Laboratory Operations Director

Job Description

Job Description

Who we are: At Arkana Laboratories, everyone has an important role to fill. Come join us and be a part of a team dedicated to making life better for those who need it most.

This place is packed with super-smart people who do their best work together. We work hard every day to advance our understanding of disease and provide world-class care to our patients in hopes of leaving our corner of the world a little better than we found it. While we are committed to improving the lives of thousands of patients, we never lose sight of the realization that they are the reason we get to create change in our field.

Built on generosity, teamwork, and the freedom to try new things, we take great pride in our work. Great ideas come from everywhere in this company and we celebrate each success and failure for the opportunity it gives us to keep reaching. For more than twenty years after our founder, Dr. Patrick Walker, wrote his goals on the back of a napkin, our people, culture, and values have remained strong.

About Us

Arkana Laboratories is packed with people who are dedicated to teamwork and excellence. Join us to help us fulfill our mission of advancing understanding of disease and providing world-class care to our patients.

The Role

As Laboratory Operations Director, you'll be responsible for the technical operations and continuous improvement of our anatomic pathology laboratory across multiple modalities: light microscopy (LM), immunofluorescence (IF), immunohistochemistry (IHC), electron microscopy (EM), neuropathology, and digital pathology. This isn't a desk job. You'll spend time on the floor in the lab, in meetings with pathologists, coaching managers, redesigning workflows, and figuring out how to make our lab better tomorrow than it is today.

Your job is to translate our strategic vision into day-to-day reality, to design systems that work without constant firefighting, and to build a team that takes real pride in their technical expertise.

Important note: You don't need to be an AP lab expert today. If you have strong leadership experience in clinical labs, research labs, or related technical fields—and you're willing to learn the specifics of anatomic pathology—we want to hear from you. We value leadership ability and a learning mindset as much as we value domain expertise.

What You'll Do

Build and improve the systems that make great work possible. You'll own technical quality and workflow design across every AP section; not just maintaining what exists, but actively making it better. That means spotting bottlenecks before they become crises, evaluating equipment, and technology investments with a clear eye toward quality and cost, and driving improvement as a habit rather than a project.

Run Excellent Operations. Specimens should move through each section with the right quality and turnaround time, every day without the need for heroics on the part of our team. You'll work closely with operations on staffing and scheduling, keep communication flowing between technicians, pathologists, and leadership, and build a lab that catches problems early rather than reacting to them.

Develop managers who develop their people. You'll lead and mentor section managers, setting clear expectations, delivering honest feedback, and holding people accountable in a way that's direct without being punitive. The goal isn't just well-run sections; rather, it's helping managers grow into strong technical and operational leaders.

Build Training That Works. You'll own the technical curriculum across all sections, working with our training manager to translate our SOPs and workflows into a training curriculum. That means clear competency standards at each level, hands-on practice that sticks, and smart use of technology where it genuinely accelerates learning.

Own Quality and Compliance. You'll partner with QA and physician leads to keep our quality systems strong, our scientific rigor uncompromising, and our lab ready for CAP, CLIA, FDA, and NY State inspections at all times. This means modeling the standards you expect, not just signing off on them.

Drive Continuous Improvement. You'll lead initiatives that reduce manual work, cut variability, and prevent errors before they reach patients. That includes working with our teams to automate the things that don't need human judgment, freeing your people to focus on the work that does. You'll build improvement roadmaps, execute them, and more importantly, you'll help make improvement a reflex, not a special project we get to when things slow down.

Use Data to Make Better Decisions. You'll track the metrics that matter — quality, turnaround time, rework rates, errors, training completion — and actually use them. That means basing your coaching and decisions on what the numbers show, reading early warning signs before small problems compound, and sharing performance data openly with lab leadership to eliminate surprises.

Collaborate Across Teams. You'll be the bridge between lab leadership strategy and what actually happens on the bench. That means strong working relationships with pathologists, operations, training, QA, IT, and finance; and a genuine interest in breaking down silos so knowledge and skills move across sections.

What We're Looking For

• Bachelor's degree in laboratory science, biology, or related field (HT/HTL ASCP certification is a plus)
• At least 7 years leading teams in clinical labs, research labs, or technical operations
• Strong technical background—ideally in AP lab work, but we're open to leaders from other lab settings who are eager to learn
• Track record of holding people accountable while developing their capabilities
• Familiarity with regulatory requirements (CAP, CLIA, state regulations)
• Ability to communicate complex ideas clearly in writing and conversation

• PhD in a relevant scientific field (we're serious about welcoming PhD-level leaders who may not have worked in AP labs before)
• Experience running high-volume labs where quality and speed both matter
• Success building training programs
• Exposure to Lean, Six Sigma, or other structured improvement methods and a desire to use it in practice
• Familiarity with digital pathology, automation, or AI applications in lab settings
• Comfort with laboratory information systems and digital workflows

What Really Matters to Us

Beyond credentials and experience, here's what we're looking for in the person who takes this role:

• You generate. You see how things could work better and you're not shy about proposing changes
• You enable. You're good at removing obstacles and giving people what they need to do their best work
• You bring people. You can unite a team around a goal and create momentum for change
• You build systems, not band-aids. You fix problems at the root so they stay fixed
• You coach with honesty. You're comfortable having hard conversations when performance isn't where it needs to be
• You communicate clearly. You can explain technical concepts to non-technical people and vice versa
• You do what you say. Your integrity shows up in how you follow through on commitments
• You put patients first. You remember that our work affects real people facing serious health challenges
• You're comfortable with technology. You see automation and AI as tools that can make work better, not threats
• You're ready to learn. If you don't know anatomic pathology yet, that's okay—we'll teach you. What matters is that you're genuinely curious and committed to mastering it

What We Offer

• Competitive salary
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage
• 401(k) retirement plan
• Generous PTO and holidays
• Real investment in your professional development and leadership growth
• The chance to build something exceptional and see the direct impact of your work on patient care

How to Apply

Send us the following:

• Your resume and a brief summary of your leadership experience in laboratory operations
• One concrete example of an improvement you led—in workflow, quality, training, or operations—and what made it successful
• A few sentences on why this role and our mission interest you

A Note to PhD Candidates and Career Changers

If you're reading this and thinking, "I have the leadership skills and scientific background, but I haven't worked in an Anatomic Pathology lab"—please apply anyway. We're looking for people who can learn, lead, and build. If you're excited about the challenge of working in anatomic pathology laboratory while bringing your leadership experience to bear, we want to talk with you. We're looking for builders, not caretakers.

What we offer: We know that health is more than doctor visits and life is more than work. We work hard at Arkana but in turn provide competitive salaries and generous benefit offerings.

Specifically, we offer the following benefits to full-time employees:

• Competitive salary
• Generous paid time off and Paid Holidays
• Minimal cost health insurance for you and affordable options for your family
• 401(k) with immediate eligibility and match
• Company-paid life insurance
• Company-paid long term disability coverage
• Affordable vision and dental plans
• Flexible Spending Account or Health Savings Account availability
• Wellness plan and complimentary yoga classes
• Monthly in-office massages and employer-sponsored lunches

Please see Careers for further information.