Laboratory Supervisor

About the Role

The Laboratory Supervisor leads day-to-day operations of METER's Environment Research Lab. This is a hands-on, player-coach role: you personally run complex tests, lead the lab staff and interns who carry out the lab's routine work, schedule internal research, sales and marketing, and customer testing requests, and keep lab work moving through clear tracking systems.

You execute against test methods and specifications set by our scientific, engineering, and production staff. A ground-floor opportunity. This lab is early in building its operating processes. You'll spend meaningful time in your first several months creating the documentation, procedures, and tracking workflows that don't fully exist yet, alongside running tests and leading the team.

If you get energized by building structure from scratch, and then maintaining and refining that structure over time, this is the job. This role will report to our Manufacturing and Production leadership. What We're Really Looking For The most important trait for this role isn't lab technique. Many people could come in and run the tests.

It's judgment about standard work: seeing where the lab is missing the process, documentation, or discipline a well-run lab would have, and putting it in place, even when that means working with senior colleagues to introduce something new. You also supervise the work of teenage interns and ensure they follow strong lab processes.

Here's what that looks like. A scientist asks for measurement data across a variety of soils. You sit down with them and get the information you need to start the experiment. You don't guess your way into it, and you don't let the request sit. Then, you ensure the work gets done correctly and in a timely manner, whether you do it yourself, you coordinate the work with production staff members, or you assign it to one of the lab interns.

Finally, you ensure the results are documented and communicated well. We're hiring for this judgment first, lab experience second. We need an organized person who can run our lab efficiently; regularly make the right judgment calls; coordinate well with all stakeholder departments; build, maintain, and refine well-documented processes; communicate well with internal departments and external customers; and effectively supervise and mentor laboratory staff and high school and college interns.

Key Responsibilities

Manage the daily queue of requests from customers, our internal research team, and sales and marketing, while keeping due dates, status, and issues visible. Prioritize and schedule work for yourself, lab interns, and the production team members who run customer testing. Personally perform complex, non-routine, or first-time laboratory tests, and troubleshoot instrument and method problems.

Lead the production team members who run the lab's routine testing day to day: assign tasks within the day, check their work for completeness, and raise performance or capacity issues with management. Check data and reports produced by production team members and lab interns for completeness before they are used in business decisions or sent to a customer, confirming required scientific sign-off has occurred.

Make sure written work instructions are accurate and complete, get trained on them from a Product Scientist, then train and qualify the production team on them, with Product Scientists assisting. Keep the lab's tracking systems accurate and current. Coordinate incoming customer samples for commercial lab testing services: receipt, labeling, testing, chain of custody, scheduling, and turnaround communication.

Maintain lab equipment in good working order, including routine calibration and troubleshooting, and flag equipment or capacity needs to management. Prepare routine status reports and escalate significant results, trends, or exceptions to management. Keep the lab organized and running efficiently, making improvements as needed over time.

Required Qualifications Bachelor's degree in a physical or environmental science, engineering, or related technical field, or equivalent hands-on laboratory experience. 2–4 years of hands-on laboratory experience running tests, handling samples, and operating lab instrumentation. Demonstrated ability to run complex tests independently and troubleshoot equipment or method issues.

Experience leading a small group day to day, as a lead, supervisor, or in a similar role. A formal manager title is not required. Capable of working well within and effectively overseeing a task-tracking or sample-management system (training provided). Strong written communication skills for procedures, instructions, and customer-facing reports.

Skills and Competencies Process Development and Improvement: Identifies gaps in laboratory workflows and develops practical, repeatable processes in collaboration with those who use them. Accountability and Follow-Through: Sets clear expectations, addresses incomplete requests or unmet requirements respectfully, and consistently upholds agreed standards through completion.

Laboratory Technical Knowledge: Understands laboratory instrumentation and testing methods relevant to environmental, soil, or materials measurement and applies that knowledge to produce reliable results. Prioritization and Adaptability: Uses sound judgment to balance testing, training, and reporting responsibilities, adjusting priorities as needs change while maintaining quality and meeting commitments.

Quality and Data Integrity: Maintains accurate documentation, sample traceability, and complete, reliable records; recognizes discrepancies and takes appropriate steps to resolve them. Communication and Collaboration: Communicates clearly and professionally with internal requesters and outside customers, clarifies requirements, and resolves concerns while maintaining productive working relationships.

Work Environment Typical laboratory and office environment. Some travel between company sites may be required. Physical Requirements While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to stand, walk, sit, use hands to handle objects and tools, reach with hands and arms, climb stairs, balance, stoop, kneel, crouch, and talk or hear.

The employee must occasionally lift or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus. To Apply for This Position Apply online through the METER Group careers page. In your application, tell us about a time you put a process in place where none existed: what was missing, who you had to bring along, and how you held the standard.

That story matters more to us than a long list of instruments. Full-Time Employee Benefits at METER Group Medical, dental, and vision plan options Telehealth Paid leave and sick leave 11 paid holidays Charitable leave Employer-paid life and disability insurance 401(k) options Profit sharing About METER Group METER has built IoT sensing and data technology and lab instruments since the early 1980s for researchers, growers, and engineers working on water and food shortages and climate change.

Our headquarters is in Eastern Washington, near Washington State University and the University of Idaho. The measurements our lab produces help people who study the soil, water, and plants the world depends on.

Pay Range

The entire annual pay range for this role is $70,500 - $101,700, with the most of that range reserved for future growth in the role. The budget for filling this role is in the lower 25% of the range. METER Group is an EQUAL OPPORTUNITY/AFFIRMATIVE ACTION EMPLOYER. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.