Lead Lab Manager: Water Lab Ops & Safety (On‑Site)

WesTech Engineering; Salt Lake City (UT); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus program

401K match 6%

Hybrid schedules

Health benefits

PTO & Holidays

Tuition reimbursement

Job summary

WesTech Engineering is seeking a Laboratory Manager to lead our on-site biological and physical/chemical labs, focusing on safety, quality, and service delivery in water treatability studies and process troubleshooting.

This leadership role requires guiding personnel, coordinating lab operations, managing resources, and delivering timely results to support projects, product development, and operations, with travel up to 25%.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in chemistry, microbiology, biology, environmental science, laboratory science, engineering, or related field.
• Minimum 10 years of relevant laboratory, technical, scientific, engineering, or related experience.
• Minimum 5 years of laboratory leadership, supervisory, or people management experience.
• Experience managing laboratory operations, laboratory personnel, or multidisciplinary technical teams.
• Working knowledge of laboratory safety systems, chemical hygiene, biosafety practices, and hazard controls.
• Experience managing laboratory workflows, resources, schedules, priorities, QA/QC practices, records, equipment maintenance, calibration, and documentation.
• Ability to coach and develop employees, establish accountability, delegate effectively, and address concerns constructively.
• Strong organizational, problem‑solving, interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work primarily on‑site and travel domestically and internationally up to 25%.

Responsibilities

• Lead safe, compliant laboratory operations for biological, chemical, analytical, and bench‑scale work.
• Manage the biological and physical/chemical laboratories as one coordinated function while maintaining the specialized controls required in each area.
• Supervise, coach, train, and develop laboratory personnel through hiring, onboarding, cross‑training, performance management, and succession planning.
• Set priorities and maintain visibility of laboratory workload, capacity, schedules, resource needs, and delivery risks.
• Oversee laboratory readiness, including samples, inventories, work areas, instruments, maintenance, calibration, records, outside laboratories, and specialty vendors.
• Ensure laboratory methods, records, QA/QC practices, and documentation systems support reliable and traceable results.
• Partner with project sponsors and internal teams to prioritize, staff, and deliver laboratory projects and services.
• Lead continuous improvement efforts that enhance safety, quality, efficiency, employee development, and customer service.
• Primarily on‑site position because of the hands‑on leadership and operational responsibilities of the role.
• Up to 25% domestic and/or international travel.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Problem-solving

Organizational skills

On-site work

Education

Bachelor’s degree in science/engineering

Tools

LIMS

Calibration instruments

Job description

WesTech Engineering is seeking a Laboratory Manager to lead our on-site biological and physical/chemical labs, focusing on safety, quality, and service delivery in water treatability studies and process troubleshooting.

This leadership role requires guiding personnel, coordinating lab operations, managing resources, and delivering timely results to support projects, product development, and operations, with travel up to 25%.