Supervisory Clinical Laboratory Scientist
What you'd do
This position is located at the Mescalero Service Unit in Mescalero, New Mexico, a scenic mountain community known for its rich culture, outdoor recreation, and exceptional quality of life. The Supervisory Clinical Laboratory Scientist provides administrative and technical leadership for all laboratory operations, ensuring high-quality, compliant, and efficient laboratory services. A REAL ID will be required beginning May 7, 2025, in accordance with 6 C.F.R. 37.5 (2021).
Major duties
Total Compensation Package - Check out IHS's outstanding total compensation package for this job: Clinical Laboratory Scientist Total Compensation | Pay (ihs.gov) Directs plans and evaluates all laboratory services in alignment with facility goals. Provides administrative and technical supervision including development and implementation of laboratory policies, operational procedures and department objectives. Prepares and manages the laboratory budget, maintains accreditation requirements and monitors laboratory performance. Determines staffing needs, ensuring positions are filled with qualified professionals. Oversees staff orientation, training and competency assessments. Oversees all pre-analytic, analytic, and post-analytic testing activities to ensure accurate results, compliance with approved procedures, and adherence to quality and performance standards. Maintains effective quality control, quality assessment, and proficiency testing programs, ensuring errors are identified, corrected, and resolved in accordance with regulatory requirements. Maintains current procedure manuals, assigns testing responsibilities, and provides appropriate supervision to support consistent, high-quality laboratory operations. Collects, verifies, and processes patient specimens in accordance with established laboratory procedures, ensuring accurate patient identification, specimen integrity, confidentiality, and proper handling throughout the pre-analytical phase. Performs and reports a broad range of clinical laboratory tests using approved methods, equipment, and quality control practices to support patient diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring.
What you need to qualify
To qualify for this position, your resume must state sufficient experience and/or education, to perform the duties of the specific position for which you are applying. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community; social). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer and part time experience. You must clearly identify the duties and responsibilities in each position held and the total number of hours per week. Individual Occupational Requirements: NOTE: Employees currently assigned to positions in this occupational series as of September 2017 will be considered to have the basic requirements for the position occupied. BASIC REQUIREMENT(S): A Bachelor's or graduate/higher level degree from a regionally accredited college/university including courses in biological science, chemistry and mathematics, AND successful completion of a Medical Laboratory Scientist/Clinical Laboratory Scientist program accredited by the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences (NAACLS) or an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education(external link) at the time the degree was obtained. OR A full 4-year course of study that included 12 months in a college or hospital-based medical technology program or medical technology school approved by a recognized accrediting organization. The professional medical technology curriculum may have consisted of a 1-year post- bachelor's certificate program or the last 1 or 2 years of a 4-year program of study culminating in a bachelor's in medical technology. OR A Bachelor's or graduate/higher level degree from an accredited college/university, including 16 semester hours (24 quarter hours) of biological science (with one semester in microbiology), 16 semester hours (24 quarter hours) of chemistry (with one semester in organic or biochemistry), one semester (one quarter) of mathematics, AND five years of full time acceptable clinical laboratory experience in Blood Banking, Chemistry, Hematology, microbiology, Immunology and Urinalysis/Body Fluids. This combination of education and experience must have provided knowledge of the theories, principles, and practices of medical technology equivalent to that provided by the full 4-year course of study described in A or B above. All science and mathematics courses must have been acceptable for credit toward meeting the requirements for a science major at an accredited college or university. Acceptable experience is responsible professional or technician experience in a hospital laboratory, health agency, industrial medical laboratory, or pharmaceutical house; or teaching, test development, or medical research program experience that provided an understanding of the methods and techniques applied in performing professional clinical laboratory work. Certification/licensure as a medical technologist (generalist) obtained through written examination by a nationally recognized credentialing agency or State licensing body is a good indication that the quality of experience is acceptable. Evaluation of Education and Experience: The major areas of clinical laboratory science are microbiology, clinical chemistry, hematology, and immunohematology (blood banking). Qualifying course work in these areas includes bacteriology, mycology, mycobacteriology, tissue culture, virology, parasitology, endocrinology, enzymology, toxicology, urinalysis, coagulation, hemostasis, cell morphology, immunology, serology, immunoserology, immuno-deficiency, hemolysis, histocompatibility, cytotechnology, and similar disciplines or areas of laboratory practice. Related fields include physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, cell biology, embryology, pathology, genetics, pharmacology, histology, cytology, nuclear medicine, epidemiology, biostatistics, infection control, physics, statistics, and similar areas of science where the work is directly related to the position to be filled. For positions GS-7 through GS-15 (or equivalent), experience or graduate education must have been in (1) the general field of medical technology; (2) one of the disciplines or specialized areas of medical technology; or (3) a field directly related and applicable to medical technology or the position to be filled. Clinical laboratory intern (student medical technologist) experience in an education program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs(external link) (CAAHEP) education program may be credited on a month-for-month basis toward meeting the GS-7 specialized experience requirement. In addition, to the Basic Requirements, you must also meet the Minimum Qualifications stated below- MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: GS-12: Your resume must demonstrate at least one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level GS-11 in the Federal service obtained in either the private or public sector performing the following type of work and/or tasks: Directing a clinical laboratory program and overseeing the full range of laboratory testing and examinations; providing administrative supervision to department staff to ensure compliance with accrediting bodies; developing laboratory policies and procedures. Time In Grade Federal employees in the competitive service are also subject to the Time-In-Grade Requirements: Merit Promotion (status) candidates must have completed one year of service at the next lower grade level. Time-In-Grade provisions do not apply under the Excepted Service Examining Plan (ESEP). You must meet all qualification requirements within 30 days of the closing date of the announcement.
Before you apply
Federal applications are different: your resume should be 3–5 pages and mirror the language of this announcement. Read our federal resume guide first — it's the #1 reason qualified people get screened out.
Don't miss the next one.
Get an email the moment a similar federal job opens — postings can close in as little as 5 days.