Laboratory Team Leader

Company Description

Eurofins Scientific is an international life sciences company, providing a unique range of analytical testing services to clients across multiple industries, to make life and our environment safer, healthier and more sustainable. From the food you eat, to the water you drink, to the medicines you rely on, Eurofins laboratories work with the biggest companies in the world to ensure the products they supply are safe, their ingredients are authentic, and labelling is accurate.

Eurofins is dedicated to delivering testing services that contribute to the health and safety of society and the planet, and to its corporate responsibility to protect the environment and ensure diversity, equity, and inclusion across the entire network of Eurofins companies.

We’re proud to be an armed forces-friendly place to work and welcome applications from reservists, armed forces veterans (including the wounded, injured and sick), as well as cadet instructors, and military spouses and partners.

If you want to continue to help make our world a safer and healthier place, then apply for the role below and become a part of the extraordinary Eurofins network.

Job Description

Unfortunately, we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role. 

The purpose of this role is to be responsible for the supervision of production output and quality of microbiology samples in a busy laboratory environment. Ensuring all team members understand the company’s targets and objectives and their role in achieving them, and ensuring the appropriate training and development of each individual member of their team. 

Please note this is a full time position working 37.5 hours per week. The shift pattern will involve working weekends on a three week rotation:

Week 1: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 10am to 6pm, Saturday 12:30 to 20.30 and Sunday 11:30 to 19.30. 

Week 2: Tuesday to Friday 12:00 to 20:00. 

Week 3: Monday to Friday 14:00 to 22:00.

The training shift pattern for the first few weeks will be Monday to Friday 10:00 till 18:00. 

• Supervise staff in your team to ensure efficient operation of production per shift.
• Ensure that all work is carried out in accordance with clients’ requirements within agreed time scales. 
• Lead and run the microbiology production in line with LEAN principles. 
• Ensure that all work is carried out in accordance with clients’ requirements within agreed time scales
• Performance management of team to ensure production & quality targets are met. Effective and timely attendance management of staff in line with company policy. 
• Hold team appraisals in line with company policy and run team briefing meetings on a regular basis to keep team updated and briefed on key matters relating to the site, customer and the team. 
• Recruitment of new staff and ensuring engaging and informative induction in place that gives new starter key skills and techniques to perform their role to a high standard. 
• Carry out team probationary reviews and provide feedback at set points so that employee is clear on progress during their first 6 months with the business and regular intervals after. 
• Manage investigation and discipline / grievance meetings as / where necessary. 
• Absence management including return to work interviews. 
• Work with the store’s manager to ensure clients get correct consumables sent out to them. 
• Ensure that sufficient media is provided within the laboratory for the required workload and to this purpose, liaise closely with media technicians. 
• Ensure that all work carried out complies with documented procedures for all aspects of laboratory work, that all relevant information concerning samples is recorded, that samples are handled correctly, that worksheets are kept in an orderly manner and filled out correctly. 
• Ensure that production work is conducted in a clean and tidy manner with due attention to the careful maintenance of all laboratory fittings and equipment.
• Advise Manager without delay of any problems affecting operations in the production area of the laboratory. 
• Display within the laboratory, sample production information to better engage staff with requirements the day ahead entails, 
• To be present during external audits (UKAS/RSA etc). 
• Always look out for the next business progression idea and assist with continuous improvement within the microbiology department.
• Holiday authorisation and review – well planned in accordance with operational requirements ensuring that teams are taking holidays across the year and all leave taken by year end. 
• Internal paperwork completion including recruitment requisitions, changes, leavers, maternity / paternity and other such details arising in employee life cycle. 
• Managing and updating training matrices and any quality audit requirements. 
• Train out laboratory tasks when required, ensure full training is given to staff with relevant documentation completed before they perform tasks.. 
• Lead site induction and Health and Safety induction for new starters. 

Qualifications

• A-Levels or equivalent in Microbiology. 
• Strong knowledge of UKAS microbiology laboratory activities (sample preparation, plating, pouring, incubation, ISO methods etc).  
• Working experience within a laboratory. 
• Knowledge of customers and sample matrices, including specific requirements on how to handle the samples. 
• Experience in NCW/Complaints/Environmental Monitoring.
• Competence in IT, including eLIMS. 
• Strong people management skills. 
• Strong management skills of for performance/absence management. 
• Full commitment to meeting customers expectation. 
• Ability to communicate across departments. 

Additional Information

Benefits

At Eurofins we are growing, innovating and always learning. We celebrate the achievements of our employees through annual long service awards, recognise our colleagues special life events, and we are committed to charitable causes through global fundraising activities.

As a Eurofins employee you will benefit from:

• Enhanced Annual Leave Entitlement
• Company Pension Plan
• Life Assurance Scheme (4 times annual salary)
• Enhanced Maternity, Adoption and Paternity Schemes
• Employee Assistance Programme – 24/7 confidential
• Health Cash Plan
• Health and Wellbeing Programmes
• Free parking
• Worldwide career opportunities
• We also have in place rewards recognising the great work out employees deliver, their dedicated service and celebrating special life events.

What Happens Next

Our people are the backbone of what we do, so it's incredibly important we find the right individuals to join us. As a potential new recruit you'll be invited to meet the team in the form of an assessment centre or a staged interview process dependent on the role and it's requirements, this will give you the opportunity to see what working for Eurofins is really like and enable us to get you know your key skills and strengths. 
 
Your data 
As part of any recruitment process, the company collects and processes personal data relating to job applicants. The company is committed to being transparent about how it collects and uses that data and to meeting its data protection obligations.
 
Closing Date
We reserve the right to close or extend this position depending on application numbers. Therefore we would urge candidates to submit an application as early as possible.
 
Due to the high volume of applications we receive please be aware that if you do not receive a response within 4 weeks of the vacancy expiry date unfortunately, on this occasion your application has been unsuccessful. 

We embrace diversity! Eurofins network of companies believe in strength and innovation through diversity, being an Equal Opportunity Employer. We prohibit discrimination against employees or applications based on gender identity and/or expression, race, nationality, age, religion, sexual orientation, disability, and everything else that makes employees of Eurofins companies unique.

Find out more in our career page: https://careers.eurofins.com/