Vice President of Pharmacy Operations

Vice President of Pharmacy Operations

Pay Range: $210,000-$250,000 annually
Location: Sterling, VA
Work Model: In-person
Employment Type: Full-time

About Akina Pharmacy

Akina Pharmacy is a nationally-accredited specialty compounding pharmacy on a mission to enrich lives through compounded medicine. Since 2012, we've partnered with prescribers and patients across the United States to deliver expertly compounded sterile and non-sterile medications when off-the-shelf solutions fall short. We call it the Chemistry of Care™: precision and compassion working together.

Our fast-growing team is guided by an ambitious vision, core values, and a high-performance environment built on clear communication, pragmatic decision-making, and accountability. We hold ourselves to the highest standards. In the pharmacy, that means PCAB accreditation and LegitScript certification. With our people, it means empowering them through continuous growth and support. If you're driven by a passion for meaningful impact and want to be a part of a vibrant, people-first team where your contribution genuinely matters, we'd love to meet you.

Our Core Values

1. Excellence Always: We hold ourselves to a high standard and continually push it higher. We bring that standard to everything we do-big or small, seen or unseen-and carry it across the finish line. Our relentless determination to the be the best is reflected in the way we work, the details we refuse to overlook, and the results we deliver. This is how we earn the trust of our patients, providers, and each other.
2. Called To Serve: We act for the greater good, putting what is best for the company, our team, and our customers ahead of personal comfort or gain. We go the extra mile for others. Serving this way connects us to a purpose greater than ourselves:  Enriching Lives. It gives deeper meaning to our work, and it's why Akina exists. 
3. Total Ownership: We take full responsibility for our work, decisions, and results. We don't wait for permission or instructions; we initiate and drive outcomes. When faced with setbacks or challenges, we stay focused on what is within our control and respond with solutions and action. That level of ownership means people can count on us through thick or thin, and gives us the power to take meaningful action as a unified team toward achieving our shared mission.
4. Open and Honest: We listen and seek to understand feedback, new ideas, and perspectives that challenge our own. We speak the truth directly and clearly, hiding nothing and removing all politics from our communication. By choosing vulnerability and transparency over comfort, we make each other better and build the deep trust required to engage in healthy conflict, stay aligned, and solve hard problems. 

About the Role
The VP of Pharmacy Operations leads end-to-end pharmacy operations at Akina, from prescription receipt through compounding, dispensing, and fulfillment. With a strong foundation already in place, this is a rare opportunity to build an operating model designed for scale across Akina's next chapter of expansion. The role is accountable for the department's people, capacity, financial performance, and customer experience, and for an operating model built to support our trajectory. This leader partners with Quality & Regulatory Compliance and the PIC(s) to ensure compliant execution, and builds a team capable of sustaining rapid growth in service of our mission of enriching lives through compounded medications.

Key Responsibilities
1. Leadership and Management

• Build and maintain the management structure required to support current operations and future growth.
• Set clear expectations, priorities, and accountability for the department's leaders and teams.
• Develop leaders and strengthen management capability throughout the department.
• Ensure the right people are in the right seats and address performance gaps when they arise.
• Create a culture of ownership, execution, and continuous improvement aligned with Akina's values and operating expectations.

2. End-to-End Pharmacy Operations

• Own the end-to-end pharmacy operations execution and performance, ensuring prescriptions move consistently, accurately, safely, and timely from receipt through production planning, compounding, quality-control checkpoints, dispensing, and fulfillment.
• Ensure work moves effectively across operational stages, resolving bottlenecks, handoff failures, execution issues, and operational disruptions affecting continuity or turnaround.
• Ensure production planning and operational priorities align with order demand and required turnaround.
• Maintain compliant execution in partnership with Quality & Compliance and the PIC(s), including adherence to approved procedures, applicable USP and pharmacy standards, and required quality controls.
• Hold operational leaders accountable for the performance of their areas while retaining ownership of the end-to-end result.

3. Capacity, Resources and Financial Performance

• Ensure the department has sufficient labor, equipment, facility capacity, materials, and inventory to meet current and near-term demand efficiently and profitably.
• Own procurement, inventory management, facilities, and other operational resources required to support reliable pharmacy operations.
• Own departmental financial performance, including budget performance, operating expenses, labor efficiency, waste, and departmental P&L.
• Own and continuously improve unit economics, including the major labor, material, fulfillment, and other operating costs that drive profitability.
• Evaluate and prioritize capital and resource investments based on operational need, expected impact, and financial return.

