Director of Rapid Microbiology Operations Strategy

Eurofins; United States; On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Performance-based bonus

Medical, dental and vision coverage

401(k) with company match

Job summary

Eurofins in the United States seeks a Director of Operations Strategy for rapid microbiology food testing. You will define capacity, workflow, and productivity strategy to deliver fast, accurate results at scale, partnering with Laboratory Operations, Quality, Scientific/Technical, Commercial and Finance teams.

You will own multi-year operating plans, drive improvement programs, evaluate rapid methods, and lead automation and digital initiatives to increase throughput and data integrity while

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology, Food Science, Life Sciences, Engineering or related field.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in laboratory operations, operations strategy, process improvement or business operations within testing laboratories, food safety, diagnostics or life sciences services; at least 5 years in leadership.
• Demonstrated track record of improving throughput, turnaround time and cost per test in a high-volume laboratory environment.
• Working knowledge of food microbiology, rapid methods and the regulatory and accreditation environment (FDA/FSMA, USDA-FSIS, GFSI schemes, ISO 17025).
• Strong financial acumen, including capacity modeling, budgeting and P&L management.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a multi-year operations strategy for rapid microbiology food testing (pathogens, indicator organisms, spoilage, environmental monitoring, shelf-life).
• Build capacity and demand plans that reflect seasonal volume swings and customer segments such as meat and poultry, dairy, produce, ready-to-eat, bakery, beverage, pet food and ingredients.
• Lead annual and long-range operating planning, including cost, headcount, throughput and capital targets.
• Own turnaround-time, on-time-delivery and throughput performance; identify and remove bottlenecks from sample receipt to report release.
• Lead lean and continuous improvement programs across sample receiving, preparation, testing, data review and reporting.
• Standardize workflows and best practices across lab teams and, where applicable, multiple sites.
• Partner with Scientific leadership to evaluate and deploy rapid methods (PCR, immunoassay, automated and next-generation platforms), including validation, verification and rollout plans.
• Drive automation, LIMS and digital initiatives that improve productivity, data integrity and traceability.
• Build business cases for equipment, facility and capacity investments.
• Ensure operating plans support ISO 17025 accreditation, FDA/FSMA, USDA-FSIS, GFSI and customer audit requirements.
• Partner with Quality to reduce error rates, retests and nonconformances.
• Plan for business continuity, including reagent, consumable and supply chain resilience.
• Align capacity and service commitments with Commercial on new programs, pricing and customer onboarding.
• Partner with Finance on cost per test, margin, labor productivity and P&L performance.
• Develop and mentor operations leaders and build the talent pipeline for technical and supervisory roles.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Analytical thinking

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology, Food Science, Life Sciences, Engineering or related field

MBA or advanced degree preferred

Tools

LIMS

Power BI

Tableau

Job description

Eurofins in the United States seeks a Director of Operations Strategy for rapid microbiology food testing. You will define capacity, workflow, and productivity strategy to deliver fast, accurate results at scale, partnering with Laboratory Operations, Quality, Scientific/Technical, Commercial and Finance teams.

You will own multi-year operating plans, drive improvement programs, evaluate rapid methods, and lead automation and digital initiatives to increase throughput and data integrity while