Vice President, Quality Assurance - Laboratories

Onterris Payroll, LLC; Raleigh (NC); On-site; USD 175,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Onterris is seeking a Vice President, Quality Assurance to lead enterprise-wide quality systems across a network of accredited laboratories and support environmental, chemical, and defense testing. This executive will drive governance, regulatory compliance, and continual improvement while ensuring data integrity and audit readiness.

The role requires strategic leadership, 10+ years in quality leadership within accredited labs, and strong experience with DoD/DOE ELAP, NELAC, and ISO/IEC 17025.

Qualifications

• Bachelor-level or higher in a scientific discipline with relevant accreditation experience.
• Advanced degree preferred for strategic leadership roles.
• Minimum 10 years progressive Quality Assurance leadership in accredited labs.
• Experience leading enterprise Quality Management Systems and CAPA programs.
• Strong regulatory knowledge and ability to liaise with DoD/DOE ELAP, NELAC, ISO/IEC 17025.

Responsibilities

• Lead enterprise quality management system governance, audit readiness, and continuous improvement across all laboratories.
• Drive regulatory and accreditation compliance while directing risk-based performance improvements.
• Ensure data integrity, independence, and ethical standards across the organization.
• Oversee audits (internal, client, accreditation, regulatory, DoD/DOE) and CAPA processes.
• Provide strategic guidance to leadership and foster a high-performing quality culture.

Skills

Quality leadership

Enterprise QMS

DoD/DOE ELAP

TNI/NELAC/ISO17025

CAPA management

Laboratory operations

Travel 50%

Education

Bachelor's degree in Chemistry, Environmental Science, Biology, Microbiology, or related

Advanced degree

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

As a quality leader with deep expertise in accredited laboratory operations, regulatory compliance, and enterprise quality systems, you bring a passion for building preventive, risk-based quality programs that identify and address issues before they affect data quality, accreditation status, or client outcomes. As the Vice President, Quality Assurance, you'll provide enterprise-wide leadership for the design, governance, implementation, and continual improvement of quality systems supporting a network of environmental, chemical, and defense testing laboratories.

The Vice President, Quality Assurance serves as the organization's senior quality authority and is accountable for ensuring all laboratory quality programs meet and exceed requirements established by TNI/NELAC, DoD ELAP, ISO/IEC 17025, regulatory agencies, and client-specific quality standards. This role carries overarching responsibility for establishing a harmonized, defensible, and audit-ready Quality Management System across all laboratories. The successful candidate will provide strategic leadership, regulatory expertise, and executive oversight to build a highly proactive quality organization focused on identifying systemic risks, eliminating recurring issues, strengthening laboratory performance, and ensuring scientific integrity, accreditation compliance, and operational excellence across the enterprise.

The compensation range for this role is $175,000-200,000 total compensation, commensurate with experience, skills, and geographic location.

Responsibilities

• Ownership of Enterprise Quality Management Systems: Lead the enterprise quality management system by driving quality strategy, governance, and standardized implementation across all accredited laboratories. Champion a culture of quality that ensures compliance, audit readiness, and continuous improvement throughout the laboratory network.
• Regulatory and Accreditation Strategy: Lead compliance with accreditation, regulatory, and client-specific quality requirements while ensuring readiness for evolving standards.
• Independence and Data Integrity: Ensure laboratory independence, data integrity, and ethical conduct standards across the organization. Safeguard the validity and defensibility of scientific data while maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements.
• Audit Leadership and Oversight: Lead audit and inspection programs, including internal, client, accreditation, regulatory, DoD and DOE assessments. Ensure audit readiness through disciplined self-assessment programs, root cause analysis, performance monitoring, and sustainable CAPA processes.
• Lead Corrective Action and Risk Management: Lead CAPA, risk management, and continuous improvement programs designed to identify systemic vulnerabilities, leverage quality data and trend analysis, and proactively address issues before they result in non-conformances, customer impact, or accreditation risk. Establish a culture of root-cause elimination rather than symptom correction.
• Harmonization and Standardization: Drive harmonization and standardization of quality processes, audit practices, quality metrics, and documentation across laboratories to reduce variability, improve operational consistency, and strengthen enterprise-wide quality performance.
• Technical Guidance to Leadership: Provide technical leadership across laboratories, ensuring the integrity of analytical methods, data validation, and reporting practices. Serve as a trusted advisor by leveraging quality data, operational performance indicators, and regulatory expertise to drive informed decisions and continuous laboratory improvement.
• Leadership of the Quality Organization: Build and lead a high-performing quality organization by developing talent, driving accountability, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement and operational excellence.
• Client and Government Agency Interface: Serve as the senior quality representative to clients, regulatory agencies, accrediting bodies, and government organizations, providing authoritative leadership on accreditation, compliance, investigations, and corrective actions.
• Policy, Procedure, and Document Control Governance: Lead document control governance to ensure effective change management, record integrity, traceability, and audit-ready quality and accreditation documentation.
• Systems, LIMS, and Data Governance: Partner with laboratory and IT teams to ensure LIMS and data systems maintain regulatory compliance, data integrity, security, traceability, and audit readiness.
• Crisis Management and Quality Escalation: Lead response to significant quality, compliance, accreditation, and data integrity events, ensuring timely resolution while protecting organizational credibility and accreditation status.

Your Expertise and Skills

• Bachelor's degree in Chemistry, Environmental Science, Biology, Microbiology, or related scientific discipline.
• Advanced degree preferred.
• Minimum 10 years of progressive Quality Assurance leadership experience within accredited laboratory environments.
• Demonstrated leadership of enterprise Quality Management Systems.
• Demonstrated experience utilizing quality metrics, trend analysis, and risk-based methodologies to identify systemic issues and proactively improve organizational performance.
• Extensive experience with: TNI Standards, NELAC accreditation requirements, DoD/DOE ELAP accreditation program, ISO/IEC 17025.
• Successful management of accreditation and regulatory audits.
• Proven experience leading CAPA systems and quality improvement initiatives.
• Strong understanding of laboratory operations and analytical testing methodologies.
• Experience managing multi-site laboratory organizations.
• Exceptional communication, leadership, and executive influencing skills.
• Ability to travel (50%) as required.

Preferred Qualifications

• Certified Quality Auditor (CQA) or similar credential.
• Experience leading quality organizations supporting environmental laboratories serving federal government programs.
• Deep working knowledge of DoD ELAP assessments and data integrity requirements.
• Demonstrated success harmonizing quality systems across multiple laboratory locations.
• Strong executive presence and ability to interact effectively with regulators, accrediting bodies, and senior executives.

Equal Opportunity

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. For US residents, click here to learn more.

Company Overview

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.