Director, Technical Lab - National Drug Monitoring & Clinical Toxicology

The Director, Technical Lab will provide technical and operations leadership for National Drug Monitoring and Clinical Toxicology.  This position sets standards for operationalizing testing including assay validation, reagent utilization, proper workflow and scheduling, and associated standard operating procedure.  The responsibility spans both regional and esoteric labs to improve and standardize testing with a focus on service, quality, cost, and employee engagement. 

This will be a remote-based position, with a preference for candidates located proximate to our laboratory sites in the following geographies: Chicago Metro area; Atlanta Metro area; Boston Metro Area; New York City/New Jersey Metro area; Pittsburgh Metro area; Dallas/Fort Worth Metro area; Washington DC/Northern Virginia Metro area; Los Angeles Metro area.

• Promote and drive Quest Diagnostics Vision, Strategy and Goals. 
• Provide technical standards, SOP’s and metrics for testing family. 
• Drive standardization of testing across regions – common processes, assay, and platforms. 
• Optimize platform and assay performance  
• Drive requirements and standards in platforms – work closely with automation initiative. 
• Drive platform and regional consolidation. 
• In collaboration with R&D and procurement, select equipment platform and laboratory supplies. 
• Spend time working in regional labs to maintain a working knowledge of the regional testing environment. 
• Build capability for new testing processes – working with franchise teams. 
• Support for equipment choice – vendor relations, contract negotiations. 
• Maintain supplier relationships in support of the local business unit – liaisons between what is happening locally and nationally. 
• Work with IT resources to ensure RFS requirements are met and coordinate regional testing & training to ensure their requirements are being met. 
• Coordinate resolution of assay and instrument issues  with Medical/Procurement/Regions  
• Provides Franchise with expert resource knowledge/guidance 
• Provides recommendations regarding menu & method rationalization 
• Collaborates and coordinates with Science & Innovation to bring new offerings to market. 
• Utilizes QMS tools to effectively manage projects and platform implementations 
• Applies Everyday Excellence behaviors in daily interactions 
• Promote and replicate best practices  
• Actively participate in process improvement and generate cost saving initiatives 
• Collaborate with suppliers to improve/enhance assay/platform performance 
• Collaborate in the design of new and existing laboratory building/space  
• Accountabilities / Metrics include: 
• Testing processes and standards 
• Cost quality service, efficiency 
• Regulatory compliance 
• Compliance issues 
• Expense and Capital Management 
• Adherence to budgets and guidelines 
• Supply Cost utilization  
• Cost containment 

• A Bachelor's Degree in a Life Science, Operations, or Business-related field is required.
• Certifications in continuous/process improvement practice areas (i.e. LEAN, Six Sigma) are strongly preferred.
• A minimum of 10 years of experience within large-scale laboratory operations is required.  Broad, deep technical expertise within the drug monitoring and clinical toxicology domain is highly preferential, but other domain experience (i.e. chemistry) will be considered.
• Strong business and financial acumen.
• Strategic acumen - Knows the business, customer-centric, and can promote strategic alignment.
• Strong collaborative skills, with the ability to communicate openly and transparently and continually develop self and others.
• Results Orientation - Deliver superior performance, demonstrate agility in decision making, and can accelerate and embrace change.
• The ability to travel 25-50%.

Desired Skills and Attributes:

• Cross systems view 
• Strategic thinking 
• Ability to cultivate strong vendor relationships
• Crisis management and prioritization  
• Continuous Improvement mindset. 
• Excellent written, verbal and presentation skills with a strong executive presence. 
• Leadership acumen and agility.

Equal Opportunity Employer: Race/Color/Sex/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity/Religion/National Origin/Disability/Vets