Job Description
The Office of Chief Medical Examiner investigates cases of persons who die within New York City from criminal violence, by accident, by suicide, suddenly when in apparent health, when unattended by a physician, in a correctional facility or in any suspicious or unusual manner or where an application is made pursuant to law for a permit to cremate a body of a person.
The core values of CARES guide our work for communities and inform our behavior toward each other and all those we serve.
Commitment: Dedicated to the mission at all times
Accountability: Responsible to each other and the community
Resilience: Adapt in the face of adversity
Excellence: Achieve and maintain the highest quality
Service: Innovate to meet evolving needs
The Administrative Laboratory Director provides centralized administrative leadership and operational oversight for all Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) laboratories. This role coordinates cross-laboratory administrative functions, standardizes workflows, strengthens governance, and ensures consistent execution of agency requirements across finance, quality, staffing, reporting, and performance management. The role serves as a key operational partner to laboratory leadership and OCME executive leadership, enabling laboratories to focus on mission-critical scientific and forensic work.
Reporting directly to the Chief of Laboratories, the selected candidate will:
Oversee and coordinate administrative operations across all OCME laboratories (Forensic Biology, Molecular Genetics, Toxicology, Evidence, and other laboratory units as applicable).
Develop, implement, and maintain standardized administrative workflows, calendars, templates, and documentation across laboratories.
Serve as the central point of coordination for laboratory administrative deliverables, ensuring completeness, quality, and on-time execution.
Lead agency-wide administrative coordination for laboratory data collection, performance reporting, and benchmarking (caseload, staffing, budget, and quality metrics).
Manage the annual cycle for laboratory metric collection (multi-lab coordination, deadlines, validation, submission status tracking, and executive-ready reporting).
Establish and enforce data governance expectations including:
o Role-based access principles (lab-specific visibility for contributors; enterprise oversight for administrative leadership).
o Draft vs. submitted status workflows.
o Data integrity controls (submission locking, controlled post-submission corrections, and audit trails).
Coordinate development, adoption, and continuous improvement of an online data collection and analytics platform to replace spreadsheet-based workflows, including:
o Multi-user workflows with role-based access.
o Data entry via web forms and/or standardized Excel template uploads.
o Submission, locking, and controlled unlock/edit procedures.
o Dashboards, benchmarking views, and exportable reports (including PDF outputs).
Support annual benchmark updates and reference data maintenance (targets, definitions, measure updates).
Partner with OCME information technology teams and/or vendors to implement and sustain administrative platforms that support laboratory operations (SharePoint Online, Power Platform tools, analytics dashboards).
Maintain structured user management processes aligned with role-based access (user provisioning requests, permissions governance, lab-to-user mapping, deactivation controls).
Ensure administrative systems have appropriate documentation, version control, and continuity plans.
Coordinate cross-lab budget planning inputs, tracking, and consolidation as directed by OCME leadership.
Support financial workflows including:
o Periodic spend tracking and administrative reporting.
o Personnel cost tracking, overtime administrative reporting, and budget variance summaries.
o Procurement coordination and administrative support for lab operational needs (as applicable).
Produce executive-ready summaries that integrate operational, staffing, and financial signals across laboratories.
Coordinate administrative components of quality management and compliance activities across laboratories in partnership with Quality Assurance leadership.
Standardize and monitor required documentation, schedules, and administrative evidence supporting accreditation and internal/external audits.
Support audit trail practices for administrative systems (submission timestamps, approver records, controlled edits, and governance logs).
Facilitate cross-lab administrative working groups and routine check-ins to ensure alignment, remove bottlenecks, and manage dependencies.
Coordinate communications and change management for enterprise administrative initiatives (new tools, submission deadlines, policy updates).
Serve as escalation point for administrative workflow issues affecting multiple laboratories.
Identify inefficiencies and implement standardized improvements across administrative workflows (intake-to-submission processes, reporting cycles, template standardization, automation opportunities).
Establish key administrative service levels (timeliness, completeness, error rates) and drive continuous improvement initiatives.
SPECIAL NOTE:
Selected candidates will be required to provide a DNA sample by swabbing.
This position has been identified as essential. During emergency events, essential positions may require 24-hour availability.
WORK AUTHORIZATION:
Authorization to work in the Unites States is required for this position. Office of Chief Medical Examiner does not provide sponsorship for international employees for visa applications, extensions, or status changes, including STEM/OPT visas. Applicants are responsible for ensuring that they meet all qualifying requirements for this position at the time of application.
Please note that only candidates selected for interviews will be contacted for this position. FINAL APPOINTMENTS ARE SUBJECT TO OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT & BUDGET APPROVAL.
TO APPLY:
Please submit resume and cover letter to nyc.gov/ocmecareers Job ID# 775538
CRIMINALIST DIRECTOR OF LABORA - 2184A
Qualifications
A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college, with specialization in criminalistics, forensic science, chemistry, biology, physics, molecular genetics, genetics, biochemistry, molecular biology, entomology, anthropology, ecology or a closely related scientific or engineering field.
Additional Information
The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.
Salary Min: $103,355.00
Salary Max: $260,030.00