4. Operational Strategy and Scalability

• Translate company growth plans into clear strategies, priorities, and multi-year operating plans.
• Design and evolve the future-state operating model, establishing standardized site models, cross-location operating practices, and appropriate redundancy to support consistent execution and scalable growth.
• Lead the operational launch and integration of new pharmacy locations, ensuring each site is brought online effectively and incorporated into Akina's broader operating model.
• Standardize the core systems, workflows, and operating processes required for consistent execution as the function scales across teams and locations.
• Identify and lead major technology, automation, and operational infrastructure initiatives required to support future growth.

5. Customer Experience and Service

• Own the service experience delivered, ensuring patients and providers receive responsive, reliable, and effective support throughout their interactions with Akina.
• Set and maintain service standards for patient and provider interactions across the department.
• Use customer feedback, service trends, and recurring issues to identify systemic problems and drive improvements to the customer experience.
• Ensure communication to patients/providers is clear, consistent, and aligned with service expectations.

Key Metrics

• Departmental P&L against Budget
• Customer Satisfaction Score
• Customer Retention Rate
• Total Orders Dispensed
• Order-to-Ship Turnaround Time
• Replacement Rate
• Stock Out Rate
• Pharmacy Audit Checklist Score

Qualifications (Required)

• 5+ years of progressive pharmacy operations leadership experience, including significant responsibility for high-volume or complex pharmacy operations.
• 5+ years of leadership experience, including direct leadership of managers and responsibility for building, developing, and holding teams accountable.
• Direct experience in 503A or 503B compounding pharmacy operations, with meaningful exposure to both sterile and non-sterile compounding.
• Experience in other regulated, high-volume healthcare or production environments such as specialty pharmacy, central-fill pharmacy, or pharmaceutical manufacturing.
• Demonstrated experience owning end-to-end pharmacy operational performance, including prescription processing, production/compounding, dispensing, fulfillment, and customer service performance.
• Strong working knowledge of applicable USP compounding standards, state Board of Pharmacy requirements, pharmacy practice standards, and quality systems, including experience partnering with Quality/Compliance and pharmacy leadership in a regulated environment.
• Demonstrated financial ownership of an operating function, including labor productivity, operating expenses, unit economics, inventory/waste management, and P&L performance.
• Proven experience scaling operations through significant growth, including increasing volume, organizational complexity, facility capacity, automation, technology, or physical infrastructure.
• Demonstrated ability to use operational data and KPIs to identify performance gaps, make decisions, and improve operational and financial results.
• Experience leading major operational change, such as facility expansion, new-site launches, automation, process redesign, systems implementation, or material increases in production volume.

Qualifications (Strongly Preferred)

• Experience leading the transition from single-site to multi-site pharmacy operations, including the opening, integration, and scaling of new pharmacy or regulated production facilities.
• Experience in a high-growth compounding pharmacy, specialty pharmacy, central-fill pharmacy, pharmaceutical manufacturing, or another high-volume regulated healthcare production environment.
• Experience with automation and pharmacy technology used to increase throughput, accuracy, scalability, or operating efficiency.
• Experience leading a patient/provider Customer Service function within pharmacy or healthcare operations.
• Advanced business or operations education such as an MBA, MHA, or equivalent.

How Akina Commits to Supporting You

• Giving clear directions and expectations
• Ensures you have access to the necessary tools
• Delegates appropriately
• Holds effective meetings
• Meets one-on-one with you quarterly or more, if needed
• Rewards and recognizes your performance

Benefits & Perks

• Medical and Supplementary Benefits: Akina Pharmacy offers two medical plan options with employer premium contributions up to 85%, dental and vision coverage, accident and hospital indemnity, and company paid long term and short-term disability options, available after 30 days of employment.
• Paid Time Off: Take advantage of generous paid time off to recharge, focus on personal priorities, and maintain a healthy work-life balance.
• Paid Holidays: Enjoy six scheduled paid holidays to celebrate and spend quality time with loved ones.
• 401K Match: Invest in your future with our 401K plan, featuring a Safe Harbor match up to 4%.
• Rewards & Recognition: Be celebrated for your hard work and achievements through our dedicated rewards and recognition program.
• No Cost Medication: Employees are eligible to receive prescribed compounded medications at no cost, after 30 days of employment.

Akina Pharmacy is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating and inclusive environment for all team members. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.