Director of Biorepository Operations

At Azenta, new ideas, new technologies and new ways of thinking are driving our future. Our customer-focused culture encourages employees to embrace innovation and challenge the status quo with novel thinking and collaborative work relationships.

Azenta Life Sciences is a global leader in the life sciences space with headquarters in Burlington, MA, and offices and operations worldwide.

We are a market leader in automated bio sample management solutions and genomic services across areas such as drug development, clinical and advanced cell therapies for the industry's top pharmaceutical, biotech, academic and healthcare institutions globally.

We provide unparalleled capabilities with our lab analysis, sample management and storage services, informatics software, and consumables, with the largest installed base managing over 1 billion samples globally.

How You’ll Add Value

The Associate Director of Biorepository Operations provides direct, hands-on leadership of all sample management, logistics and training functions at the Indianapolis location.

In managing these multidisciplinary personnel, the Associate Director will ensure quality execution of Sample Management policies and procedures.

This position directs and implements the day-to-day tactical activities associated with Sample Management, Logistics and Training.

What You’ll Do

1. A key member of the Global Operations team, this role is responsible for executing the operational strategy for Indianapolis aligned to our quality standards and delivering growth and margin improvements.

2. Provides leadership of multidisciplinary teams and manages productivity of more than 120 biobank personnel across multiple shifts.

3. Drives a strong quality culture by ensuring policies, procedures and work instructions prioritize safety, and ensures that appropriate monitoring and reporting processes are in place and effective for continually improving safety.

4. Ensures achievement of customer expectations for quality and timeliness of registrations, retrievals, discards, and sample preservation.

Proactively manages and drives the resolution of client issues.

5. Connects with the sample management industry to understand best practices and ensures Azenta is at the leading edge of new industry developments

6. Ensures all service failures are identified, investigated, and resolved appropriately. Ensures adherence to Event Reporting (ER) and CAPA processes to enable fast resolution of service or quality issues and removal of recurrences.

Implements and monitors processes that ensure appropriate escalation of issues and continuous, appropriate communication of issues across the organization.

7. Promotes continuous process improvement by establishing leading indicators and standards for safety, quality, delivery, client satisfaction and cost.

Develops and executes initiatives that deliver quality and efficiency improvements.

8. Leads people-centric initiatives that continually drive quality, client satisfaction and employee satisfaction. Designs job profiles, training programs and communication strategies that increase employee value, satisfaction and retention.

Reviews operations leadership and assesses talent pipeline on a continual basis. Responsible and accountable for all activities and outcomes of assigned personnel.

9. Key contributor to the Sales & Operations Planning process to ensure resources are in place to execute on client demands for receipt, registration, sample processing, retrieval, outbound shipping and sample discard.

Works closely with Resource Management to ensure our facilities and sample storage capacity are right-sized for anticipated sample volumes.

10. Monitors obligations in client master agreements and contracts for Indianapolis to ensure that Sample Management and Processing meet these contractual obligations.

Participates in client reviews and governance meetings.

11. Partners with IFMX for internal systems support and to ensure planned improvements to systems / software are prioritized effectively.

12. Supports QA function in preparing for, hosting and providing follow up for client and regulatory audits.

13. Creates actionable strategies that ensure the smooth and timely start-up, integration, and quality execution of Sample Management projects.

14. Develops appropriate best practices resulting in standardized and streamlined processes, regulatory compliance and efficient use of resources.

15. Implements and monitors processes that ensure appropriate escalation of issues and continuous, appropriate communication of issues across the organization.

16. Provides general scientific and operational knowledge to Sample Processing and Management.

As a Leader, You Will

Build an Accountable and Collaborative Culture

• Build and models a culture of teamwork and employee value, where questioning and constructive challenge are the standard to foster openness and candid dialogue
• Encourage accountability and responsibility that enables others to act with integrity
• Build effective working relationships across groups with customer focus at the center of all actions; exemplifies one team; one company’
• Promote partnership and communication within department and across the organization. Consider all parts of the organization when implementing changes

Lead with Customer Focus and Strategic Agility

• Set and clearly articulate a compelling vision that inspires customer focus
• Develop bold strategic plans and drives achievement by crafting pragmatic solutions to implement them
• Recognize opportunities and challenges and modify strategy accordingly
• Move easily between addressing current needs and planning for the future with informed insight
• Consider customer needs as well as economic forces and trends in making sound business decisions

Navigate Change

Adept at Sensemaking. Ask insightful questions and link ideas to assess the complexities of the environment and explain them to others in simple terms.

Help to map the terrain so others can navigate the journey

• Decide and act, even when faced with uncertainty
• Clearly communicate the need for change and is proactively responsive to the resistance it can evoke
• Address the conflict and ambiguity inherent in change; create alignment to overcome inherent challenges
• Quickly focus on the critical issues while prioritizing current work

Develop Organizational Capability

• Engage employees by inspiring passion for growth and continuous improvement; inspires individuals to reach their full potential
• Build and improve effective internal systems and processes that align with organizational priorities
• Build and foster effective teams in a global matrix organization

Utilize best practices and resources for acquisition, organization, and engagement of talent. Empower, delegate and develop talent in consideration of business and development needs both locally and globally

Drive Innovation

• Lead others to seek better ways of doing things. Generate breakthrough solutions, and enables others to do the same
• Draw on unexpected or seemingly unrelated ways of thinking
• Operate from a framework of possibility; cultivate an environment of idea generation
• Incorporate stakeholder feedback to improve the business

What You Will Bring

Required

• Four-year degree and 4-6 years related management experience.
• Prior experience leading under a stringent quality management system.

Preferred

• 4 year degree in the field of science
• FDA, CLIA, ISO experience
• Successful completion of graduate-level business courses
• Advanced degree in the field of science
• Supply chain management and procurement experience
• Strong business acumen and analytical skills
• Excellent leadership skills and ability to work across organization
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills
• Experience in customer service oriented positions
• Ability to think creatively
• Demonstrated high level of initiative and ability to work independently
• Proven ability to work effectively with teams / work
• Demonstrated experience in team building, negotiation, facilitation, and conflict resolution

Physical Requirements

• Reaching, lifting, bending
• Ability to lift 50 lbs.
• Extended periods of standing or sitting
• Right- and left-hand finger dexterity
• Ability to discern colors or use of color correction glasses
• Ability to work with refrigerants (e.g., dry ice and LNs) using proper PPE

Your Working Conditions :

Employee will be working in an area with potentially infectious materials. Employee will be responsible for maintaining a clean work environment for enforcing and following Universal Precautions for bloodborne pathogens when working in an area considered to be potentially contaminated.

EOE M / F / Disabled / VET