Lab Operations Lead

Job description

Healthcare is in crisis and the people behind the results deserve better. With more and more data coming from wearables, lab tests, and patient–doctor interactions, we’re entering an era where data is abundant. Junction is building the infrastructure layer for diagnostic healthcare, making patient data accessible, actionable, and automated across labs and devices. Our mission is simple but ambitious: use health data to unlock unprecedented insight into human health and disease. If you're passionate about how technology can supercharge healthcare, you’ll fit right in. Backed by Creandum, Point Nine, 20VC, YC, and leading angels, we’re working to solve one of the biggest challenges of our time: making healthcare personalized, proactive, and affordable. We’re already connecting millions and scaling fast. SHORT ON TIME? TL;DR You: An experienced operations leader who enjoys running teams that solve real operational problems every day. You're comfortable managing people, improving processes, and stepping into complex issues when things go wrong. Us: A growing Lab Operations team responsible for keeping every lab order moving smoothly from order to result. Salary: $125,000 - $175,000 Location: Fully remote (US-based, EST timezone required) WHY WE NEED YOU Every lab order that moves through Junction eventually becomes something physical. A kit ships, a lab runs a test, and results make their way back to providers and patients. Lab Operations is the team that makes sure that process works reliably. When they do their job well, customers barely notice. When something goes wrong, they're usually the team that fixes it. As order volume continues to grow, we need someone who can lead the day-to-day operation, coach the team, and make sure quality keeps pace with scale. This role is equal parts people leadership and operational ownership. You'll manage a distributed team, help people make better decisions independently, and improve the systems and processes that support the work. A lot of today's operation is still manual, so there are genuine opportunities to simplify workflows and remove recurring problems over time. You'll also work closely with Product, Engineering, Customer Success, and our Support teams whenever operational issues need a cross-functional solution or a longer-term fix. WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING DAY TO DAY - Manage, coach, and develop a distributed Lab Operations team, supporting both individual contributors and team leadership as the organization grows - Plan team capacity and staffing as order volume increases based on demand trends - Own the team's day-to-day operation across lab result review, order investigations, and proactive issue resolution with labs and customers - Make sure SLAs, quality standards, and productivity targets are consistently met - Interface with vendors and ensure we have good working relationships, troubleshoot issues as they come up, and set up streamlined processes for day-to-day interaction - Step into complex operational issues when the team needs support, coordinating with Product, Engineering, Customer Success, and external lab partners where needed - Improve SOPs, quality standards, and team workflows so the operation becomes more consistent and easier to scale - Identify recurring operational issues and partner with our Operations Systems & Tooling team on workflow improvements and automation - Build a team that can solve problems independently, with clear ownership and fewer escalations over time HOW WE MEASURE SUCCESS - SLA attainment across Lab Operations - Operational quality and accuracy as order volume grows - Fewer escalations requiring support from senior leadership - Team engagement, development, and retention - Operational improvements that reduce manual work and recurring issues WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR - People leadership: 5+ years hiring and managing operations teams through growth. You've coached people to become more independent, handled performance conversations, and built a team that doesn't rely on you for every decision. - Operational judgment: You've led teams that spend their day solving exception-heavy operational problems rather than simply following scripts. You're comfortable making decisions when situations don't fit neatly into a process. - Process improvement: You've built or significantly improved SOPs, SLAs, quality frameworks, or operational processes. - Distributed team management: You've managed people across multiple time zones and know how to build a team rhythm that keeps everyone aligned without constant oversight. - Customer and vendor management: You've handled direct vendor relationships in business-critical operations and are comfortable being the escalation point for customers. - Healthcare or operational experience: You've worked in healthcare operations, diagnostics, logistics, or another operational environment where accuracy matters. You don’t need to tick every box to fit in here. If the problems we’re solving genuinely interest you and you know you can contribute, we’d love to talk. NICE TO HAVE - Experience managing distributed operations teams based in the Philippines - Experience in lab operations, diagnostics, or healthcare logistics - Experience partnering with an internal systems or tooling team to automate operational workflows - Your salary is dependent on your location and experience level - Equity (extended exercise post 2 years of employment) - Company and team offsites - Monthly learning budget of $150 for personal development and productivity - $100 monthly wellness budget - Flexible, remote-first working - including $1K for home office equipment - Coworking budget - 36 days paid time off (including bank holidays) - Premium healthcare coverage - 4% monthly contribution to pension/401k - Yearly blood test on us - Enhanced parental, foster, and adoption leave Important details before applying: - We only hire folks physically based in GMT and EST timezones - more information here https://pages.junction.com/Where-we-hire-and-why-218d9955818e802ca48fd1702948e2e3 - We do not sponsor visas right now given our stage