Laboratory Director Visa Sponsorship Jobs in California
Laboratory director visa sponsorship jobs in California span the state's leading biotech corridors in San Diego, South San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Major employers include Genentech, Illumina, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Kaiser Permanente. These roles typically require a doctoral degree and several years of supervisory laboratory experience, making them well-suited for H-1B visa and employment-based green card pathways.
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Get Access To All JobsINTRODUCTION
RDI is a clinical research organization focused exclusively on in vitro diagnostics. We help diagnostic manufacturers execute studies through our physician network, clinical sites, and in-house CLIA-certified, CAP-accredited laboratory. We have completed more than 300 trials. Our work spans clinical chemistry, mass spectrometry, molecular diagnostics, infectious disease, and other diagnostic applications.
We are seeking a physician to serve as our laboratory director, take responsibility for assigned studies as Principal Investigator, and work directly with sponsors and participating physicians.
ROLE
You will work alongside our CEO, COO, laboratory staff, and clinical operations team. Your first priorities will be assuming laboratory directorship and learning the active studies so that you can take responsibility for their medical and scientific oversight.
Our current portfolio includes complex mass-spectrometry stability studies involving multiple specimen types, collection conditions, and testing time points. Other programs involve prospective specimen collection, diagnostic performance evaluation, and assay validation.
You will need to understand how the work is performed, make informed decisions, and follow issues through to resolution.
Responsibilities
Direct the laboratory
- Serve as the laboratory director of record and fulfill the responsibilities of the appointment.
- Oversee laboratory quality, proficiency testing, personnel competency, method verification and validation, and corrective actions.
- Maintain inspection readiness and oversee responses to CAP, CLIA, and California laboratory regulatory matters.
- Assess requirements for the current test menu and proposed additions.
- Work directly with laboratory staff to resolve scientific, quality, and testing issues.
Lead assigned studies as Principal Investigator
- Understand the protocol, laboratory workflow, study records, and delegated responsibilities.
- Provide active oversight of study conduct, data, deviations, unresolved questions, and required approvals.
- Participate in sponsor meetings, monitoring visits, protocol training, and closeout.
- Identify execution risks and make clear recommendations to resolve them.
Apply medical judgment to study design
- Review eligibility criteria, specimen requirements, collection timing, and testing plans.
- Assess whether proposed procedures fit clinical practice and can be executed at participating sites.
- Resolve medical and scientific questions with sponsors, investigators, and specialist advisors.
- Help translate client requirements into practical protocols and work instructions.
Engage physicians and clients
- Conduct physician outreach and explain study requirements.
- Assess site feasibility through substantive discussions with investigators.
- Help secure physician participation and resolve questions during startup and enrollment.
- Join selected client calls to assess requirements and explain RDI's approach.
- Identify assumptions that affect study feasibility, scope, timeline, and cost.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
Required qualifications
- MD or DO with an active, unrestricted California medical license.
- Board certification in clinical pathology or anatomic and clinical pathology.
- Qualifications to assume laboratory directorship for RDI's actual testing scope under applicable federal and California requirements.
- Experience directing a regulated clinical laboratory, including CLIA/CAP oversight.
- Relevant diagnostic study, assay validation, or clinical research experience.
- Ability to fulfill PI responsibilities for assigned studies, subject to study-specific requirements.
- Dependable daytime availability and the ability to work regularly onsite in Van Nuys.
- Willingness to review records, learn workflows, document decisions, and complete follow-up.
Experience with IVD manufacturers, mass spectrometry, clinical chemistry, molecular diagnostics, and prospective specimen-collection studies is particularly valuable.
BENEFITS
What success looks like
Within three to six months, you will own laboratory-director responsibilities and the medical and scientific oversight of an agreed portfolio of studies. Laboratory staff, investigators, and sponsors will work directly with you on those matters, reducing the need for the CEO and COO to intervene in routine decisions.
Engagement
We are open to part-time employment or a fractional consulting arrangement. The commitment must provide sufficient time for onboarding, laboratory oversight, study ownership, scheduled meetings, and timely follow-through.
Laboratory directorship is a required part of the position. Appointment timing and eligibility will be verified before the transition.
Please share your CV, current licensure and board certifications, laboratory-director experience, relevant study experience, daytime availability, existing professional commitments, and ability to work onsite in Van Nuys.
LOCATION
Location: Van Nuys, California
INTRODUCTION
RDI is a clinical research organization focused exclusively on in vitro diagnostics. We help diagnostic manufacturers execute studies through our physician network, clinical sites, and in-house CLIA-certified, CAP-accredited laboratory. We have completed more than 300 trials. Our work spans clinical chemistry, mass spectrometry, molecular diagnostics, infectious disease, and other diagnostic applications.
We are seeking a physician to serve as our laboratory director, take responsibility for assigned studies as Principal Investigator, and work directly with sponsors and participating physicians.
ROLE
You will work alongside our CEO, COO, laboratory staff, and clinical operations team. Your first priorities will be assuming laboratory directorship and learning the active studies so that you can take responsibility for their medical and scientific oversight.
Our current portfolio includes complex mass-spectrometry stability studies involving multiple specimen types, collection conditions, and testing time points. Other programs involve prospective specimen collection, diagnostic performance evaluation, and assay validation.
You will need to understand how the work is performed, make informed decisions, and follow issues through to resolution.
Responsibilities
Direct the laboratory
- Serve as the laboratory director of record and fulfill the responsibilities of the appointment.
- Oversee laboratory quality, proficiency testing, personnel competency, method verification and validation, and corrective actions.
