B: cap-subject employers enter a lottery weighted by wage level — Level I gets 1 entry, Level IV gets 4 (DHS projected selection odds ≈15% at Level I to ≈61% at Level IV). Universities and non-profit research employers are cap-exempt. The $100,000 fee for new petitions from abroad is currently blocked by a court order (appeal pending).
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Sponsor Radar — Astrazeneca Pharmaceuticals Lp
The US Department of Labor certified 99 H-1B/E-3 labor condition applications for this employer between Oct 2025 and Jun 2026 (latest Jun 2026) — the step every H-1B hire needs first. USCIS also records 31 H-1B approvals in FY2023. Source: LCA disclosure data (US Department of Labor (OFLC)).
Past sponsorship or register membership never guarantees sponsorship for this vacancy or for you. Full Sponsor Radar for Astrazeneca Pharmaceuticals Lp →
About the role
About AstraZeneca in Gaithersburg, MD Our Gaithersburg, Maryland campus is a global center for innovation in biologics, cell therapy, and vaccines. The site fosters a highly collaborative and cross-functional culture that enables teams to deliver life-changing medicines across AstraZeneca’s pipeline. With state-of-the-art research, development, and manufacturing capabilities, we advance scientific excellence through collaboration, diversity, and innovation. Job Description AstraZeneca is seeking an experienced Principal Process Engineer to support late-phase process development, process characterization, validation, and commercialization of viral vector manufacturing processes. This individual contributor role will provide hands-on technical leadership across internal and external manufacturing sites, with a strong focus on PPQ readiness, BLA and other global marketing applications, and post-approval lifecycle management. The successful candidate will have direct late-stage development and commercialization experience and demonstrated ability to independently author high-quality CMC content for regulatory submissions. The role will partner with Drug Substance, Drug Product, Analytical Sciences, Quality, Regulatory Affairs, Manufacturing Operations, and external CMOs or CDMOs to ensure that process knowledge, validation strategy, control strategy, and filing content are scientifically sound, consistent, and inspection ready. Key Responsibilities Late-Phase Process Development and Validation • Lead or support the design, execution, analysis, and documentation of process characterization and validation studies for viral vector manufacturing processes. • Provide technical support for upstream, downstream, formulation, fill-finish, and related manufacturing operations. • Develop and maintain science- and risk-based approaches for process parameter classification, proven acceptable ranges, in-process controls, and control strategy development. • Support PPQ planning, protocol development, manufacturing execution, deviation assessment, data review, and final report authoring. • Apply process knowledge and data analysis to identify technical risks, investigate process performance issues, and recommend practical solutions. Regulatory CMC Authoring and Marketing Applications • Independently author and coordinate CMC sections for BLAs, MAAs, and other global marketing applications, with emphasis on viral vector drug substance and drug product manufacturing, process controls, process validation, and supporting lifecycle documentation. • Author and review relevant CTD Module 3 content, including manufacturing process descriptions, control of critical steps and intermediates, process validation or evaluation, process development summaries, control strategy content, comparability assessments, and supporting technical justifications. • Translate complex process development, characterization, validation, and manufacturing data into clear, accurate , and regulator-ready narratives, tables, and responses. • Ensure consistency of process descriptions, terminology, acceptance criteria, and technical conclusions across submission sections and source documents. • Lead or support responses to Health Authority questions and information requests related to manufacturing process, process performance, validation, comparability, and control strategy. • Support post-approval changes, comparability assessments, supplements or variations, and commercial lifecycle management submissions. Commercialization and Manufacturing Support • Partner with internal manufacturing sites and external CMOs or CDMOs to support technology transfer, engineering activities, PPQ execution, commercial readi