Skip to main content
Health Care - Careers

Health Care

Health Care | Laboratory Manager

Laboratory Manager

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Laboratory Manager manages laboratory research and procedures for numerous fields such as health, industry, or other natural sciences. Commonly oversees R&D, diagnostic or treatment to allow patients to receive better health outcomes. Responsible for regulatory, health and safety operations during laboratory activities.

Job Outlook

There were 725 Laboratory Manager job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 22159 in the United States.

In combination with other careers in the Laboratory Manager industry, which includes the Laboratory Manager career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:

Salary

Many new Laboratory Manager jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.

National

The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $110,261.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $109,846.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Laboratory Manager postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $94,997.

Education and Experience

Posted Laboratory Manager jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.

Education LevelPercentage
Associate's Degree0%
Bachelor's Degree66.88%
Master's Degree20.14%
Doctoral Degree4.94%
Other11.04%

Posted Laboratory Manager jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Years of ExperiencePercentage
0 to 2 years22.82%
3 to 5 years59.12%
6 to 8 years13.76%
9+ years4.31%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Laboratory Manager positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.

Baseline Skills

A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.

  • Operations (47.25%)
  • Management (42.82%)
  • Communication (37.01%)
  • Leadership (35.83%)
  • Quality Control (25.87%)
  • Research (21.41%)
  • Customer Service (18.57%)
  • Problem Solving (18.31%)
  • Supervision (17.92%)
  • Scheduling (17.47%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

  • Medical Laboratory (33.42%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

  • Laboratory Experience (16.63%)
  • Laboratory Safety (9.09%)
  • Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) (3.33%)
  • Workflow Management (18.15%)
  • Laboratory Equipment (19.85%)
  • Laboratory Procedures (9.29%)
  • Quality Management Systems (5.09%)
  • Biology (24.9%)
  • Clinical Laboratory Science (11.05%)
  • Procurement (5.12%)
  • Continuous Improvement Process (8.13%)
  • Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (2.85%)
  • Performance Appraisal (11.17%)
  • Health Technology (17.26%)
  • Chemistry (21.22%)
  • Biochemistry (5.01%)
  • Auditing (11.09%)
  • Purchasing (8.45%)
  • Performance Management (3.23%)
  • Pharmaceuticals (3.58%)
  • Nursing (8.67%)
  • Standard Operating Procedure (10.57%)
  • Laboratory Testing (15.88%)
  • Project Management (10.59%)
  • Microbiology (12.72%)
  • Life Sciences (2.39%)
  • ISO/IEC 17025 (2.41%)
  • Quality Management (7.55%)
  • Environment Health And Safety (7.22%)
  • Process Improvement (9.16%)

Distinguishing Skills

A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.

  • Laboratory Management System (6.39%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Laboratory Manager skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

  • Laboratory Supervisor
  • Quality Control Laboratory Supervisor
  • Clinical Laboratory Manager
  • Clinical Laboratory Supervisor
  • Research Laboratory Manager
  • Cath Lab Manager
  • Plasma Center Manager
  • Clinical Supervisor
  • Medical Laboratory Supervisor

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.

Common Employers

Here are the employers that have posted the most Laboratory Manager jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

  • Clinical Management Consultants (515)
  • BioLife Plasma Services (398)
  • HCA Healthcare (275)
  • Actalent (243)
  • Labcorp (234)
  • Geisinger Health System (220)
  • Grifols (215)
  • K&A Recruiting (207)
  • Contact Government Services (205)
  • Quest Diagnostics (193)

North Carolina

  • Duke University (34)
  • Grail (25)
  • University of North Carolina (24)
  • Cone Health (22)
  • Labcorp (22)
  • Novant Health (19)
  • North Carolina State University (18)
  • K&A Recruiting (14)
  • UNC Health (14)
  • WakeMed (12)

NC State Programs Relevant to this Career

If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!