- Maintain inspection readiness and oversee responses to CAP, CLIA, and California laboratory regulatory matters.
- Assess requirements for the current test menu and proposed additions.
- Work directly with laboratory staff to resolve scientific, quality, and testing issues.
Lead assigned studies as Principal Investigator
- Understand the protocol, laboratory workflow, study records, and delegated responsibilities.
- Provide active oversight of study conduct, data, deviations, unresolved questions, and required approvals.
- Participate in sponsor meetings, monitoring visits, protocol training, and closeout.
- Identify execution risks and make clear recommendations to resolve them.
Apply medical judgment to study design
- Review eligibility criteria, specimen requirements, collection timing, and testing plans.
- Assess whether proposed procedures fit clinical practice and can be executed at participating sites.
- Resolve medical and scientific questions with sponsors, investigators, and specialist advisors.
- Help translate client requirements into practical protocols and work instructions.
Engage physicians and clients
- Conduct physician outreach and explain study requirements.
- Assess site feasibility through substantive discussions with investigators.
- Help secure physician participation and resolve questions during startup and enrollment.
- Join selected client calls to assess requirements and explain RDI's approach.
- Identify assumptions that affect study feasibility, scope, timeline, and cost.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
Required qualifications
- MD or DO with an active, unrestricted California medical license.
- Board certification in clinical pathology or anatomic and clinical pathology.
- Qualifications to assume laboratory directorship for RDI's actual testing scope under applicable federal and California requirements.
- Experience directing a regulated clinical laboratory, including CLIA/CAP oversight.
- Relevant diagnostic study, assay validation, or clinical research experience.
- Ability to fulfill PI responsibilities for assigned studies, subject to study-specific requirements.
- Dependable daytime availability and the ability to work regularly onsite in Van Nuys.
- Willingness to review records, learn workflows, document decisions, and complete follow-up.
Experience with IVD manufacturers, mass spectrometry, clinical chemistry, molecular diagnostics, and prospective specimen-collection studies is particularly valuable.
BENEFITS
What success looks like
Within three to six months, you will own laboratory-director responsibilities and the medical and scientific oversight of an agreed portfolio of studies. Laboratory staff, investigators, and sponsors will work directly with you on those matters, reducing the need for the CEO and COO to intervene in routine decisions.
Engagement
We are open to part-time employment or a fractional consulting arrangement. The commitment must provide sufficient time for onboarding, laboratory oversight, study ownership, scheduled meetings, and timely follow-through.
Laboratory directorship is a required part of the position. Appointment timing and eligibility will be verified before the transition.
Please share your CV, current licensure and board certifications, laboratory-director experience, relevant study experience, daytime availability, existing professional commitments, and ability to work onsite in Van Nuys.
LOCATION
Location: Van Nuys, California
Laboratory Director Job Roles in California
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Search Laboratory Director Jobs in CaliforniaLaboratory Director Jobs in California: Frequently Asked Questions
Which companies sponsor visas for laboratory directors in California?
California's largest visa sponsors for laboratory director roles include Genentech, Roche, Illumina, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and major academic medical centers such as UCSF and Stanford Health Care. Biotechnology firms concentrated in the San Francisco Bay Area and San Diego are among the most active filers, regularly submitting H-1B Labor Condition Applications for senior laboratory leadership positions.
Which visa types realistically fit laboratory director roles in California?
Laboratory director roles qualify as specialty occupations requiring at least a bachelor's degree in a directly related scientific field, making H-1B the most common pathway. H-1B1 visa applies to Chilean and Singaporean nationals. The E-3 visa is available to Australian nationals. For longer-term authorization, employers can sponsor EB-2 or EB-3 employment-based green cards, with EB-2 suited for candidates holding advanced degrees or demonstrating exceptional ability. TN visa does not cover laboratory director roles.
Which cities in California have the most laboratory director sponsorship jobs?
South San Francisco and the broader Bay Area lead in laboratory director openings, driven by the dense concentration of biopharmaceutical companies in that region. San Diego's Torrey Pines and Sorrento Valley clusters are equally active, housing firms like Illumina and Pfizer's local operations. Los Angeles and Sacramento also generate openings through hospital networks, public health laboratories, and university research institutions.
How to find laboratory director visa sponsorship jobs in California?
Migrate Mate lists California laboratory director positions filtered to employers with verified visa sponsorship history, letting you search by city or sub-region such as the Bay Area or San Diego. Because laboratory director roles require doctoral-level credentials and direct management experience, targeting employers with an established record of H-1B or green card filings for senior scientific positions is a practical starting point when using Migrate Mate's job board.
Are there state-specific factors that affect laboratory director sponsorship in California?
California's strong biotech and life sciences ecosystem creates consistent demand for laboratory directors, particularly along the Route 101 corridor in the Bay Area and the I-5 biotech strip in San Diego. The state's research universities, including UC San Diego, UC San Francisco, and Caltech, generate a pipeline of candidates and institutional employers. California also imposes no additional state-level visa or labor certification requirements beyond federal USCIS and DOL processes.
What is the prevailing wage for sponsored laboratory director jobs in California?
U.S. employers sponsoring a visa must pay at least the prevailing wage, which is what workers in the same role, area, and experience level typically earn. The Department of Labor sets this rate to make sure companies aren't hiring foreign workers simply because they'd accept lower pay than a U.S. worker. It varies by job title, location, and experience. You can look up current prevailing wage rates for any occupation and location using the OFLC Wage Search page.