Laboratory Director, IVF & ART

Laboratory Director, IVF & ART

DiRezze Family Office — South Florida (premium IVF network, hub-and-spoke)

The opportunity

DiRezze Family Office is building a premium IVF network in South Florida, anchored by a flagship hub clinic now in site selection in the Brickell-to-Hallandale corridor, with a spoke already operating in Bay Harbor Islands. The Laboratory Director will own the design, build, accreditation, and ongoing operation of the flagship lab — and will set the technical standard that future spokes inherit.

This is a founding role. The Laboratory Director is on the critical path of the build, reports directly to the founding partner, and is expected to have a defining voice on facility design, equipment selection, staffing, SOPs, and the long-term technology roadmap.

Engagement model

We are open to two paths and invite candidates to self-select

• Full-time, Day 1. Hired as the founding Laboratory Director with executive-level compensation and meaningful equity. Begin with facility feasibility and design; transition into operational leadership through accreditation, opening, and scale.
• Consulting-to-hire. Begin with a paid feasibility and design engagement (typically 8–12 weeks) covering site walk-through, technical memo, facility spec, and equipment plan. Convert to full-time Laboratory Director ahead of construction kickoff. This path is designed for candidates currently in director roles who want to validate the opportunity before transitioning.

• Both paths lead to the same destination. The recruiter can route candidate preferences.
• What you will own
• Phase 1 — Facility design and pre-construction (months 0–6)

• Walk candidate sites and produce technical feasibility memos covering floor-to-floor height, floor load, HVAC capacity, electrical service, LN2 routing, medical gas infrastructure, and adjacent-tenant risk.
• Define the lab program: square footage, room adjacencies, ISO classification targets, equipment footprint, cryostorage capacity, andrology and procedure room layout.
• Select and brief the IVF facility consultant; review schematic and construction documents from the architect of record; sign off on HVAC, air quality, and cryostorage engineering.
• Build the Day 1 equipment plan, including time-lapse incubation (EmbryoScope+ or equivalent), electronic witnessing (RI Witness or Matcher), LIMS (eIVF or equivalent), and andrology workstation specifications.
• Design the lab to be automation-ready for future robotic IVF deployment (e.g., Conceivable/AURA) without committing premature capital.

Phase 2 — Construction, commissioning, and accreditation (months 6–12)

• Oversee construction, commissioning, equipment installation, and validation.
• Recruit and onboard senior embryology and andrology staff (the Laboratory Director chooses these hires).
• Author all SOPs, quality systems documentation, and the QA/QC program.
• Drive CLIA, CAP, and Florida licensure; lead the SART membership application.
• Establish PGT outsourcing relationships for Years 1–2, with a defined pathway to in-house NGS at 600+ cycles/year.

Phase 3 — Operations and scale (months 12+)

• Direct day-to-day lab operations: clinical outcomes, staffing, quality, regulatory compliance, vendor management.
• Set the technical standard for spoke lab integrations and future acquisition diligence.
• Lead the Year 2–3 evaluation of automation partnerships and PGT in-sourcing.
• Mentor junior embryologists; build a pipeline that supports network expansion.

Required qualifications

• Certification: HCLD (High-complexity Clinical Laboratory Director) through ABB, or equivalent PhD-track credential with ELD. Required for CLIA Lab Director of record.
• Greenfield build experience: Has commissioned at least one IVF lab from shell space through CAP/CLIA accreditation. We will ask for specifics: square footage, cycle volume at launch, lease-to-first-transfer timeline.
• Technology fluency: Direct operating experience with time-lapse incubation (EmbryoScope+ specifically), electronic witnessing (RI Witness and/or Matcher), and a modern LIMS. Informed opinions on tradeoffs, not brand familiarity.
• Volume scaling: Has run a lab through the 200 → 600+ annual cycle inflection, with the staffing, equipment redundancy, and quality systems that come with it.
• Quality systems leadership: Has authored SOPs from scratch, led CAP inspections, and operated under current witnessing and traceability standards. Familiar with post-Alabama regulatory environment and lessons from recent IVF mix-up incidents.
• Automation literacy: Familiar with the current automation landscape (Conceivable/AURA, CHLOE, Life Whisperer, ALife) without being a true believer. Builds automation-ready, not automation-dependent.

Preferred

• Florida operating experience, including familiarity with Office Surgery Registration pathway.
• Prior tenure at a premium-segment network (CCRM, Shady Grove, RMA, Boston IVF, Spring Fertility, or equivalent).
• Direct experience opening or scaling a network lab (multi-site, hub-and-spoke).
• Published research or society leadership (ASRM, SART, ABB).