Lab Manager - Atlanta

Leadership Opportunity in Food & Beverage Testing

Apex is partnering with a global powerhouse in the Food & Beverage testing industry to fill a pivotal Lab Manager role. This is a direct-hire opportunity with a company known for innovation, quality, and impact.

As Lab Manager, youll lead a dynamic team of 40 professionalsincluding 10 direct reportsat a high-performing site. Your leadership will be key in driving operational excellence and advancing cutting-edge laboratory practices.

This is more than a jobits a chance to make a global impact through science, leadership, and collaboration.

Lab Manager

Job Summary :

The Lab Manager is responsible for the day-to-day operations of leading a microbiological and / or chemical laboratory within a single site, ensuring accuracy, compliance and quality of testing to the local customer base. Accountable for all quality, customer, people, financial processes and workflow related activities in the lab. The Lab Manager operates with a strong general manager mindset, balancing scientific rigor with business acumen. They are expected to lead with an entrepreneurial spirit, taking full ownership of site performance, including P&L management, team development, resource optimization, customer engagement, quality and safety, innovation and continuous improvement. This leader will uphold our purpose so the world can trust in what it consumes by fostering a culture aligned to our mission and values :

Leadership Accountabilities :

Quality Excellence : Promote a culture where quality is embedded into every action in self and others. Proactively coach the team on adhering to all SOPs and regulatory standards, accuracy and continuous improvement.

Customer-Focus : Ensure timely, high-quality results and solutions that build trust with our partners, meet and exceed customer expectations and enhance our reputation in the market to expand business opportunities.

People-Centricity : Maintain a safe, engaging, and inclusive environment. Be present and accessible, ensuring team members are supported, empowered, trained and motivated to perform at their best and reach their full potential.

Profitability : Monitor and manage lab budgets, driving profitable growth; including but not limited to managing labor, courier, inventory and optimizing all resources to ensure sustainable, efficient operations.

Innovation : Will enable a team that is relentlessly focused on continuous improvement, learning openly from defects, and championing problem-solving, new ideas to improve service, quality, and efficiency.

Responsibilities : Core Operations

Foster a high performing laboratory environment.

Lead laboratory operations to drive high quality, efficient testing with consistent turnaround times, guided by a balanced operational scorecard.

Conduct daily huddles with operations and supervisors to ensure daily priorities and resources are properly utilized.

Maintain technical competence to ensure knowledge and standards are up to date.

Quality & Safety

Maintain ISO 17025 compliance by ensuring alignment with the Company's Corporate Quality Management System.

Ensure that the laboratory is briefed and ready for all external audits. Ensure staff readiness to brief their designated parts for the external auditor. Be present throughout the audit to learn firsthand improvement opportunities.

Maintain a clean, well-organized, sanitary laboratory environment, coordinating with facilities and maintenance teams as required.

Promote a culture of safety, ensuring the lab working environment meets safety standards and protocols.

Monitor lab equipment to ensure functionality and proactive maintenance, coordinating replacements when equipment reaches end-of-life cycle.

Customer Engagement

In all customer interactions, represent the Company with professionalism and care with a focus on building trust, customer retention and growth.

Proactive approach to understanding customer needs and service. Ensure timely and accurate responses to customer inquiries or concerns aiming to uphold our high standards of customer service.

Communicate directly with clients on laboratory capabilities, results, pricing, and other relevant topics to foster transparency and collaboration.

Meet established turnaround goals for customers and elevate the customer's experience.

People Leadership

Anticipate laboratory staffing needs by planning for appropriate headcount based on volume, especially as volume patterns change. Effectively design employee schedules to match volume patterns across one or more shifts.

Enable strong labor productivity according to established KPIs.

Recruit, interview, select high quality talent and lead onboarding efforts. Effectively train and enable employees to build skills and progress through established career paths.

Prioritize talent retention by creating a culture where employees are engaged, supported, and given opportunities to grow to their full potential. Monitor turnover trends, implement strategies to reduce turnover, and emphasize cross-training to build flexibility, career advancement, and team capability.

Coach supervisors to enable a high-performance environment where employees are empowered to do their best and drive accountability for results across all aspects of their job descriptions. Ensure thorough and accurate document management as appropriate for employee actions, performance and any disciplinary action.

Hold supervisors accountable for all aspects of their roles as leaders such as (hiring, employee coaching, training, delivering performance feedback, ensuring support and supervision on complex matters, and employee relations matters). Additionally, performance reviews are designed and written to capture all aspects of job performance both technical and behavioral, address current job satisfaction, and learn about the employee's growth plan with the established career ladders.

Profitability

Manage the laboratory's financial performance, aligning operational plans with budget expectations.

Proactively identify opportunities to drive profitability for the laboratory and optimize resources such as labor, inventory & supplies as well as internal or external couriers.

Continuous, proactive management of all outside vendors (including sanitation, temp employees, service contractors, landscape, building maintenance) to minimize waste and ensure we are obtaining the best possible standards.

Innovation and continuous improvement

Actively contribute to cross-site best practice sharing across the network and foster a mindset of continuous improvement.

Collaborate with other laboratories in the network as needed with overflow testing, resource sharing and training.

Maintain a visible presence in the lab daily to observe operations, reinforce adherence to standards and to provide real-time coaching and feedback.

Supervise non-routine projects per client request and as assigned.

Qualifications :

Bachelor's degree in science, business or related field required; master's degree is preferred.

Minimum five (5) years' experience in an operations setting leading frontline supervisors who directly oversee an hourly workforce.

Prior experience in commercial laboratory testing or manufacturing environments is preferred, specifically testing samples such as food, cosmetics or tobacco with exposure to safety and quality protocols.

Proven track record of successfully driving financial and operational performance against defined metrics.

Proven ability to manage teams through a span of frontline leaders.

Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to interpret complex business, technical and regulatory documents.

Skilled in developing reports, business correspondence and standard operating procedures.

Confident in presenting to and engaging with senior leadership, peers, customers, and cross-functional teams.

Demonstrated capability to solve practical problems using sound judgement, especially in dynamic or ambiguous situations.

Mathematical Skills :

Work with mathematical concepts such as probability and statistical inference.

Apply concepts such as fractions, percentages, ratios, and proportions to practical situations.

Supervision :

Lead a team of three to eight supervisors and indirectly lead a total team of 15 to 40 team members.

Physical Demands / Work Environment :

Potential exposure to odors, fumes, airborne particles, hazardous chemicals, and microbiological pathogens.

Use of PPE in the laboratory is required.

Noise level varies from quiet to loud.

The temperature varies from hot to cold.

The environment is interactive and fast-paced.

Occasionally lift and / or move up to 25 pounds.

Night and weekend work is dependent on business and customer demand.

Ability to travel occasionally as required.

Activity :

Must be able to Stand :

Walk

Sit

Use hands to finger, handle, or feel

Reach with Hands and Arms

Climb or balance

Stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl

Talk or hear

Color vision and depth perception

Benefits :

Progressive 401k Retirement Savings Plan

Employer Paid Short- Term and Long-