Data Systems Specialist - Laboratories

Onterris; Orange (CA); On-site; USD 41,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

Onterris is seeking a Laboratory Data Systems Specialist to bridge laboratory operations with technology, focusing on CT LIMS and data-driven improvements. The role requires translating business needs into practical tools, workflows, and automated solutions that reduce manual effort and support growth.

The ideal candidate will have CT LIMS experience in a chemistry or data review context, strong Excel/data skills, and the ability to write clear specifications and perform user testing using

Qualifications

• 3+ years of laboratory experience and understanding of laboratory operations and workflows.
• Hands-on CT LIMS proficiency gained through operational use.
• Advanced Excel and data management skills; ability to build reusable tools.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities with clear communication.
• Comfortable using AI-assisted tools to build and test solutions.
• Commits to high data integrity and precise technical writing.

Responsibilities

• Partner with laboratory, project management, and operations teams to capture requirements.
• Translate needs into reporting, automation, and workflow enhancements; document rationale.
• Coordinate with LIMS team to test and implement solutions; submit Build New requests with specs.
• Track requests through resolution; escalate when timelines are at risk.
• Develop, test and validate new workflows; support go-lives and first production cycles.
• Create user guides, SOP changes, and training materials for site QA approval.

Skills

Laboratory operations

Data analysis

AI tooling

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in science

Tools

CT LIMS

Advanced Excel

AI-assisted tools

GitHub version control

Job description

About Us

At Onterris, we build careers grounded in purpose, responsibility and real-world impact.

“For Planet and Progress” is our north star that guides everything we do. We believe environmental responsibility and human progress are interconnected, interwoven and international. Our scientists, engineers, field teams, consultants and professionals collaborate across disciplines and geographies, guiding industries and governments, ensuring that communities and environments thrive.

When you join us, you’re not just forging a career, you’re joining a movement. A movement for better thinking, smarter solutions and lasting impact.

Together, we will advance our way of life and protect the integrity of our environment every step of the way.

A Day in the Life

Onterris Laboratories, located in Orange, CA, is seeking a Laboratory Data Systems Specialist to serve as the bridge between laboratory operations and technology solutions by translating business needs into practical tools, workflows, reporting solutions, automation opportunities, and system enhancements that improve efficiency, reduce manual effort, and support laboratory growth. If you are a data systems person disguised as a chemist, then this position is what you’re looking for! The ideal candidate already works in CT LIMS in a chemistry or data review role and genuinely enjoys the technology side of the work. This is not a traditional programming role: we want logical, lab-savvy people who write clear specifications and run user testing, using approved AI tools to do the coding.

A primary focus of this role is CT LIMS, the Onterris Enterprise LIMS at the Orange and Anaheim sites. The role serves as the onsite technical systems advocate for Orange and Anaheim, promoting adoption, standardization, and effective use of enterprise systems while ensuring legitimate operational and client needs are understood, translated into actionable technical requirements, appropriately prioritized, and tracked through resolution The role follows a standard-first approach: before pursuing new reports, EDDs, customizations, or other development, it determines whether the need can be met through existing CT LIMS functionality or another established enterprise system and supports users in adopting standard solutions wherever possible. Custom solutions should be pursued only when a requirement is essential, justified, and cannot reasonably be met through standard functionality. When a need cannot yet be met, a documented interim workaround may be used outside LIMS, provided the requirement is formally registered and tracked to permanent resolution. The role serves as the local point of contact for routine CT LIMS configuration and user requirements, coordinating with the enterprise LIMS team as needed, but does not develop or modify CT LIMS code.

This is a 100% onsite position, M-F normal business hours, working between our Orange and Anaheim locations.

Reports to: Laboratory Director, with dotted line into Director of Enterprise LIMS, Dedicated 100% to the Orange and Anaheim laboratories, with day-to-day work directed by the Orange Laboratory Director in coordination with the LIMS team. Full-time permanent.

The compensation range for this role is $30 to $40, commensurate with experience, skills, and geographic location.

