Owns hiring, onboarding, training, scheduling, and performance management for full-time and seasonal laboratory staff
Sets clear roles, responsibilities, and daily production expectations for the lab team
Provides ongoing coaching, feedback, and development support to ensure individual and team performance
Ensures team adherence to company policies, safety standards, and laboratory SOPs
Accountable for daily soil sample processing operations, including production scheduling, staffing coverage, and throughput planning
Develops and maintains sample processing schedules for instrument operators and preprocessing staff to meet quality and turnaround targets
Monitors production performance and resolves operational bottlenecks to ensure timely, accurate delivery of soil analysis outputs
Provides hands-on operational support as needed, including equipment setup, calibration, and troubleshooting
Ensures laboratory operations comply with all safety, regulatory, and quality standards
Develops, implements, and updates laboratory SOPs and safety protocols
Communicates daily production status, risks, and capacity updates to the Lab Operations Manager and cross-functional partners
Collaborates with upstream and downstream teams to align processing timelines and manage turnaround expectations

Bachelor's degree or higher in any scientific discipline
3-5 years of progressive lab experience with at least 1 year of experience managing the day-to-day operations of a production-scale wet lab, which includes inventory management, lab safety compliance and chemical handling
Strong leadership and people management skills with ability to recruit, train, and develop both full-time and seasonal staff
Excellent organizational and workflow management capabilities to coordinate production operations and meet quality/turnaround targets
Strong accountability mindset with commitment to immediately report production issues, equipment problems, or personnel concerns to supervisor
Data-driven approach to monitoring lab performance metrics and ensuring on-time delivery
Proficient in the effective use of modern AI tools to automate tasks and increase productivity
Deep knowledge of soil chemistry analysis (incl. equipment maintenance/calibration), laboratory safety protocols, compliance regulations, and chemical handling procedures

Associate Production Manager

Key skills