Vice President of Operations - Food Testing Laboratory Operations

Why This Role Matters Now

WISEcode Labs is entering a defining phase. The laboratory infrastructure, scientific leadership, and testing platform are firmly in place, and early customer success has validated both the technical capabilities and the service model.

The company has strengthened its leadership team charged with sharpening the brand, deepening customer relationships, and in the process of translating differentiated capability into durable financial performance and growth.

That commercial mandate depends on an equally strong operating counterpart. The next chapter requires a leader who can run the laboratory with precision: scaling utilization and throughput, protecting quality and turnaround time for key customer routine tests as non-negotiables, and building the systems, staffing model, and cadence that let a highly technical organization scale without losing what makes it distinctive. The VP of Operations will be the executive accountable for that repeatable and profitable operating system.

A candidate with strong scientific fluency who can also credibly own method development, instrumentation expansion and R & D strategy alongside day-to-day operations is highly attractive.

The Opportunity

We are seeking a hands-on, technically fluent, data-driven operations leader who can build while operating: optimize daily execution, increase throughput and instrument utilization, staff planning and accountability, and develop leaders capable of sustaining performance as the laboratory expands. The leader will work closely with the CEO and leadership team to deliver operational excellence driven by KPIs and commercial outcomes.

This leader will shape the operating model across sample receiving, scheduling, courier management for customers in 200 mile radius, testing execution, analysis, review, customer reporting, and continuous improvement. The leader will partner closely with leadership, quality and scientific team to deliver growth in our scientific capabilities and testing menu aligning with our strategy and our commitment to ISO 17025 discipline, data integrity, safety, and customer trust.

Position Summary

Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, the VP of Operations will lead end-to-end laboratory operations and serve as a core member of the executive leadership team. The role owns operating performance to deliver operational excellence KPIs, laboratory capacity, labor productivity, turnaround time, cost of service, diligent capital deployment, and the consistent execution of the company’s quality and safety requirements.

The VP will translate commercial demand into an integrated operating plan; lead the laboratory team, supervisors, and technical staff; and establish the management routines, metrics, and problem-solving discipline required to scale.

This is an onsite leadership role for an operator who is visible on the laboratory floor, close to customers and sales team, and equally comfortable with daily execution and multi-year growth strategy.

What Success Looks Like

In the first 90 days:

• Build a consistent operating cadence across the lab and develop a fact-based baseline of capacity, labor productivity, instrument utilization, retests, cost per test, courier logistics and customer metrics like turnaround time and quality.

• Establish clear ownership and responsibilities across Operations, Quality, and R&D

• Implement a daily and weekly operating process for lab team with defined KPIs connecting operational performance to commercial goals.

• Identify the few constraints that most limit reliable throughput to deliver business goals and deliver an agreed improvement plan.

• Ensure success of our customer portal adoption by coordinating with sales and the operating team.

• Deep analysis of our current testing mix and growth opportunities for both external customers and our sister company WISEcode to ensure seamless execution as the operation scales to meet the growing needs of our customers.

In the first 6 months:

• Deliver targeted throughput, cost of sales & margin improvements, and aligned customer metrics like turnaround time performance, retests and other agreed business KPIs.

• Build and execute a demand-and-capacity planning process that connects sales forecasts, sample mix, staffing, shifts, instrument availability, maintenance, and capital deployment.

• Improve gross margin and operating leverage through higher utilization, labor productivity, workflow standardization, purchasing discipline, and better cost visibility—without compromising quality.

• Strengthen and optimize the team bench through clear expectations, coaching, cross-training, succession planning, and rigorous performance management. Conduct quarterly reviews to evaluate performance against set goals and establish a performance management system along with the CEO and leadership team.

• Execute Phase 2 of our customer portal integrated with the LIMS/QBench and ensure data integrity so workflow status, sample traceability, KPIs, and client commitments are visible and actionable.

• Partner with Quality to sustain audit readiness, proficiency, method adherence, document control, CAPA effectiveness, and ISO/IEC 17025 compliance.

In 12 months:

• Establish a fully optimized operating platform capable of supporting materially higher sample volume and an expanded testing menu with consistent quality, service, and economics.

• Institutionalize continuous improvement, establish talent density across the lab’s testing capability, and operational excellence consistently meeting set KPIs and commercial metrics.

• Establish WISEcode Labs as a best-in-class laboratory operating partner for the food idustry —known for scientific integrity, responsiveness, reliable turnaround, and disciplined execution.

Key Responsibilities

End-to-End Laboratory Operations — Own daily execution from sample receiving through final report release; balance priorities across chemistry, microbiology, sample preparation, review, and client commitments. Establish clear service levels, production schedules, handoffs, escalation rules, and accountability for on-time delivery.

