The Director, Bioinformatics - Global Operations, leads and manages bioinformatics technology operations spanning "sample-to-result" within the clinical diagnostics industry, ensuring regulatory compliance, operational excellence, and efficient support for laboratory processes. This role requires both strategic and executional strengths in order to lead a global team responsible for incident management, capacity planning, and continuous improvement while maintaining quality and security standards in a highly regulated environment.
- Ensure sample turnaround time (TAT) and support service level agreements (SLAs) are consistently met.
- Oversee compliance with applicable regulatory and quality standards, including LDT, FDA medical device, IVDR, and other relevant regulations, ensuring proper documentation and evidence of compliance for everything in production.
- Take full ownership of incident management, coordinating with relevant stakeholders to ensure timely resolution.
- Create, maintain and optimize key operational metrics and operational dashboards to ensure continuous improvement in bioinformatics operations.
- Provide strategic and proactive leadership in capacity planning to support business growth and operational efficiency.
- Manage change control processes for production environments, ensuring smooth and compliant transitions.
- Collaborate with Corporate IT, Quality, Medical, and Lab Operations teams, to maintain infrastructure for quality and security compliance.
- Co-own technology transfer processes for new product launches in partnership with the Bioinformatics Solutions and Platform Engineering teams.
- Identify, champion, and implement quality and performance improvements for bioinformatics applications and production processes.
- Plan and manage development of product "life-cycle" updates, using Agile/Kanban or other industry standard SDLC methods
- Provide feedback to bioinformatics engineering teams and drive the implementation of quality improvement plans.
- Ensure timely and effective written escalation of critical issues.
- Lead and manage a global team of approximately 35 professionals, including 4 to 5 regional managers overseeing operations across multiple locations within US and EU.
- Establish clear goals, expectations, and performance metrics for the team to drive accountability and operational excellence.
- Mentor, train, and develop regional managers and Bioinformatics Operations personnel to build a high-performing and engaged workforce.
- Foster a culture of collaboration, continuous improvement, and innovation across teams and regions.
- Conduct regular performance evaluations, provide constructive feedback, and implement professional development plans.
- Manage hiring, onboarding, and succession planning to ensure a strong talent pipeline for BX operations.
- Implement effective communication strategies to keep global teams aligned on priorities, changes, and best practices.
- Hold staff accountable for performance, taking timely disciplinary action when necessary.
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Bioinformatics, Computer Science, Computational Biology, or a related field. A PhD in one of these fields of study is preferred.
- Strong technical knowledge of bioinformatics pipelines, LIMS, variant interpretation systems, high performance computing, cloud-based infrastructure, and production system maintenance.
- Certifications in quality management, regulatory compliance, or IT service management (e.g., ITIL, CAP, or LSS).
- Extensive hands-on experience in bioinformatics technology operations within the clinical diagnostics industry.
- Proven track record of implementing industry best practices in a regulated environment.
- Strong understanding of compliance requirements for any of CAP/CLIA, IED62304 or CE standards. Regulatory and quality compliance expertise (FDA, IVDR, CAP/CLIA) is highly desirable.
- Experience with incident management, capacity planning, change management, and infrastructure maintenance.
- Demonstrated ability to lead and manage a global team, including regional managers, in a complex and dynamic environment.
- Experience in performance management, coaching, and professional development of technical teams.
- Strong problem-solving skills with a strategic and proactive mindset.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills for effective issue escalation and stakeholder engagement.
- Experience with bioinformatics applications in clinical laboratory settings is strongly preferred.
- Knowledge of quality improvement methodologies such as Six Sigma or Lean is desirable.
- Familiarity with cloud-based bioinformatics infrastructure and security best practices.
- The ability to travel up to 25% is required.
Equal Opportunity Employer: Race/Color/Sex/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity/Religion/National Origin/Disability/Vets or any other legally protected status.
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