How To Become A Laboratory Administrator: What It Is and Career Path

What is a laboratory administrator and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Maryam Farahani

The primary responsibilty of a laboratory administrator is to keep their laboratory running as efficiently as possible. Along with managing staff and their timetables, laboratory administrators work with partners inside and outside the organization to help fulfill their needs. Laboratory administrators are in charge of prioritizing each project and supervising the workload within the establishment. They not only need to have great leadership and motivation skills, but having a quality understanding of problem-solving will be essential in your position, as laboratory adminstrators are typically the first line of defense when things go wrong. Anticipating possible problems is also routine when mapping out the day's duties.

This is an experience heavy position and as such, many companies will require a bachelor's degree specializing in a field similar to the laboratory's industry. Laboratory administrators traditionally work full-time and can have days that go over ten hours. They're typically the first one in and the last one out of the office. Laboratory administrators can make between $46,000 and $102,000, depending on field, experience, and level of expertise.

What general advice would you give to a laboratory administrator?

Maryam Farahani

Engineering Instructor, Bakersfield College

Thinking about the fields they want to experience or try. And to be intentional about their job search. The best advice is learning as much as they can about what company offers. Visualizing themselves in the next 5 years as a starting point. Do they want to travel a lot, or be in management positions? Do they want to be subject matter expert, or a hands-on engineer or technologist? Their goal may change as they progress in their career but having one makes a big difference in their career choices and keeping them on track.

ScoreLaboratory AdministratorUS Average

Salary

6.5

Avg. Salary $83,338

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.7

Growth rate 5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.31%

Asian 13.38%

Black or African American 8.23%

Hispanic or Latino 11.94%

Unknown 5.03%

White 61.10%

Gender

female 43.43%

male 56.57%

Age - 42

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 42

Stress level

5.7

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.7

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.1

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a laboratory administrator

Explore laboratory administrator education requirements

Most common laboratory administrator degrees

Bachelor's

62.1 %

Associate

16.2 %

Master's

12.5 %

Start to develop specific laboratory administrator skills

Skills	Percentages
Lab Equipment	24.05%
Linux	5.72%
Customer Service	5.50%
Data Entry	5.04%
Chemistry	4.53%

Complete relevant laboratory administrator training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New laboratory administrators learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a laboratory administrator based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real laboratory administrator resumes.

Research laboratory administrator duties and responsibilities

Install and manage Cisco routing and switching equipments, IOS upgrades and configuration changes.
Manage integrated network connectivity, reporting, and troubleshooting including switch, router, and firewall connectivity to increase system stability.
Set up and configure test beds for routers and switches for engineers.
Install and uninstall networking switches, routers, servers, etc., in lab racks.

Prepare your laboratory administrator resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your laboratory administrator resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a laboratory administrator resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

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