To thrive in this role, you’ll be comfortable taking ownership of the following responsibilities:

• Partner with laboratory, project management, business development, and operational excellence teams to understand operational and client requirements.
• Gather and document business requirements for reporting, automation, workflow, and system enhancements, working from priorities set by Laboratory Management. Classify each as Use As-Is, Work Around, or Build New with documented rationale, challenging requests that reflect preference rather than need given the long-term maintenance cost of bespoke work. The Laboratory Director and the Director of Enterprise LIMS then collaborate to re-prioritize Work Around and Build New items.
• Coordinate with the LIMS development team to communicate requirements, test solutions, and support implementation. Submit Build New LIMS coding requests, supported by evidence and full specifications, through the agreed LIMS prioritization process.
• Track site requests through completion, communicate status and barriers, and escalates unresolved or time-sensitive operational and client needs to Laboratory Management when standard prioritization does not meet required business timelines.
• Act as the EDD translator: check whether a requested EDD or client report already exists before any new work starts, and gather a complete specification before the request reaches the EDD developer, starting from standard CT LIMS output and establishing why any non-standard format is needed.
• Develop and maintain operational tools, spreadsheets, forms, trackers, reports, and workflow solutions, such as converting paper logs into validated Excel e-logs ahead of LIMS upload, digital bottle locations, bottle prep automation, and comparison tools built from LIMS data extracts.
• Build local solutions using approved AI coding tools and the LIMS team’s GitHub repository, with version control, documentation, and user-testing records, so any tool can be supported or handed over.
• Before building any local tool, confirm with the LIMS team that no enterprise system or planned project already covers the need; contribute requirements to those projects rather than building parallel solutions.
• Evaluate manual processes and identify opportunities for simplification, digitization, and automation, standardizing and harmonizing with the Onterris standard first rather than automating existing practice.
• Develop, test, and validate new workflows and worksheets prior to full automation or system integration (validation approved by site QA); support implementation of reporting, workflow, automation, and data management initiatives, including UAT, go-lives and first production cycles.
• Verify CT LIMS configuration against bench practice before release and, once trained, maintain routine configuration within program change control.
• Create process documentation, user guides, and training materials; draft SOP and work instruction changes for site QA approval; train users on changed workflows.
• Monitor effectiveness of implemented solutions and recommend improvements, feeding lessons learned back into the CT LIMS program.
• Attend weekly CT LIMS program meetings and raise risks early with the Orange Laboratory Director and the LIMS team.
• Respond to urgent operational and client requests within the agreed priority process, balancing them against planned project work.

Your Expertise And Skills

These requirements reflect the knowledge, skills and abilities that help you do your best work here.

• 3+ years of laboratory experience and strong understanding of laboratory operations and workflows; science degree or diploma, or equivalent experience.
• Hands-on CT LIMS proficiency gained through operational use. Track record of solving CT LIMS problems and helping colleagues use it correctly.
• Advanced Excel and data management skills, building tools others can support (documented and validated).
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities; ability to translate business needs into technical requirements.
• Comfortable using AI-assisted tools to build and test solutions; this is not a traditional programming role.
• Excellent communication, precise technical writing and organizational skills.
• Working knowledge of data integrity in an accredited laboratory (e.g. TNI/NELAP, state accreditation), including control of spreadsheets used for calculations.
• Credible at the bench; tells what the work needs from what the team is used to; follows through without close supervision and raises risks early.
• Has led or adopted a process change that stuck, including giving up a preferred way of working for a standard one.

Preferred

• Onterris laboratory experience, ideally in a CT LIMS chemistry or data review role.
• A genuine computer enthusiast: AI knowledge/use; experience with reporting tools, databases, automation platforms, version control (e.g. GitHub), or laboratory systems.

Success Measures

• Requests submitted complete and classified, with fewer returned for clarification.
• EDD requests reaching development with complete specifications, and no duplicates of existing formats.
• Increasing share of site requirements resolved through sustainable enterprise solutions, with reduced reliance on unmanaged manual workarounds, duplicate tools, and unnecessary customization
• Site requests actively tracked through resolution, with clear visibility to status, priorities, barriers, and escalations
• Every interim / work-around tool registered and closed by its target date.
• Every locally built tool under version control, with documentation and user-testing records.
• Configuration verified within the agreed turnaround, passing first review.
• Urgent requests answered within the agreed turnaround.
• Declining developer time on Orange and Anaheim day-to-day requests.
• Zero accreditation or data integrity findings from locally built tools.

Onterris is a leading global environmental solutions company partnering with organizations to solve complex challenges where environmental pressures, regulatory expectations and operational risks intersect. Guided by our mission to advance the way of life without compromising the integrity of our environment, we believe environmental responsibility and human progress are fundamentally connected. Our scientists, engineers, field teams and consultants apply systems thinking that unites science, data and practical expertise to deliver solutions that strengthen our clients’ resilience, mitigate risk and protect the air, water and soil that sustain communities, while uncovering responsible paths forward for planet and progress. For more information, visit www.onterris.com.

We are an equal opportunity employer and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We acknowledge that these experiences and perspectives help to enrich our teams and contribute to our ongoing success. We are committed to providing access and reasonable accommodation in our employment for all applicants.