Director Lab Operations - Americas

UL Solutions • Northbrook, IL

3d • $176,000 - $235,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Director Lab Operations – Americas leads integrated laboratories across the United States and Latin America, delivering efficient, high-quality service that meets internal and external customer needs. The role is accountable for cost, productivity, quality, safety, and customer and employee satisfaction. It works with segments, Customer Operating Units (COUs), and regional leadership to forecast and plan capacity and capabilities, prioritize work, and maintain stable, well-utilized regional lab operations.

The Director implements productivity improvements and oversees operating plans, lab footprint, goals, and budgets, while ensuring compliance with quality and accreditation standards. The role leads workload balancing, laboratory capability and footprint planning, operational consistency, automation adoption, Lean Sigma improvements, safety, and talent development. It also supports COUs’ revenue goals through timely, high-quality laboratory services, improves returns on equipment and infrastructure, and provides updates to the board upon request. The position reports to the VP Lab Operations and directly manages reports according to span-of-control requirements.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• Minimum 10 years of professional experience, including 5 or more years in a senior leadership role.
• Experience working with diverse, global teams.
• Experience managing and delivering impactful communications to internal and external stakeholders.
• Strong interpersonal and influencing skills.
• Strong collaboration and communication skills.
• Ability to inspire, motivate, and influence behavior to drive change.
• Demonstrated adaptability to rapidly changing priorities.
• Strong analytical mindset.
• Ability to drive standardization and reduce variation in technical environments.
• Leadership skills, including motivating teams and managing performance and development.
• Business acumen to understand industry trends, policies, and competition and align strategy with market needs.
• Global growth mindset, including aligning enterprise-wide initiatives with local needs and leveraging global team perspectives.
• Analytical and problem-solving skills to address complex problems and drive standardization.
• Project management skills to plan laboratory operations, allocate resources, and manage budgets.
• Communication and collaboration skills to build credible cross-functional relationships and communicate effectively with stakeholders.
• Change management skills, including communication, active listening, and strategic thinking.
• Integrity, trustworthiness, reliability, and ethical behavior.

Nice To Haves

• MBA preferred.

Responsibilities

• Execute operational strategy for workload balancing and project completion using resources across regional laboratories.
• Develop and implement plans for future laboratory footprint and capabilities with Strategic Development, Project Management, and other stakeholders.
• Align laboratory goals with COUs to deliver an excellent customer experience.
• Ensure optimal utilization of laboratory people, equipment, and space to meet or exceed customer expectations.
• Collaborate with TIC and regional leadership to support future strategies and ensure Lab Operations can deliver accordingly.
• Lead operational consistency and implementation of best practices for high performance and compliance.
• Drive adoption and use of Labware and Magnesis automation tools across laboratory levels.
• Partner with Quality & Business Support, Process Excellence & Transformation, Innovation & Technology, and Business Alignment to improve laboratory quality and operations.
• Maintain strong organizational relationships to support execution, throughput, and operational success.
• Promote a high-performance environment and culture, managing the performance and development of managers and team members.
• Drive employee engagement and satisfaction throughout regional laboratory operations.
• Implement Lean Sigma initiatives to eliminate waste and improve cost-effectiveness, and foster an integrated Lean Sigma culture of continuous improvement.
• Reduce operational costs annually through process efficiencies and resource utilization.
• Support COUs in achieving revenue targets through timely, high-quality laboratory services.
• Maintain laboratory operations within approved budgets while ensuring service excellence.
• Improve ROI on laboratory equipment and infrastructure investments.
• Optimize laboratory footprint to reduce overhead and increase asset utilization.
• Ensure ongoing quality compliance and improvement, maintaining laboratory accreditations.
• Partner with EHS and local teams to achieve the highest level of safety-standard compliance.
• Develop and coach team members through training, career counseling, feedback, and guidance.
• Provide updates to the board upon request.
• Build relationships and credibility with internal and external stakeholders.
• Directly manage reports based on span-of-control requirements.
• Perform other duties as directed.

Benefits

• Annual bonus compensation with a target payout of 30% of base salary.
• 30% RSU grant.
• Medical, dental, and vision benefits.
• Wellness benefits, including mental and financial health.
• Retirement savings (401K), according to the standard rewards offered in the applicable location or country.
• Paid time off for full-time employees, including 20 vacation days, 12 holidays (including 3 floating holidays), and 72 hours of sick time.

What This Job Offers

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