QP vs QA Manager in the Netherlands: roles, pay, route to eligibility

At many Dutch sites the QA Manager and the QP are the same person. At many others they are not, and the difference matters for your career plan.

What the QA Manager does

The QA Manager runs the quality organisation: the team, the PQS, the deviation and CAPA system, the audit programme, the KPIs that go to the management review. It is a leadership role measured on whether the site's quality system works, inspection outcomes, right-first-time, backlog. The QA Manager reports to the Head of Quality or site director and has budget and people responsibility.

What the QP does

The Qualified Person is a legal role defined in Directive 2001/83/EC and the Dutch Geneesmiddelenwet. The QP is named on the manufacturing licence and personally certifies that each batch has been manufactured and tested in accordance with GMP and the marketing authorisation. The QP can delegate the work of preparing the certification package but not the accountability. If a batch is certified wrongly, the QP's name is on the record and the inspectorate will ask them, not the QA Manager.

A QP does not need people responsibility. Some QPs run quality departments; others are individual contributors whose only job is certification, supply chain oversight and the quality decisions that support it.

How they overlap

At small sites the QA Manager is the QP or the Deputy QP. At larger sites there are several QPs (one per licence or dosage form) and a separate QA management line. At CDMOs the QP is often more senior than the QA Manager because the QP carries the relationship with each client's own QP.

Pay in 2026

QA Managers in the Netherlands earn €75–90k (medior) to €90–110k (senior, multi-site or CDMO scope). QPs earn €95–130k, with Deputy QPs at €85–105k. A QA Manager who is also named Deputy QP adds €5–10k. Interim QPs run €1,000–1,400 per day. The full breakdown is in the salary guide.

Route to QP eligibility

Article 49 of the Directive sets the rules. You need a university degree in pharmacy, medicine, veterinary medicine, chemistry, pharmaceutical chemistry and technology, or biology, and that degree must have covered a defined list of subjects (experimental physics, general and inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, pharmaceutical chemistry including analysis of medicinal products, biochemistry, physiology, microbiology, pharmacology, pharmaceutical technology, toxicology, pharmacognosy). Where your degree missed some subjects, additional coursework can close the gap. On top of that: two years of practical experience in qualitative analysis, quantitative analysis and quality control of medicinal products at a licensed site (one year if your course was at least five years).

In the Netherlands there is no separate QP exam; the IGJ assesses the named person when the licence is applied for or amended. Belgium requires FAMHP registration and in practice a pharmacy degree or recognised equivalent.

What to do if you want to become a QP

1. Check your degree transcript against the Article 49 subject list. Be honest about gaps.
2. Get QC or analytical experience on your CV if you do not have it, most QA Managers who cannot become QPs are missing this.
3. Ask to be involved in certification packages and Annex 16 decisions now.
4. Target a Deputy QP role. It is the standard route and we regularly recruit for them.

We run an eligibility check with every candidate on a QP track. Register and mention QP in your message.