Supervisor - Site Services

In this role, you will report to the Territory Area Manager and will work closely with the Avantor’s Advanced Laboratory Services professionals to serve our customers by performing customized, mission-based lab work and research protocols that help return time back to science.

Location: Rensselaer, NY (Greater Albany Area)

Shift: Monday - Friday | 7:00 AM - 3:30 PM

Salary range: $70,000 - $75,000 + up to 5% Annual Bonus

Benefits:

Health & Wellness

• Comprehensive Medical, Dental, and Vision coverage
• Wellness programs
• Eligible for medical coverage starting Day 1

Time Off

• Paid Time Off (PTO)
• Company-paid holidays
• Choice holidays

Financial Well-Being

• Flexible Spending Account (FSA) and Health Savings Account (HSA)
• Commuter benefits
• 401(k) retirement plan
• Tuition assistance
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan discount

What we’re looking for 

Education and Experience

• High school diploma or GED required.

• Associate or bachelor's degree in business, supply chain, operations, life sciences, management, or a related field preferred.

• Four or more years of relevant experience in site services, lab support, inventory management, supply chain, purchasing, customer operations, manufacturing, or a related environment preferred.

• Previous experience directly supervising, coaching, and developing employees required.

• Experience working in a regulated pharmaceutical, biotechnology, life-science, manufacturing, or GxP environment strongly preferred.

• Experience managing services in a customer-facing or contract-services environment preferred.

• Experience with inventory-management, purchasing, ERP, or material-tracking systems preferred.

• Experience supporting audits, investigations, corrective actions, or controlled documentation preferred.

• Forklift certification or the ability to obtain certification may be required depending on assigned responsibilities.

• Spill response, IATA, DOT, IMDG, HAZWOPER, CPR, and OSHA-related training are preferred where applicable.

• Valid driver's license and reliable transportation required when travel between supported locations is necessary.

Knowledge skills & Abilities:

• Demonstrated ability to lead teams, establish priorities, delegate effectively, and maintain accountability.

• Strong understanding of inventory-management principles, including replenishment, PAR or min-max controls, safety stock, stock rotation, expiry management, and inventory accuracy.

• Ability to understand and consistently administer company policies, customer requirements, standard operating procedures, and contractual expectations.

• Strong commitment to safety, quality, data integrity, documentation, and regulatory compliance.

• Ability to make sound, timely business decisions with limited direction while recognizing when escalation is required.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to investigate discrepancies, identify root causes, and implement sustainable corrective actions.

• Ability to interpret operational data, key performance indicators, dashboards, inventory reports, and customer metrics.

• Proficiency with Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams.

• Experience with ERP, inventory-management, reporting, or information-access systems; familiarity with Power BI or similar reporting tools is preferred.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to communicate with frontline associates, customer stakeholders, suppliers, and senior leaders.

• Excellent customer-service and relationship-management skills, with a professional and solution-oriented approach.

• Ability to manage competing priorities, frequent deadlines, operational interruptions, and changing customer needs.

• Ability to lead through influence and work effectively across departments that may have different priorities or reporting structures.

• Detail-oriented, organized, adaptable, self-motivated, and capable of following issues through resolution.

• Ability to protect customer and company confidential information.

• Ability to satisfy customer requirements related to background checks, security access, health screening, safety training, and other site-access qualifications.

How you will thrive and create an impact 

Avantor’s Advanced Laboratory Services team is a crucial part of the Avantor Services group serving over 500 customers in biopharma, pharmaceutical, educational, industrial, and high-tech industries with customizable, flexible solutions and end-to-end laboratory operations support. In this role you will:

Operational Leadership

• Lead and direct the daily activities of assigned coordinators and technicians, ensuring work is completed safely, accurately, on time, and in accordance with the Statement of Work, standard operating procedures, work instructions, and customer requirements.

• Establish daily priorities, assign work, manage staffing and coverage, and ensure clear ownership of unresolved issues and next-day activities.

• Maintain a strong presence within assigned buildings, stockrooms, warehouses, points of use, and supported lab areas.

