Administrative Laboratory Director (Division of Laboratories)

City of New York • New York, NY

8d

About The Position

The Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) investigates cases of death within New York City under various circumstances including criminal violence, accidents, suicides, sudden deaths in apparent health, unattended deaths, deaths in correctional facilities, and any suspicious or unusual manner. The core values of CARES (Commitment, Accountability, Resilience, Excellence, Service) guide their work. This role provides centralized administrative leadership and operational oversight for all OCME laboratories, coordinating cross-laboratory administrative functions, standardizing workflows, strengthening governance, and ensuring consistent execution of agency requirements across finance, quality, staffing, reporting, and performance management. The Administrative Laboratory Director serves as a key operational partner to laboratory and OCME executive leadership, enabling laboratories to focus on mission-critical scientific and forensic work.

Requirements

• A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college, with specialization in criminalistics, forensic science, chemistry, biology, physics, molecular genetics, genetics, biochemistry, molecular biology, entomology, anthropology, ecology or a closely related scientific or engineering field.
• Authorization to work in the United States is required.
• Selected candidates will be required to provide a DNA sample by swabbing.
• This position has been identified as essential. During emergency events, essential positions may require 24-hour availability.

Nice To Haves

• Transfer and Change of Title: Any permanent employee in the competitive class who meets all of the requirements for a competitive examination, and is otherwise qualified as determined by the commissioner of citywide administrative services, shall be eligible for participation in a non-competitive examination in a different position classification provided, however, that such employee is holding a position in a similar grade.

Responsibilities

• Oversee and coordinate administrative operations across all OCME laboratories (Forensic Biology, Molecular Genetics, Toxicology, Evidence, and other laboratory units as applicable).
• Develop, implement, and maintain standardized administrative workflows, calendars, templates, and documentation across laboratories.
• Serve as the central point of coordination for laboratory administrative deliverables, ensuring completeness, quality, and on-time execution.
• Lead agency-wide administrative coordination for laboratory data collection, performance reporting, and benchmarking (caseload, staffing, budget, and quality metrics).
• Manage the annual cycle for laboratory metric collection (multi-lab coordination, deadlines, validation, submission status tracking, and executive-ready reporting).
• Establish and enforce data governance expectations including: Role-based access principles, draft vs. submitted status workflows, and data integrity controls.
• Coordinate development, adoption, and continuous improvement of an online data collection and analytics platform to replace spreadsheet-based workflows.
• Support annual benchmark updates and reference data maintenance (targets, definitions, measure updates).
• Partner with OCME information technology teams and/or vendors to implement and sustain administrative platforms that support laboratory operations.
• Maintain structured user management processes aligned with role-based access.
• Ensure administrative systems have appropriate documentation, version control, and continuity plans.
• Coordinate cross-lab budget planning inputs, tracking, and consolidation as directed by OCME leadership.
• Support financial workflows including periodic spend tracking, personnel cost tracking, and procurement coordination.
• Produce executive-ready summaries that integrate operational, staffing, and financial signals across laboratories.
• Coordinate administrative components of quality management and compliance activities across laboratories in partnership with Quality Assurance leadership.
• Standardize and monitor required documentation, schedules, and administrative evidence supporting accreditation and internal/external audits.
• Support audit trail practices for administrative systems.
• Facilitate cross-lab administrative working groups and routine check-ins to ensure alignment, remove bottlenecks, and manage dependencies.
• Coordinate communications and change management for enterprise administrative initiatives.
• Serve as escalation point for administrative workflow issues affecting multiple laboratories.
• Identify inefficiencies and implement standardized improvements across administrative workflows.
• Establish key administrative service levels (timeliness, completeness, error rates) and drive continuous improvement initiatives.

Benefits

• The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director