Senior Director, North America Operations

Azenta Inc.; Plainfield (IN); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Azenta Inc. seeks a Senior Director, North America Operations to steer all NA specimen management and processing activities, spanning facility operations, logistics, lab services, and data management.

The role drives revenue growth and margin improvement, leads Lean transformation with KPIs, and partners with HR, Sales, Finance, and Project Management. Travel nationally/internationally is required.

Qualifications

• Four-year degree and 8+ years of increasing operational management experience.
• Experience leading operations that handle, process, or manufacture regulated materials.
• Experience managing domestic and international operations sites.
• Experience in customer service-oriented positions.
• Lean leadership — deploying Lean methodologies across operations.
• Ability to understand P&Ls and optimize revenue and margin.
• Collaborates effectively in a matrixed, multi-business-line environment.
• Strong business acumen and analytical skills.
• Excellent leadership and interpersonal communication skills.
• Ability to build domain expertise in sample management.
• Experience in team building, negotiation, facilitation, and conflict resolution.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership for all NA specimen management and processing operations.
• Drive Lean and performance excellence with KPIs tied to client satisfaction and outcomes.
• Establish functional operational vision and collaborate across HR, Sales, Project Management, Finance.
• Oversee Facilities, Equipment, and capital planning; ensure safety and compliance.
• Manage P&L for sites and ensure alignment with regulatory requirements.
• Support audits and maintain a strong quality culture across sites.

Skills

Lean leadership

P&L management

Strategic leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Regulated materials experience

Customer service orientation

Analytical skills

Team building

Communication skills

Creativity and domain expertise

Education

Four-year degree

Job description

Azenta Inc. At Azenta, new ideas, new technologies and new ways of thinking are driving our future. Our customer focused culture encourages employees to embrace innovation and challenge the status quo with novel thinking and collaborative work relationships. All we accomplish is grounded in our core values of Customer Focus, Achievement, Accountability, Teamwork, Employee Value and Integrity

Job Title: Senior Director, North America Operations

The Senior Director of North America Operations provides strategic leadership for all specimen management and specimen processing personnel and processes, including North America facility operations, logistics, lab services, and data management. This role serves as a key executive on the SRS leadership team, responsible for developing and executing the operational strategy that delivers both revenue growth and margin improvement.

What You’ll Do

Customer Quality & Service Excellence Ensure all service failures are identified, investigated, and resolved appropriately. Enforce adherence to Nonconformance (NC) and CAPA processes to enable fast resolution of service or quality issues and removal of recurrences. Implement and monitor processes that ensure appropriate escalation and continuous communication of issues across the organization.

Continuous Improvement, Lean & Performance Excellence Drive a Lean and continuous improvement culture throughout the operational organization. Serve as the operational Lean leader — own the deployment and sustainment of Lean methodologies (value stream mapping, kaizen events, standard work, visual management) and 6 Sigma tools across all sites. Set and measure meaningful KPIs tied to Lean outcomes, client satisfaction, and leading indicators.

People Leadership & Talent Development Establish the overall functional operational vision; Support talent acquisition across the business. Identify, monitor, and maintain appropriate resources to successfully achieve milestones and high levels of client satisfaction. Be a role model leader with a focus on collaboration with HR, Sales, Project Management, Finance, and Program Management.

Supply Chain, Facilities & Fiscal Management Ensure required oversight associated with all Facilities and Equipment management and expansion across Transport, BioBanking, and Lab Services, including employee and site safety. Provide direction to the Resource Management team regarding priorities for facility maintenance and capital planning.

P&L ownership for operational sites in SRS Ownership of captial planning needs for operational sites Contracts, Reporting & Strategic Planning Execute to customer aligned KPIs in operational space Support standard business cadence (MBR, QBR, weekly management) Drive a strong quality culture that ensures policies, procedures, and work instructions align with regulatory requirements and industry best practices.

Support the QA function in preparing for, hosting, and providing follow-up for client and regulatory audits.

What You Will Bring

• Four-year degree and 8+ years of increasing operational management experience.
• Experience leading operations that handle, process, or manufacture regulated materials (e.g., CLIA GMP, GTP, GLT, GCP, NABP, GMP).
• Demonstrated experience managing domestic and international operations sites.
• Experience in customer service-oriented positions.
• Demonstrated Lean leadership — responsible for deploying and sustaining Lean methodologies (value stream mapping, 5S, standard work, kaizen, visual management) across operations.
• Ability to understand P&Ls and optimize revenue and margin.
• Effective collaborator in a matrixed, multi-business-line environment.
• Strong business acumen and analytical skills.
• Excellent leadership skills and ability to establish a positive employee culture.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to think creatively and build domain expertise in the sample management space.
• Demonstrated experience in team building, negotiation, facilitation, and conflict resolution.

Preferred

• Active participant in continuous improvement and Lean transformation initiatives.
• Lean Six Sigma Black Belt or Master Black Belt certification.
• Exposure to biological specimen management and processing.
• Supply chain management and procurement experience.

Your Working Conditions

Employee will be working in an area with potentially infectious materials. Employee will be responsible for maintaining a clean work environment and enforce and follow Universal Precautions for bloodborne pathogens when working in an area considered to be potentially contaminated. Domestic and international travel is required.

Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE)

EOE M/F/Disabled/VET If any applicant is unable to complete an application or respond to a job opening because of a disability, please email at [e-mail] for assistance. Azenta is an Equal Opportunity Employer. This company considers candidates regardless of race, color, age, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status.

Compensation

United States Base Compensation: $0.00 - $0.00 The posted pay range for this position is an estimate based on current market data and internal pay structure. Final compensation may vary above or below this range depending on factors such as experience, education (including licensure and certifications), qualifications, performance, and geographic location, among other relevant business or organizational needs.

About Azenta

Azenta is a market leader in automated bio sample management solutions and multiomics services across areas such as drug development, clinical and advanced cell therapies for the industry's top pharmaceutical, biotech, academic and healthcare institutions globally. We provide unparalleled capabilities with our lab analysis, sample management and storage services, informatics software, and consumables, with the largest installed base managing over 1 billion samples globally. As a global leader in R&D multiomics services, Azenta Life Sciences, leads the way in providing superior data quality with unparalleled technical support to enable researchers around the world to advance their scientific discoveries faster than ever before.

To view more job openings please visit our career site at Careers | Azenta Life Sciences