Lab Director

Role Overview

This is a group-level leadership post accountable for turning laboratory services into a standardised, scalable and commercially viable part of Zuri Health's operations across its current and future markets. Day to day, the holder sets the operating model that every laboratory follows — from which tests are performed locally to how samples move across borders — while running the Nairobi reference laboratory and driving it toward international accreditation. The role sits close to the Group CEO, reports laboratory financial and quality performance monthly, and carries direct responsibility for the people, systems and supplier relationships that keep the network running.

Key Responsibilities

• Take the Nairobi reference laboratory through ISO 15189 accreditation within an agreed timeline, acting as the accountable leader, and define a repeatable accreditation route for satellite laboratories in other countries.
• Design the group laboratory network: decide which tests are delivered in-country and which are referred to Nairobi, then build the logistics that make that split work — sample integrity, cold chain, transport, cross-border customs handling and committed turnaround times.
• Establish a single group-wide operating standard covering test menu logic, standard operating procedures, quality thresholds and data structure, designed so it can be deployed in any market without being rebuilt from scratch.
• Own laboratory commercial results, including revenue, cost per test, reagent yield, instrument utilisation and gross margin by test line, and present these figures to the Group CEO every month.
• Consolidate equipment, reagent and consumable purchasing at group level through a qualified supplier list, ending independent sourcing by individual laboratories.
• Serve as Laboratory Director of record for clinical trials and validation work, including validation of AI-based diagnostics, and uphold Good Clinical Laboratory Practice standards wherever trial activity falls within scope.
• Deliver the laboratory technology stack: bidirectional analyser interfacing with the HMIS, barcode-driven sample tracking, reagent lot and expiry control, and a complete test event ledger capturing who performed each test, when, on which instrument and with which reagent lot.
• Build the laboratory organisation across all markets by defining structure, a competency framework, training, rota discipline and succession plans for every critical position.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science in Medical Laboratory Science, Biomedical Science or a comparable discipline; a Master of Science or MBA is strongly preferred.
• Current registration and licensure with the Kenya Medical Laboratory Technicians and Technologists Board, or eligibility for registration without delay.
• Twelve or more years in clinical laboratory practice, with at least five of those in a senior leadership role spanning more than one site.
• Hands-on leadership of an ISO 15189 accreditation — either an initial award or a reaccreditation cycle — in which you were the accountable lead rather than a contributor.
• Proven experience running a laboratory that supported regulated clinical trials under Good Clinical Laboratory Practice.
• Technical depth in clinical chemistry, immunoassay, haematology, microbiology and molecular diagnostics, plus direct work with a major automated platform such as Mindray, Roche, Abbott or Siemens.
• A track record of implementing a laboratory information system or HMIS, including analyser interfacing.
• Demonstrated cost leadership, evidenced by reducing cost per test while maintaining or improving quality.
• Preferred: experience with SLMTA or SLIPTA, or a national accreditation process through KENAS or an equivalent body.
• Preferred: multi-country or pan-African laboratory experience, particularly combining West Africa with East Africa.
• Preferred: familiarity with research ethics and regulatory submissions, including ERC, NACOSTI and the Pharmacy and Poisons Board or their counterparts in other markets.
• Preferred: exposure to donor-funded or public-private laboratory strengthening programmes.