• Monitor workflow, workload, service levels, and staffing needs across assigned areas, adjusting resources and priorities when operational conditions change.

• Provide hands-on support and backup during staffing gaps, urgent requests, high-volume periods, implementations, audits, and other business-critical situations.

• Ensure effective shift handoffs and timely communication of open orders, stockouts, expirations, delivery issues, customer requests, compliance concerns, and operational risks.

• Escalate issues promptly when they may affect safety, quality, compliance, material availability, customer operations, or contractual performance.

People Leadership and Development

• Coach, motivate, and develop associates to successfully perform their responsibilities and meet or exceed individual, team, customer, and business objectives.

• Set clear performance expectations and provide timely, constructive feedback, recognition, and accountability.

• Conduct performance evaluations, development discussions, succession planning, and routine follow-up on employee goals.

• Identify training needs and ensure associates are qualified and current on required Avantor, customer, safety, quality, and job-specific training.

• Support the development of team leads and high-potential associates through mentoring, stretch assignments, and increased ownership.

• Promote teamwork, engagement, inclusion, respectful communication, and a solution-oriented culture.

• Address performance, attendance, conduct, and workplace concerns consistently and in accordance with Avantor policies.

• Review and approve timecards, manage vacation requests, maintain appropriate coverage, and complete other required administrative responsibilities.

Inventory and Material Management

• Oversee inventory and material-management activities, including ordering, receiving, de-trashing, labeling, stocking, replenishment, delivery, logging, and point-of-use support.

• Ensure inventory is stored, handled, and rotated appropriately based on material requirements, including FIFO and FEFO practices, temperature conditions, lot controls, expiry requirements, and other special handling needs.

• Monitor inventory accuracy, PAR and min-max levels, safety stock, usage trends, open orders, backorders, stockouts, excess inventory, slow- or no-moving materials, and expiration risk.

• Ensure inventory changes are supported by appropriate data, operational review, customer approval, and change-control documentation when required.

• Support physical inventories, cycle counts, discrepancy investigations, root-cause analysis, and corrective actions.

• Coordinate with procurement, suppliers, logistics partners, Avantor support teams, and customer stakeholders to resolve sourcing, delivery, quality, and availability issues.

• Ensure standing orders, replacement products, discontinued materials, unit-of-measure configurations, item records, and other inventory controls are accurately maintained.

• Provide proactive communication when a material issue could affect lab operations or customer service.

Customer and Cross Functional Partnership

• Serve as a primary operational liaison among the customer, Avantor Site Services, sales, procurement, suppliers, and other internal support functions.

• Build productive relationships with customer stakeholders and develop a detailed understanding of their operational and material-management needs.

• Participate in recurring customer meetings, operational reviews, project discussions, and business reviews.

• Communicate service risks, action plans, ownership, and expected completion dates clearly and professionally.

• Respond to customer questions and concerns with urgency while ensuring recommendations remain consistent with the Statement of Work, established procedures, and compliance requirements.

• Collaborate with other supervisors and departments to ensure consistent processes and effective service across buildings and functional areas.

• Support the implementation of new lab spaces, inventory programs, services, materials, and customer requirements.

Safety Quality and Compliance

• Ensure compliance with applicable GxP requirements, Good Documentation Practices, customer procedures, Avantor policies, quality standards, and environmental health and safety requirements.

• Maintain a state of audit and inspection readiness within assigned areas.

• Ensure associates consistently follow requirements for documentation, labeling, storage, material handling, housekeeping, personal protective equipment, and inventory traceability.

• Conduct routine operational walkthroughs and address safety, quality, documentation, and housekeeping concerns promptly.

• Support audits, inspections, investigations, nonconformances, corrective and preventive actions, and other quality activities.

• Ensure records are accurate, complete, attributable, legible, contemporaneous, and maintained according to applicable requirements.

• Promote a strong safety culture in which associates are encouraged to report hazards, near misses, process concerns, and improvement opportunities.

• Ensure incidents, material excursions, documentation errors, inventory discrepancies, and potential compliance concerns are reported and escalated appropriately.

