What Does a Laboratory Coordinator Do?
What keeps a shared lab running is mostly small chores done on time. Laboratory coordinators handle them in teaching and research labs, ordering supplies, booking equipment fairly, keeping instruments working and leading safety checks for the scientists, instructors and students who use the space. An electron microscope shared by many research groups can be a coordinator's whole job.
Also known as: Senior Laboratory Coordinator, Laboratory Operations Coordinator, Electron Microscopy Lab Coordinator
Laboratory Coordinator Duties and Responsibilities
The primary responsibilities of a laboratory coordinator include:
- Order chemicals, glassware and consumables, and keep inventory counts in the lab's tracking system.
- Schedule time on shared instruments such as electron microscopes and bill the hours to grant accounts.
- Prepare reagents, solutions and equipment for teaching lab sessions and clean up afterward.
- Arrange service contracts and repair visits, and keep a maintenance log for each instrument.
- Inspect fume hoods, eyewash stations and chemical storage, and fix problems before safety audits.
- Train new users on instruments and lab rules, and sign off on their access.
- Manage hazardous waste pickups and update the chemical inventory the campus safety office asks for.
- Supervise student workers and teaching assistants who set up and break down lab sections.
- Monitor the supply budget and flag overspending to the faculty director early.
- Coordinate lab moves, renovations and new equipment installs with facilities staff and vendors.
Required Skills and Qualifications
To succeed as a laboratory coordinator, you will need the following skills and qualifications:
- Lab safety rules for chemicals, biological materials and compressed gases
- Ordering and inventory systems, plus Excel
- Care of instruments, from balances to microscopes
- Core facility booking software such as iLab
- Budget tracking against grant and department accounts
- Patience when teaching students and new users
- Organized enough to juggle many small requests at once
- Basic troubleshooting before calling a service engineer
Education and Training
A few years as a lab technician is a common stepping stone to this post. Many coordinators hold a bachelor's in chemistry, biology or physics, although science technicians in general often start with an associate's degree. Training courses from instrument vendors are worth taking if you will look after shared equipment.
Salary and Job Outlook
Typical pay: varies widely for this role, and BLS does not publish pay for it separately. In the wider BLS group it belongs to (Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians, All Other), the middle half of earners made $48,030 to $79,780 a year, and the median was $62,280.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians, All Other.
Growth here is modest. In fact, employment in this catch-all group of life, physical and social science technicians is projected to rise about 4 percent from 2025 to 2035, according to BLS. The group still expects about 11,200 openings a year. In smaller departments, the coordinator often covers ordering, safety and teaching prep alone, which makes the job a good training ground for lab management.
Outlook source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2025 to 2035, Life, physical, and social science technicians, all other.