Lab Manager

Lab Manager

About Southern Research

Southern Research (SR) represents a bold vision for an enduring industry-university partnership that advances research and discovery in life sciences and engineering. As we celebrate our 80th anniversary, we are making transformational decisions to reinvigorate the institute by focusing our efforts to attract, retain, and develop top talent, and ultimately create jobs through translating ideas into innovation, and innovation into economic opportunity. Southern Research (SR) is at a pivotal moment in its 80-year history. At the start of 2022, SR launched a new strategic plan focused on translational research in the life sciences. SR intends to invest over $150 million in this new strategy, including development of new facilities, platforms, and programs. We believe in the power of SR and our partners to unlock the immense potential of Alabama's biotech ecosystem to spur economic development, create jobs, and draw investment. Downtown Birmingham sees over $700M in extramural biomedical research every year, including over $300M from the NIH, in large part due to the contributions of Southern Research and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. We are on a mission to translate our R&D volume into investment, high-performance companies, and quality jobs in Alabama and in the Southeast United States.

General Summary

Critical to this strategy is the ability to track, maintain, and manage SR's technical equipment and materials. The Lab Manager will be responsible for the overall direction and management of the scientific laboratory equipment and will be the main technical point of contact for all residential clients in SR's biotechnology Incubator. We are looking for an energetic and nimble executer who thinks critically, relishes details, effectively collaborates with leadership to achieve mission-critical outcomes, and has demonstrated an interest in scientific research, commercialization, and economic growth.

Key Responsibilities

• Responsible for the overall direction and management of the daily operations and scientific laboratory management of the Incubator, and stands in for Incubator leadership when needed
• Provides facilities management, laboratory equipment supervision and training, and coordination of laboratory management for the SR Incubator
• Involved in aspects of laboratory GLP, GMP, equipment maintenance and building maintenance/upkeep; coordinates all laboratory training and compliance for clients SR Incubator management and appropriate SR EH&S personnel
• Approves projects and repairs, coordinating with SR Facilities team, to make sure that the Incubator facility is operational at all times
• Deals with confidential aspects of the program as well as the scientific data of the private companies in the Incubator program
• Liaises between SR's Incubator, scientific vendors, and the clients, often handling company equipment issues/troubleshooting for staff as well as clients
• Handles all requests from clients for new equipment, equipment repair, assistance, and training on equipment
• Assists in planning, directing, and reporting the operational aspect of the shared lab facility and assists in developing and implementing repair, rehabilitation, and upgrades for the lab and facility
• Coordinates with Incubator management and with contractors/suppliers and others on equipment maintenance projects, building maintenance repair, and also communicates with client companies to minimize impact on their R&D and business activities
• Serves as IT, Facilities, EH&S liaison for Incubator, attending departmental meetings as necessary to ensure Incubator is up to speed on SR Operations activities
• Performs related duties as required or deemed appropriate to the accomplishment of the responsibilities and functions of the Incubator

Minimum Qualifications

• 2-3 years of experience in laboratory management and equipment operation; experience in a business incubator program is highly desirable
• Understanding of basic facilities operations
• Passionate about biotechnology and scientific research -- Authentic desire to further healthcare and biotechnology innovation through translational, market-driven research
• Highly collaborative -- You care less about who did it than how it got done. You take deep pride in shared outcomes and you really believe the whole is greater than the sum of the parts when it comes to team efforts
• Nimble executor - translating goals and objectives into actionable business priorities and work streams for the team to execute is second-nature for you