• Job Type: Officer of Administration
• Bargaining Unit:
• Regular/Temporary: Regular
• End Date if Temporary:
• Hours Per Week: 35
• Standard Work Schedule:
• Building:
• Salary Range: 120,000-145,000

Position Summary

The Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) Department of Pathology and Cell Biology is seeking to hire a Technical Director to lead the Biobank Resource for Investigating Disease, Genes, and Environment (BRIDGE). As a VP&S Institutional Core, the BRIDGE represents a center of collaboration and scientific excellence that promotes the growth of research across the medical school. BRIDGE provides centralized physical and data infrastructure to support biobank-related research at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC).  

The Technical Director should have a deep knowledge of all aspects of biobank operations, including customizing and optimizing specimen collection, workflows, sample tracking and inventorying, processing, storage, and shipping. As Technical Director of an institutional core, the ideal candidate for this position will possess a strong collaborative mindset and willingness to serve researchers across fields and with varying levels of experience. Equally important, the Technical Director should have strong communication, management, and consensus building skills to effectively supervise the business and administrative aspects of a successful core facility. The Director must be capable of working effectively both with the internal BRIDGE teams (BRIDGE IT, Office for Research, Columbia University Biobank) and with CUIMC/CU/NYP stakeholders across multiple departments and disciplines.

The Technical Director will be given guidance and be overseen by a Faculty Scientific Director and the VP&S Office for Research but will have a high degree of autonomy to independently manage the core’s operations.

Responsibilities

• Develop the core as a center of scientific excellence for the entire VP&S research community

  • Oversee laboratory staff to ensure that the services provided are of high quality and are delivered efficiently.
  • Keep current in the latest biobanking technologies, develop new methods and protocols, and establish service standards that can improve and optimize biobanking operations
  • Together with the Scientific Director and OfR leadership, develop public facing resources and communications related to facility operations and services to promote transparency and engagement with the facility
  • Interact with users from a variety of backgrounds and levels of experience; provide scientific consultations for users
  • Together with the Scientific Director and OfR leadership, continuously evaluate facility operations and utilization to optimize the functionality of the facility and ensure the BRIDGE is meeting the needs of the scientific community
  • Under the leadership of the Scientific Director, maintain College of American Pathologist Biorepository Accreditation
  • Work with BRIDGE IT and Department of Pathology and Cell Biology IT to ensure all technological integrations with laboratory information systems (OpenSpecimen and Azenta) are functioning as designed; contribute to development and maintenance of SOPs to ensure data integrations are appropriately monitored and maintained.

  Serve as a role model and manage staff to create a collaborative research environment

  • Create a supportive environment that fosters teamwork and cooperativity
  • Participate in professional and community activities related to biobanking
  • Evaluate overall staffing levels; manage hiring and termination processes

  Create and implement plans for long-term sustainability of the core

  • Work with the VP&S Office for Research finance team to review and adjust rates for user services, financial projections for core operations, and equipment needs
  • Oversee core to remain compliant with federal, state, and university regulations
  • Implement programs to encourage utilization by new user groups over time
  • Perform contingency planning to ensure BRIDGE can continue to operate or safely shut down during unexpected events and conditions
  • Prepare annual reports on the activities of the core, including utilization, finances, and future needs (including equipment and staffing requests) for the Office for Research and other stakeholders

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in education and experience required; and 4 years related work experience

Preferred Qualifications

• Possession of a bachelor's degree in a scientific discipline such as biology, biochemistry, pathology, cell biology or related scientific discipline or  Master's degree preferred.
• A minimum of five (5) years progressive experience working in a GLP laboratory environment.
• Advanced experience in using inventory tracking databases and LIMS.
• Advanced understanding in specimen collection, processing, shipping, storage and annotation.
• Strong working knowledge of MS Office suite (Excel, Project, PowerPoint, Word and Visio) is also required.
• Critical reasoning/problem solving skills to identify and resolve complex problems.
• Experience supervising others and demonstrated leadership and motivational capabilities.
• Excellent communication skills including documentation/writing skills and presentation skills.
• Ability to work independently and in a team environment.
• Excellent planning, organizational and time management skills as well as multi-tasking ability to handle multiple competing priorities.
• Advanced attention to detail and strong customer service skills.

Other Requirements

• Advanced experience in using inventory tracking databases and LIMS.
• Advanced understanding in specimen collection, processing, shipping, storage and annotation.
• Strong working knowledge of MS Office suite (Excel, Project, PowerPoint, Word and Visio) is also required.
• Critical reasoning/problem solving skills to identify and resolve complex problems.
• Experience supervising others and demonstrated leadership and motivational capabilities.

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.