Director Of Lab Operations & Revenue

Director of Lab Operations & Revenue

Contract-to-Hire | Paid Diagnostic Project | Performance-Based Conversion

Position Type

2 to 4 week paid diagnostic project, followed by a 6 month contract. Full-time conversion is based on performance.

The employer is a CLIA-certified independent clinical laboratory serving physician offices, addiction treatment providers, collection sites, and specialty clinics in New Jersey and surrounding markets. The company is in an active turnaround and growth phase, with a strong focus on profitable revenue growth through stronger account development, disciplined expansion of collection sites, tighter field economics, and improved revenue cycle performance.

Who This Role Fits

An operator who has run a clinical laboratory business, owned outcomes, improved revenue cycle performance, and knows how to stabilize operations without constant direction.

The Opportunity

This is not a maintenance role. We are looking for a hands-on operator who can grow revenue in a healthy way, expand and manage collection sites and the commercial team, strengthen account relationships, and ensure that growth converts into real profit. This role is not a traditional lab operations position and not a pure sales leadership role. The right person must be able to connect operational discipline, compliance, and profitable revenue growth in one decision-making framework.

• You should be comfortable owning growth outcomes, not just managing a department.

• You should be able to evaluate client quality, payer mix, billing discipline, field labor cost, and operating risk through a P&L lens.

• This role requires independent judgment, urgency, sound execution, and the credibility to challenge assumptions when needed.

• You will serve as a true operating partner to the CEO, helping evaluate risk, challenge weak assumptions, prioritize execution, and determine which growth opportunities are operationally sustainable and commercially worthwhile.

What You Will Own

• Profitable revenue growth, including expansion and productivity of collection sites, reactivation of dormant accounts, and disciplined development of new accounts

• Sales and field execution, including accountability of the sales team, collectors, phlebotomists, and other field resources against volume, realization, and margin goals

• Account retention and expansion, including relationship management, follow-up discipline, and growth of high-value accounts

• Revenue cycle performance, including claim submission quality, denial response, aging reduction, and collections follow-up cadence

• Daily lab operating discipline across accession, billing, lab supervision, turnaround time, result reporting, and cross-functional accountability

• Payer strategy and commercial discipline, including credentialing progress, self-pay strategy, and improvement of payer mix where possible

• Opportunity evaluation and resource deployment, including assessment of new sites, partnerships, service lines, payer opportunities, and sales channels to determine what is truly executable, scalable, and profitable

• Risk detection and prevention, including early identification of compliance exposure, workflow weakness, reporting gaps, accountability problems, and growth-related operating stress before they become larger issues

• Cross-functional leadership with billing, including the ability to lead productive discussions, test internal assumptions, and validate conclusions through data, sound judgment, and external industry resources without needing to be the deepest billing specialist in the room

What Success Looks Like in the First 6 Months

1. Revenue is growing in a healthy and profitable way

• Qualified volume from collection sites and accounts increases against baseline

• Growth converts into stronger collected revenue, not just billed volume

• Field economics, including collector and phlebotomist cost, are actively managed against margin goals

• New and reactivated accounts are contributing profitably, with weak or unprofitable activity identified and corrected

2. Sales and account management are structured and productive

• The sales team is being managed with clear goals, reporting cadence, and follow-up discipline

• Key accounts are being retained, strengthened, and expanded

• Collection site productivity is being tracked, compared, and managed actively

3. Revenue cycle performance is measurably stronger

• Clean claim rate improves against baseline

• A/R aging in 60 day and 90 day buckets declines

• Corrective actions for major denial categories are in place and showing results

4. Lab operations support growth without margin leakage

• Accession, billing, and lab supervision are coordinated and accountable as volume grows

• Turnaround time and result release are being tracked consistently

• Requisition, documentation, and operating issues are caught before they become larger compliance or financial problems

5. Payer mix and commercial discipline are moving in a better direction

• Insurance credentialing progress is being tracked and advanced, and a self-pay strategy has been defined and tested

• Payer tiers, account economics, and improvement priorities are documented clearly

6. The CEO is less burdened by day-to-day operating issues

• Routine operating and growth questions are handled at the Director level

• The CEO receives structured updates, clearer decision support, and fewer reactive escalations.

• The Director is acting as a practical discussion partner on operating risk, growth choices, and execution priorities, not just as a reporting layer.

Required Qualifications

• 3 years operating a clinical laboratory of similar scale, with direct accountability for business performance, revenue growth, P&L, or equivalent operating outcomes

• Demonstrated ability to grow revenue through account development, collection site expansion, or field commercial management while protecting margin

• Sufficient command of billing and revenue cycle discussions to lead the internal team, evaluate claims critically, and pressure-test conclusions using data, industry judgment, and external network resources; deep personal mastery of every billing detail is not required

• Practical understanding of CLIA requirements, New Jersey Department of Health expectations, and CAP standards

• Demonstrated ability to assess commercial opportunities through an operational lens, including new sites, partnerships, payer opportunities, service lines, and field growth investments

• Strong industry credibility, resourcefulness, and network orientation, with the ability to use outside perspective and relationships to test assumptions and support better operating decisions

• Ability to read financial and operating data and translate that information into decisions and execution priorities

• Direct, accountable communication style with low noise and strong follow-through

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on experience in New Jersey clinical laboratory operations

• Experience with XClaims or a comparable LIS and billing platform

• Experience managing sales teams, collectors, phlebotomists, or decentralized field operations

• Experience building, resetting, or rationalizing a collection site network

Compensation Structure

• Paid diagnostic project, typically 2 to 4 weeks, completed before the contract phase begins

• 6 month contract compensation, determined at the offer stage based on experience and fit

• Upon conversion, base salary plus quarterly profit participation tied to profitable revenue growth and adjusted operating profit above baseline

• Holdback may apply to performance-based payouts after quarterly review

This structure is designed to reward real operators. Someone who can materially grow revenue, improve operating performance, and create profit should be able to earn well above a typical director compensation range.

Hiring Process

• Resume and background review

• Structured interview, 60 to 90 minutes, focused on operating experience, commercial judgment, revenue cycle knowledge, and problem-solving approach

• Paid diagnostic project, 2 to 4 weeks, including a written assessment of company's current state, growth levers, and priorities

• 6 month contract phase with defined performance expectations and conversion criteria

• Full-time conversion based on demonstrated performance