Medical Laboratory Technician (Scientific Services)

Medical Laboratory Technician (S)

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is one of the largest, most complex agencies in the state, and has approximately 17,000 employees. It is responsible for ensuring the health, safety, and well-being of all North Carolinians, providing human service needs for special populations including individuals who are deaf, blind, developmentally disabled, and mentally ill, and helping poor North Carolinians achieve economic independence.

The Medical Laboratory Technician supports the Scientific Services section of the NCSLPH Microbiology Unit by performing routine and standardized laboratory tasks essential to clinical and environmental testing. This position prepares plated media, chemicals, buffers, and reagents and performs associated quality control procedures to ensure compliance with required regulatory standards. It operates, cleans, and troubleshoots laboratory equipment while maintaining accurate records in alignment with established SOPs. The role functions within a high?volume laboratory environment and supports surge operations in collaboration with multidisciplinary teams.

Key duties include:

• Prepare plated media, chemicals, buffers, and reagents for clinical and environmental testing.
• Perform media quality control procedures to verify accuracy, sterility, and conformance to required standards.
• Operate autoclaves, glassware washers, and other laboratory instruments to support testing workflows.
• Perform glassware services including cleaning, preparation, and inspection for laboratory use.
• Operate a dry ice pelletizer to support testing and specimen handling processes.
• Manage biohazard waste disposal to ensure safe handling and regulatory compliance.
• Maintain laboratory records needed to meet EPA, FDA, CLIA, and NCSLPH quality assurance requirements.
• Follow media preparation and operational SOPs to ensure consistency across testing procedures.
• Operate, clean, and troubleshoot equipment such as fume hoods, hot plates, balances, and pH meters.
• Support outbreak surge operations by adapting to high?volume workflow demands and extended work hours.

Salary grade range: $39,435.00 - $59,154.00

Recruitment range: $39,435.00 - $39,435.00

Candidates now meet the minimum qualifications of a position if they meet the minimum education and experience listed on the vacancy announcement. The Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs)/ Management Preferences are not required. Applicants who possess the following skills are preferred:

• Established experience preparing plated media, chemicals, buffers, and reagents for clinical and environmental testing, demonstrating intermediate proficiency with standardized laboratory preparation workflows.
• Demonstrated experience conducting media quality control procedures, including sterility verification, accuracy checks, and documentation aligned with defined laboratory standards.
• Proven skill operating and troubleshooting laboratory equipment such as autoclaves, glassware washers, fume hoods, hot plates, balances, and pH meters, with expert-level familiarity across routine laboratory functions.
• Documented experience performing regulated biohazard waste disposal using structured handling and tracking processes consistent with laboratory safety protocols.
• Consistent experience maintaining laboratory records required to meet EPA, FDA, CLIA, and NCSLPH quality assurance standards, demonstrating strong accuracy within structured documentation systems.

The posting will close at 11:59 p.m. the night before the end date.

Employees in this position must be capable of meeting the federal CLIA '88 personnel requirements of Testing Personnel in a laboratory performing high complexity testing. Applicants must attach copies of their transcript(s) and/or certification(s) to be considered for the position.

Physical requirements:

• Works with quality control organisms requiring the use of personal protective equipment (PPE).
• Requires close visual acuity and color differentiation to inspect specimens and analyze data.
• Requires fine motor skills to grasp and handle laboratory items.
• Ability to bend and lift up to 30 lbs of laboratory equipment or supplies.

About the NC Division of Public Health (DPH):

The NC Division of Public Health works to promote and contribute to the highest possible level of health for the people of North Carolina. Our entire statewide system of public health has dedicated professionals who carry out our mission every day through a wide range of essential and activities touching the lives of everyone in our state.

About the State Laboratory of Public Health:

The North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health (NCSLPH) provides an array of services including Laboratory Testing, Training/Consultation and Certification. The NCSLPH provides more than 125 clinical laboratory tests and more than 65 environmental laboratory tests to the public and private medical health care system in North Carolina and performs over 6 million tests annually on human, animal, food, water, and agricultural samples. Additionally, NCSLPH provides training and consultation for local health departments, hospitals, commercial laboratories, private health care professionals, community based organizations and state and regional staff from the NC Division of Public Health (DPH) and other state and regional agencies.

A staff of over 200 employees make up the organization units which include Administration, Bioterrorism and Emerging Pathogens (BTEP), Chemical Terrorism and Threat, Environmental Sciences, Laboratory Improvement, Molecular Diagnostics & Epidemiology, Sequencing and Bioinformatics Response (SABR), Newborn Screening, Microbiology, and Virology/Serology and is co-located with the Office of Chief Medical in a 220,000-sq. ft. state of the art facility. The NCSLPH has several doctoral level managers and research scientists as well as medical laboratory specialists, medical technologists, chemists, laboratory technicians, and support staff.

The Infectious Diseases Unit (IDU) at the North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health (NCSLPH) is comprised of three primary units containing various laboratories which provide testing services to local and state partners as well as to clinical labs for the diagnosis, treatment, surveillance, and control of communicable diseases. Collectively, the unit conducts highly complex testing procedures for the detection, identification, and characterization of a wide range of infectious agents from a variety of clinical, reference, and environmental specimens.

The Microbiology Unit provides clinical and reference microbiological testing for public and private laboratories as well as associated partners. This diverse unit performs testing including organism identification and detection that aids in the diagnosis of foodborne, vaccine-preventable, parasitic, and fungal diseases. Microbiological culture and workups to identify Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and a variety of other pathogens such as Legionella and Neisseria are also performed by this unit. Microbial resistance testing and surveillance methods are also performed within the unit. Results generated from this unit are utilized by a variety of partners for diagnosis, patient management, surveillance, and outbreak investigations.

The Scientific Services section supports all clinical and environmental testing laboratories at NCSLPH. It is responsible for media preparation and quality control, autoclaving, glassware preparation, and biohazard waste management. These services are carried out by a team of five staff members, including the section supervisor.

Campus Amenities and Benefits at the State Laboratory of Public Health

We are in Raleigh, NC. According to Forbes, we are ranked as one of the top 20 best places to retire and the 2nd most educated city in the country. US News & World ranks Raleigh among the top 15 places to live in the U.S.

• 220,000 square feet state-of-the-art facility
• Plentiful free parking
• Easy access to highways (70, 40 and 440), NC Museum of Art, Umstead State Park, healthcare providers, and shopping centers
• Proximity to globally and nationally ranked universities (NC State, UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke)
• Fitness area with exercise equipment, classes, and wellness activities
• Weekly food trucks
• Car cleaning and detailing services on-site bimonthly
• Annual flu shot clinic for employees and families
• Monthly and quarterly career development classes, including opportunities for traveling
• Library of academic journals and materials on-site
• Employee engagement and staff development activities
• NCSLPH employee recognition programs
• State health plan and state of NC employee benefits

Compensation and Benefits:

The State of North Carolina offers excellent comprehensive benefits. Employees can participate in health insurance options, standard and supplemental retirement plans, and the NCFlex program (numerous high-quality, low-cost benefits on a pre-tax basis). Employees also receive paid vacation, sick, and community service leave. In addition, paid parental leave is available to eligible employees. Visit the website for State Benefits