Laboratory Operations Manager

About the role The “Manager – Lab Operations & Infrastructure” will own the complete operational backbone of NIAT's 40 labs across campuses, from initial equipment procurement and vendor evaluation through preventive maintenance, consumables replenishment, and asset tracking. This role also owns lab safety readiness (fire safety, medical emergency response, first aid), daily audits, CCTV-based monitoring and flagging, and running equipment-usage training for students and staff. Know more about NIAT: Know more about NIAT 5.0 Labs: Why this role exists Hands-on labs are the core of how our students learn, and a lab is only as good as the systems running behind it. Equipment that isn't specified right, maintained well, or replenished on time quietly erodes the learning experience, one broken component or delayed class at a time. This role exists to make sure that never happens. Across 40 labs spread over multiple campuses, someone needs to own the operational backbone, from the very first equipment purchase through its ongoing upkeep, safety, and compliance, as a designed system rather than a series of reactive fixes. That's this role. What you will own Initial & Capital Procurement Own the end-to-end process of setting up new labs and equipping existing ones: getting quotes from multiple vendors, evaluating them on quality and total cost of ownership (not just price), and taking equipment from purchase order through delivery, installation, and acceptance testing before it's signed off as ready for use. Consumables & Replenishment Own the ongoing process for replenishing lab consumables and components on time, every time, so no session is ever blocked by a missing part. Build and maintain a reliable vendor base and reorder cadence. Maintenance & Asset Management Design and run the preventive maintenance process for lab equipment across all campuses. Own asset tagging and lifecycle tracking for every piece of equipment, from the day it arrives to the day it's retired, so nothing goes untracked, lost, or unaccounted for. Safety & Emergency Readiness Set up and maintain fire safety protocols, medical emergency response processes, and first-aid readiness across every lab. This isn't paperwork; it's making sure that if something goes wrong, the campus already knows what to do. Audits & Quality Control Run daily audits of lab conditions, equipment status, and process adherence. Catch small issues before they become downtime. Monitoring & Compliance Own the CCTV monitoring and flagging mechanism for lab spaces, using it to catch misuse, safety violations, or maintenance issues early. Ensure every campus lab operates to the same standard. Enablement Run a crash course for students and staff on correct lab equipment usage, so damage and safety incidents are prevented at the source rather than fixed after the fact. Cross-campus coordination Work closely with campus-level managers and external vendors to execute all of the above consistently, even though the labs are spread across locations. Execute procurement and maintenance activity within budgets set by leadership. What kind of person thrives here Someone who treats process as a product: who doesn't just fix what's broken today, but designs the system so it doesn't break the same way tomorrow, and doesn't just buy equipment but buys it right the first time. Someone comfortable being hands-on with hardware and equally comfortable writing an SOP or a vendor spec sheet that a non-technical campus admin can follow without hand-holding. Someone who can hold multiple campuses to one standard without being physically present at all of them every day, through good systems, checklists, and trust in people they coordinate with rather than manage directly. This is a role for someone who gets genuine satisfaction from a lab that "just works," quietly, reliably, invisibly, rather than one that needs to be shown off to be appreciated. Experience we care about What you've done Worked hands-on in an electronics, hardware, or robotics lab environment; you know what these labs actually need to run, and to run well Led or closely supported equipment procurement, writing specs, evaluating vendor quotes, negotiating terms, and seeing a purchase through to installation and sign-off Managed ongoing consumables/inventory processes in a technical or lab setting Set up or run equipment maintenance schedules and asset-tracking processes Handled safety compliance (fire, emergency response) in a lab, plant, or technical facility Coordinated across multiple sites/locations with vendors or site teams, even without being physically present everywhere Credentials/context 2 to 4 years of relevant experience in lab operations, facilities, or hardware/technical environments No specific degree required; we care more about what you've built and run than the certificate behind it What this role is NOT This is not a pure administrative/facilities role. You need to understand hardware and lab equipment well enough to write a real spec, not just raise a PO. This is not a single-site job. You'll be responsible for consistency across many labs and campuses, most of which you won't visit daily. This is not a role where you personally fix every equipment issue. You design the process and coordinate the people who do: technicians, vendors, campus teams. This is not a role for someone who waits to be told what's broken. Daily audits and proactive monitoring are core to the job, not an occasional task. Job Overview Job Type: Full-Time Location: Hyderabad / NIAT Campuses Working Days: 6-Day Week Role Level: Lead (Senior) CTC Range: Competitive & aligned with industry standards