Director, Pathology Services

At Adaptive, we’re Powering the Age of Immune Medicine.  Our goal is to harness the power of the adaptive immune system to transform the way diseases are diagnosed and treated.

As an Adapter, you’ll have the opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives. With Adaptive, you’ll create a career highlight through collaboration with bright, curious colleagues working at the apex of innovation and application.

It’s time for your next chapter. Discover your story with Adaptive.

Position Overview

The Director, Pathology Services provides enterprise-level leadership for the strategy, governance, and scalable execution of pathology specimen retrieval operations, overseeing the end‑to‑end lifecycle of archived diagnostic specimen access across a broad network of external laboratory partners. This role is accountable for building and leading a high‑performing organization that consistently delivers accurate, timely, and compliant specimen retrieval in support of critical clinical diagnostic priorities.

In this capacity, the Director sets the long‑term operational vision, translating organizational growth and evolving business needs into scalable processes, systems, and resourcing models. The role partners closely with senior leaders across Clinical, Laboratory Operations, Compliance, Legal, and Customer‑facing teams to ensure regulatory rigor, operational excellence, and exceptional stakeholder experience. Success requires strong people leadership, data‑driven decision making, and a continuous improvement mindset, with direct responsibility for operational performance, risk management, and cross‑functional alignment. A background in biology, healthcare operations, pathology services, or complex regulated environments is strongly preferred.

Leaders at Adaptive demonstrate behaviors consistent with Adaptive’s Core Values and Leadership Principles. Critical functions of your role include helping establish individual team member goals, aligning those individual goals with broader team objectives, and ensuring those objectives drive the achievement of company goals. Providing thoughtful coaching and consistent feedback to your team members will drive performance excellence and accountability, as well as support your team members’ growth and development. Leaders at Adaptive create an environment of belonging, respect, and open and honest communication every day.

Key Responsibilities and Essential Functions

Team Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the pathology retrieval organization, providing direction and oversight through managers and/or senior team leads responsible for nationwide specimen coordination.
• Establish and reinforce a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and operational excellence, aligned with functional strategy and enterprise expectations.
• Design and govern training programs and competency frameworks that ensure capability readiness, role clarity, and sustained high performance as the function scales.
• Define and sponsor career paths and talent development strategies that support employee growth, progression, succession planning, and long‑term retention.

Department Responsibilities

• Set and own long‑term operational strategy for the pathology retrieval function, ensuring scalability and alignment with enterprise growth objectives and evolving customer requirements.
• Serve as a strategic partner on new business opportunities, shaping operational strategy and guiding the development of differentiated, scalable customer solutions.
• Direct and govern end‑to‑end process design by identifying systemic gaps, re‑architecting workflows, and implementing enterprise‑level, high‑impact operational solutions.
• Champion process excellence for the function, establishing standards and continuous improvement frameworks that materially improve speed, accuracy, throughput, and overall service performance.
• Define, communicate, and enforce performance expectations, KPIs, and service‑level standards for both internal teams and external partners, ensuring accountability and delivery against functional goals.
• Lead resource and capacity strategy, including forecasting staffing and throughput needs, contributing to budget planning, and driving cost management to support sustainable growth.
• Collaborate with senior leaders across cross‑functional partners (e.g., Clinical Services, Account Operations, BSM, Biopharma, Technology) to prioritize and deliver automation and system enhancements that enable scale and reduce operational risk.
• Build and sustain relationships with pathology laboratories, customers, and internal stakeholders to ensure alignment, trust, and long‑term partnership effectiveness.
• Provide strategic oversight of external partner agreements, including negotiation and ongoing management of billing and commercial terms.
• Ensure functional governance and compliance, maintaining oversight of all retrieval activities to meet regulatory, privacy, and specimen handling requirements, including HIPAA.
• Establish quality management practices, monitor performance and risk indicators, and sponsor corrective actions to protect outcomes and long‑term functional performance.
• Ensure audit‑ready documentation and controls, maintaining governance, transparency, and readiness for internal and external reviews.
• All other duties as assigned.

Position Requirements (Education, Experience, Other)

Required

• Bachelor’s degree + 15 years of progressive experience in operations, healthcare services, laboratory services, or related fields; Masters + 12 years of related experience; PhD + 8 years of related experience
• Minimum of 4+ years of people leadership experience, including responsibility for managing managers or senior individual contributors within a complex operational function.
• Strong customer and patient focus with a clear understanding of HIPAA requirements
• Demonstrated superior verbal/written communication and active listening skills, complemented by exceptional interpersonal skills for both internal and external interactions
• A proactive self-starter with an established track record of fostering positive relationships/ interactions with internal staff and customers
• Effective project leader able to work autonomously to advance the team toward agreed-upon goals
• Ability to comprehend, deconstruct, and optimize complex operational workflows.
• Proven track record of building a supportive and motivating team culture
• Proactive approach to work; strong personal drive and desire for feedback
• Ability to engage directly with and provide well-supported recommendations to leadership.
• Willing to travel up to 10% of the time.

Preferred

• Working knowledge of NGS sequencing, standard molecular biology techniques and sample handling best practices
• Familiarity with basic laboratory and customer service-related systems such as LIMS and SFDC

Working Conditions

• Willing to travel up to 10% of the time.

#LI-Remote

Compensation

Salary Range: $144,600 - $217,000

Other compensation elements include:

• equity grant
• bonus eligible

ALERT: Malicious groups posing as Adaptive employees have recently used fraudulent email aliases to extend employment offers, provide fake documents, and request sensitive personal and financial information. Legitimate Adaptive employment opportunities are initiated through our careers page and extended after multiple interviews with verified employees. Adaptive does not ask new hires to purchase anything out-of-pocket, including home office supplies and equipment. 

Interested in this position, but don’t meet all the requirements?  Adaptive is committed to building diverse, equitable, and inclusive teams across our organization.  Please consider applying even if your experience doesn’t match all the qualifications; you may be the exact candidate we’re searching for!

Adaptive is not currently sponsoring candidates requiring work authorization support for this position.

Adaptive’s posted compensation information includes a base salary (or hourly rate) range and summary of other available total compensation. The base salary range represents a minimum-to-maximum salary (or hourly rate) available to candidates upon extension of offer. Base salary is thoughtfully considered upon offer and is determined through multiple evaluation checks throughout the interview process, including: a candidate’s ability to meet minimum qualifications (skills/experience/education), a candidate’s ability to thoughtfully address preferred qualifications, current market conditions, and internal pay equity. Listed base salary is exclusive of bonus, commission, equity, differential pay, benefits, and other incentives.

Adaptive's benefits at-a-glance.

Adaptive Biotechnologies is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against based on disability. Please refer the “Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal” Poster for more information. If you’d like to view a copy of the company’s affirmative action plan or policy statement, please email hr@adaptivebiotech.com.

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NOTE TO EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES: Adaptive Biotechnologies values our relationships with our Recruitment Partners and will only accept resumes from those partners who have active agreements with Adaptive. Adaptive Biotechnologies is not responsible for any fees related to resumes that are unsolicited or are received by any employee of Adaptive Biotechnologies who is not a member of the Human Resources team.