Lab Manager
What this job does:
Keeps a research laboratory running smoothly by overseeing daily operations, such as ordering supplies, maintaining equipment, training new personnel, and ensuring safety and regulatory compliance. Serves as the organizational backbone of the lab, coordinating project timelines, managing budgets, and often contributing to experimental design and data analysis alongside the principal investigator.
This job is similar to these lab/research tasks:
Managing day-to-day lab operations, ordering reagents, maintaining equipment, training rotation students, coordinating multi-project timelines, writing SOPs, ensuring compliance with safety protocols
Typical starting salary range
$80k to $140k
Salary estimate represented as 25th to 75th percentile. Gathered from recent job postings, Glassdoor.com, and Salary.com
Daily task breakdown
- Lab operations and logistics: supplies, equipment, scheduling (30%)
- Personnel management and training (20%)
- Safety and regulatory compliance: inspections, protocols, documentation (20%)
- Budget and administrative management: purchasing, grant support (15%)
- Research support: experimental design, data analysis, manuscripts (15%)
Skills you'll use in this job:
Laboratory operations management; budget and financial management; personnel supervision and mentoring; equipment maintenance and troubleshooting; safety and regulatory compliance (OSHA, EPA, biosafety); project management and timeline coordination; scientific writing and communication; inventory management; problem-solving; attention to detail; interpersonal and leadership skills
Talk about these PhD skills in your resume and interview:
Talk about managing day-to-day lab operations - ordering reagents, maintaining equipment, training rotation students and undergrads, and keeping experiments on schedule. Highlight your experience coordinating multi-project timelines, managing shared resources, troubleshooting instruments, writing SOPs, and ensuring compliance with safety protocols. If you helped manage a lab budget, organized lab meetings, or maintained IRB/IACUC documentation, these are especially valuable to mention.
Alternative job titles to search:
Research Lab Manager; Laboratory Operations Manager; Core Facility Manager; Lab Director; Lab Coordinator; Technical Lab Manager; Laboratory Administrator; Research Operations Coordinator
*Note:
-Job titles are inconsistent between companies. Try various keywords.
-PhDs tend to undershoot seniority level. Target higher than you think.
