Research Facility Operations Lead

North Carolina State University

Raleigh (NC)

On-site

USD 110,000 - 120,000

Full time

14 days+

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Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, and Vision

Flexible Spending Account

Retirement Programs

Disability Plans

Life Insurance

Accident Plan

Paid Time Off and Other Leave Programs

12 Holidays Each Year

Tuition and Academic Assistance

And so much more!

Job summary

North Carolina State University seeks an Operations Manager for SPEED, the Self-driving Platforms for Expedited Experimental co-Design Programmable Cloud Laboratory. Based onsite in Raleigh, you will lead daily facility operations, staffing, safety, procurement, and user support to enable remote autonomous experimentation for researchers nationwide.

You will shape procedures, coordinate across internal teams and external partners, manage budgets, and drive continuous improvement in a

Qualifications

Demonstrated experience coordinating complex technical operations involving multiple personnel, projects, users, facilities, and competing priorities.
Experience developing and implementing standard operating procedures, schedules, training processes, and operational documentation.
Working knowledge of laboratory safety, risk management, equipment maintenance, procurement, and regulatory or institutional compliance.
Proven ability to lead multidisciplinary technical personnel, prioritize competing demands, resolve operational issues, and make sound decisions in a fast-paced research environment.
Effective communication skills with the ability to work collaboratively with researchers, engineers, administrators, vendors, students, and external partners.
Demonstrated progression of responsibility in research operations, laboratory management, shared research facilities, engineering operations, or a related environment, with increasing responsibility for coordinating personnel, facilities, equipment, safety, and operational activities.

Responsibilities

Lead daily facility operations, including laboratory readiness, platform availability, staffing coverage, access, scheduling, and user support.
Develop and maintain operational procedures for user onboarding, experiment submission, training, platform access, technical assistance, and project closeout.
Coordinate laboratory capacity and schedules across internal researchers, academic users, government collaborators, and industry partners.
Monitor facility utilization, experiment throughput, turnaround times, incidents, and user needs to identify and resolve operational issues.
Lead and support technical and operational personnel, including establishing priorities, schedules, performance expectations, training, and cross-coverage for critical facility functions.
Manage operational budgets, purchasing, inventory, service contracts, equipment needs, and vendor relationships in coordination with university partners.
Maintain operational records and monitor staffing, resource needs, project milestones, and facility deliverables.
Lead facility-wide safety and risk management activities, including hazard assessments, emergency procedures, incident response, inspections, training, and business-continuity planning.
Coordinate with Environmental Health and Safety, information technology, research administration, facilities, and other university partners to support applicable safety, compliance, cybersecurity, and research requirements.
Investigate operational incidents and recurring failures and implement corrective and preventive actions.
Serve as the primary operational contact for SPEED leadership, users, university administrators, vendors, and external partners.
Communicate facility capabilities, access requirements, schedules, limitations, risks, and operational updates to technical and nontechnical audiences.
Use operational data and user feedback to improve procedures, training, services, facility reliability, and user support.
Contribute to strategic planning for facility growth, new platform deployment, service expansion, workshops, demonstrations, sponsor visits, and long-term sustainability.