Metrics Reporting and Business Performance

• Review operational reports and dashboards related to open orders, inventory accuracy, expirations, usage, service levels, productivity, training, safety, and other key performance indicators.

• Ensure data submitted for customer reports, business reviews, and departmental metrics is complete, accurate, and supported by source information.

• Use performance data and operational observations to identify trends, risks, resource needs, and improvement opportunities.

• Partner with data analytics and operational subject-matter experts to investigate discrepancies and validate conclusions before actions are implemented.

• Present operational results, risks, root causes, corrective actions, and recommendations clearly to site leadership and customer stakeholders.

• Maintain action trackers and ensure commitments have clear owners, due dates, follow-up, and documented closure.

Procedures and Continuous Improvement

• Support the development, review, and maintenance of standard operating procedures, work instructions, standard process instructions, training materials, KPI definitions, and other controlled documentation.

• Ensure the team understands current procedures and that operational practices remain aligned with documented requirements.

• Identify opportunities to improve safety, quality, customer service, inventory efficiency, data accuracy, communication, and associate productivity.

• Lead or participate in continuous-improvement initiatives using data, process observations, root-cause analysis, and employee feedback.

• Develop practical business solutions and bring forward opportunities that may provide value to the customer, the site, or the broader Avantor organization.

• Monitor implemented changes to confirm they achieve the intended result without creating new service, quality, compliance, or inventory risks.

• Perform other duties as assigned in support of site operations and customer satisfaction.

The work environment and physical requirements described below represent those typically encountered while performing the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be provided to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Work is performed in a combination of office, stockroom, warehouse, receiving, and customer lab-support environments.

• The position requires frequent movement among buildings and operational areas, including extended periods of walking and standing.

• Work may require bending, reaching, pushing, pulling, and lifting or carrying materials weighing up to 50 pounds.

• The role may require the use of appropriate personal protective equipment and periodic entry into temperature-controlled storage areas.

• Work assignments are varied and may require the development of new solutions when established precedent does not fully address the situation.

• Frequent deadlines, customer requirements, staffing needs, and operational interruptions require effective prioritization and composure.

• The position is primarily first shift but may occasionally require schedule flexibility to support urgent business needs, audits, implementations, coverage, or customer operations.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employees assigned to this classification. They are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required of employees assigned to this position. Avantor is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.

Why Avantor?

Dare to go further in your career. Join our global team of 14,000+ associates whose passion for discovery and determination to overcome challenges relentlessly advances life-changing science.
 
The work we do changes people's lives for the better. It brings new patient treatments and therapies to market, giving a cancer survivor the chance to walk his daughter down the aisle. It enables medical devices that help a little boy hear his mom's voice for the first time. Outcomes such as these create unlimited opportunities for you to contribute your talents, learn new skills and grow your career at Avantor.
 
We are committed to helping you on this journey through our diverse, equitable and inclusive culture which includes learning experiences to support your career growth and success. At Avantor, dare to go further and see how the impact of your contributions set science in motion to create a better world. Apply today!

Pay Transparency:

The expected pre-tax pay for this position is

Actual pay may differ depending on relevant factors such as prior experience and geographic location.

EEO Statement:

We are an Equal Employment/Affirmative Action employer and VEVRAA Federal Contractor. We do not discriminate in hiring on the basis of sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religious creed, national origin, physical or mental disability, protected Veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state/province, or local law.

If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please contact us by email at [email protected] and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information. Requests for accommodation will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Please note that only inquiries concerning a request for reasonable accommodation will be responded to from this email address.

For more information about equal employment opportunity protections, please view the Know Your Rights poster.

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3rd Party Non-Solicitation Policy:

By submitting candidates without having been formally assigned on and contracted for a specific job requisition by Avantor, or by failing to comply with the Avantor recruitment process, you forfeit any fee on the submitted candidates, regardless of your usual terms and conditions. Avantor works with a preferred supplier list and will take the initiative to engage with recruitment agencies based on its needs and will not be accepting any form of solicitation.