 

Quality, Compliance & Safety — Operate in close partnership with Quality while preserving appropriate independence of the quality function. Ensure work is performed to approved methods, SOPs, accreditation requirements, data-integrity standards, and customer expectations. Drive effective investigations, root-cause analysis, CAPA, competency, and audit readiness.

 

Capacity, Throughput, Courier Planning & Continuous Improvement — Model demand, capacity, constraints, and staffing by workflow and instrument. Improve cycle time, first-pass yield, utilization, and flow using practical lean problem solving. Courier logistics planning to optimize and profitably grow our service to customers in the 200 mile radius. Standardize repeatable work while protecting scientifically justified customization.

 

Commercial Performance & Operational Excellence— Own the operating plan and budget for laboratory operations. Partner with Finance to analyze cost per test, labor absorption, overtime, consumables, maintenance, rework, and margin by service line. Translate choices into operational excellence and measurable KPIs.

 

People Leadership & Organization — Build a strong layer of managers and supervisors; set expectations, coach performance, recognize excellence, and address gaps promptly. Develop workforce plans, career paths, training matrices, cross-training, and succession coverage for critical technical roles.

 

Systems, Data & Technology — Make our customer portal integrated with LIMS/QBench as an operating backbone for data provenance, sample traceability, scheduling, workflow control, inventory, KPI reporting, and client visibility. Improve data quality and eliminate shadow processes that obscure status or create risk.

 

Capital, Facilities & Business Continuity — Develop the laboratory capacity roadmap and execute based on business needs for instruments, automation, shifts, layout, utilities, and facilities. Ensure preventive maintenance, calibration, qualification, redundancy, inventory resilience, and contingency plans support uninterrupted service.

Customer & Commercial Partnership — Partner with Sales and Business Development team on feasibility, scope, onboarding, pricing inputs, promised turnaround times, and major-account reviews. Personally lead operational excellence through KPIs and turn lessons learned into systemic improvement.

Innovation & Scale-Up — Partner with leadership and R&D staff to transfer new methods into routine production with defined validation, training, capacity, cost, quality controls, and launch readiness. Govern the operational complexity introduced by menu expansion.

Candidate Qualifications & Experience

The ideal candidate is a laboratory operator and enterprise leader—not simply a technical expert. They combine urgency with control, know how to scale a regulated service operation, and create accountability without weakening scientific judgment or culture.

• 10+ years of progressive leadership in analytical laboratory, testing, inspection, certification, contract research, and other high-throughput regulated technical-services environment; experience in food, beverage, dietary supplements, and consumer-products testing is strongly preferred.

• Demonstrated responsibility for a laboratory operation or network with ownership of operational budget, margins, staffing, throughput, turnaround time, quality, and customer metrics based performance.

• Track record of improving flow, capacity, utilization, labor productivity, service reliability, and operating margin using data and structured continuous improvement.

• Working knowledge of testing in microbiology, analytical chemistry, nutrient testing in food, accreditations like ISO/IEC 17025, laboratory quality systems, method validation/verification, proficiency testing, CAPA, audit readiness, and relevant regulatory expectations.

• Experience implementing or optimizing customer portal and LIMS and translating operational data into KPIs and action.

• Good commercial acumen, including operating budgets, cost of sales, capital deployment, managing through KPIs, and capacity optimization.

• Proven people leader who has built managers, raised performance standards, designed organizations, and led change in a technical workforce.

• Credible with scientists, customers, auditors, and investors; able to simplify complexity, make timely decisions, and communicate directly.

• Bachelor’s degree in chemistry, microbiology, food science, engineering, operations, or a related field required; advanced scientific degree is valued.

Leadership Profile

• Ownership and commercial mindset — Lab operations, quality, service, people, and economics as one integrated operating system.

• Hands-on management — Observes the work, asks precise questions, and solves problems with the team.

• Disciplined urgency — Moves quickly while maintaining controls, documentation, and scientific integrity.

• Talent multiplier — Builds leaders and repeatable systems rather than becoming the permanent escalation point.

• Customer centric — Understands that the report is the product and that responsiveness and transparency build trust.

• Change management — Can sequence priorities, sustain follow-through, and lead a growing laboratory operations through rapid growth.

Location

This role is onsite at WISEcode Labs in Kannapolis, in the Charlotte metro area of North Carolina. Relocation support may be available for the right candidate. Regular presence in the laboratory is essential; limited travel may be required for customers, suppliers, industry events, audits, and partner sites.

Equal Opportunity

WISEcode Labs is committed to building a high-performing, inclusive workplace. Employment decisions are based on business needs, role requirements, and individual qualifications, without regard to protected characteristics under applicable law.

This position specification describes the primary scope of the role and is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every duty or measure.