Job Type
Full-time
Description
Join a leading specialty chemical manufacturing company where quality, analytical excellence, and production reliability work together to support world-class manufacturing. As our Quality Control Laboratory Manager, you will lead an ISO 9001:2015 accredited Quality Control Laboratory supporting a 24/7 manufacturing operation. This highly visible leadership role combines technical expertise with operational leadership, partnering closely with Production, Operations, Customer Service, and other cross-functional teams to ensure product quality, manufacturing efficiency, and customer satisfaction.
This is a hands-on leadership position, not a purely administrative management role. The successful candidate will remain actively engaged in laboratory operations, spending approximately 50% of their time working alongside the laboratory team and 50% leading laboratory operations, people, and continuous improvement initiatives
What You'll Do:
- Lead, coach, mentor, and develop a team of 8 Quality Control Laboratory professionals, fostering accountability, technical excellence, and continuous professional development
- Direct daily laboratory operations by prioritizing sample flow, scheduling work, allocating resources, and supporting a 24/7 specialty chemical manufacturing environment
- Partner closely with Production, Operations, and other departments to support manufacturing priorities, troubleshoot process issues, and ensure timely analytical results that keep production moving
- Perform and interpret analytical testing including HPLC, GC, GC-MS, FT-IR, UV-Vis, Karl Fischer, Viscometer, and NMR while maintaining technical proficiency within the laboratory
- Oversee Organic Analytical Chemistry and Wet Chemistry testing for raw materials, intermediates, in-process samples, and finished products
- Validate analytical data and authorize product release through the company's JD Edwards (Oracle) ERP system while maintaining data integrity
- Lead laboratory investigations, Root Cause Analysis, CAPA (Corrective and Preventive Actions), and continuous improvement initiatives to improve laboratory performance and manufacturing reliability
- Develop, maintain, and improve laboratory documentation including Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), analytical methods, specifications, sampling plans, and training programs
- Ensure compliance with the company's Quality Management System (QMS), ISO 9001:2015 requirements, laboratory documentation standards, and internal quality procedures
- Oversee Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) activities, sample tracking, electronic laboratory documentation, and data integrity
- Recruit, train, develop, evaluate, and retain laboratory personnel while building a high-performing technical team
- Manage laboratory resources, instrumentation, workload planning, and laboratory performance to support plant production goals and customer expectations
What Success Looks Like
Success in this role means leading a laboratory that consistently delivers accurate analytical results, supports uninterrupted manufacturing, develops high-performing laboratory professionals, and drives continuous improvement across the operation. You'll serve as a trusted technical leader who partners with manufacturing to solve complex analytical challenges while maintaining the highest standards of quality, safety, and regulatory compliance.
Leadership & Technical Environment
This position directly manages approximately 8 laboratory professionals and serves as a key member of the plant leadership team. The Quality Control Laboratory operates in direct partnership with Production, Operations, Customer Service, and other cross-functional departments to support a 24/7 specialty additive manufacturing operation focused on organic chemistry solutions.
If you're looking for an opportunity to lead a talented laboratory team while remaining technically engaged and making a measurable impact on manufacturing performance, product quality, and customer satisfaction, we'd like to hear from you.
Requirements
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Chemistry or closely related scientific discipline.
- Minimum 5 years of experience in Analytical Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, or Quality Control within a chemical manufacturing or specialty chemicals environment.
- Minimum 2 years of laboratory leadership or management experience.
- Strong hands-on laboratory bench experience with analytical instrumentation.
- Experience supporting manufacturing operations within a fast-paced industrial environment.
- Working knowledge of ISO 9001, Quality Management Systems (QMS), laboratory compliance, and quality documentation.
- Experience with LIMS, JD Edwards (Oracle) ERP, or comparable laboratory and ERP systems.
- Demonstrated ability to lead teams, solve technical problems, and drive operational improvements.
Preferred Experience
- Specialty chemical manufacturing.
- Organic Analytical Chemistry.
- Wet Chemistry.
- Statistical Analysis.
- Method development and analytical troubleshooting.
- Continuous Improvement initiatives.
- Internal and external quality audits.
- Laboratory performance metrics and process optimization.
