Job particulars
- Job title
- Lab Director
- Hiring organisation
- s Expand Recruitment Services
- Location
- Nairobi, Kenya
- Employment type
- Full-time
- Work arrangement
- On-site
- Industry
- Medical
- Level
- Director
- Experience
- 12+ years
- Posted
- 30 Sept 2026
- Closing date
- 12 Oct 2026
Key responsibilities
- Accreditation: Lead the Nairobi reference laboratory to ISO 15189 accreditation against an agreed timeline, and establish the pathway for satellite laboratories in other markets.
- Network design: Define which tests run in market and which route to Nairobi, and build the referral logistics behind that decision: sample integrity, cold chain, transport, customs where cross border, and committed turnaround times.
- Standardisation: Own one group test menu logic, one set of standard operating procedures, one set of quality thresholds and one data structure, deployable in any market without redesign.
- Commercial performance: Own laboratory revenue, cost per test, reagent yield, instrument utilisation and gross margin by test line.
- Report these monthly to the Group CEO.
- Supplier strategy: Consolidate all equipment, reagent and consumable procurement to group level under a qualified supplier list. Individual laboratories no longer source independently.
- Clinical trials and validation: Act as Laboratory Director of record for trials and validation studies, including Al diagnostic validation, and hold the laboratory to Good Clinical Laboratory Practice where trial work is in scope.
- Systems and automation: Deliver bidirectional instrument interfacing into the HMIS, barcode driven sample tracking, reagent lot and expiry control, and a complete test event ledger recording who ran which test, when, on which instrument and using which reagent lot People:.
- Build the laboratory organisation across markets: structure, competency framework, training, rota discipline and succession for every critical position.
Candidate requirements
- Bachelor of Science in Medical Laboratory Science, Biomedical Science or an equivalent discipline.
- A Master of Science or MBA is strongly preferred. Registered and licensed with the Kenya Medical Laboratory Technicians and Technologists Board, or immediately eligible for registration.
- Twelve years or more in clinical laboratory practice, including at least five years in a senior leadership role with responsibility for more than one site.
- Demonstrated leadership of an ISO 15189 accreditation, either an initial award or a successful reaccreditation cycle, as the accountable leader rather than a participant.
- Proven experience operating a laboratory that supported regulated clinical trials under Good Clinical Laboratory Practice.
- Technical depth across clinical chemistry, immunoassay, haematology, microbiology and molecular diagnostics, with direct experience of a major automated platform such as Mindray, Roche, Abbott or Siemens.
- Track record of laboratory information system or HMIS implementation, including analyser interfacing.
- Demonstrated cost leadership, with evidence of reducing cost per test while maintaining or improving quality. Preferred Experience of SLMTA or SLIPTA, or of a national accreditation process through KENAS or an equivalent body.
- Multicountry or Pan African laboratory experience, particularly in West Africa alongside East Africa.
- Experience of research ethics and regulatory submissions, including ERC, NACOSTI and the Pharmacy and Poisons Board or their equivalents in other markets.
- Exposure to donor funded or public private laboratory strengthening programmes.
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Hiring organisation
s Expand Recruitment Services