Toxicologist III

Toxicologist III

County employees are subject to the County Promotion Rule for Step Placement in Accordance with Compensation Ordinance 1.3.5.

• June 2026 – 3.60% increase to base pay (3.5% Across-the-Board + 0.10% Market Adjustment)
• June 2027 – 3.10% increase to base pay (3% Across-the-Board + 0.10% Market Adjustment)

Toxicologists are professional laboratory scientists responsible for conducting chemical and toxicological analysis as part of the investigation to determine the cause of death. Toxicologist classes are allocated only to the Medical Examiner's Department. This class differs from the Criminalist class series in that Criminalists perform a wide variety of forensic analyzes on physical evidence that is used in law enforcement investigations.

Toxicologist III is the lead level professional class in the Toxicologist series. The ideal candidate will oversee daily operations and serve as a lead worker providing technical guidance, training subordinate toxicologists and conducting the most complex examinations. This class differs from the next higher class, Forensic Toxicology Laboratory Manager, in that the latter is a first line supervisor responsible for the Toxicology Section of the Medical Examiner's department and the overall supervision and evaluation of all toxicologists.

Duties include but are not limited to the following:
Oversee daily laboratory operations and maintain efficient workflow, assign toxicology testing, prioritize cases, and daily check-ins with staff. Maintain operational documents and implement corrective actions as needed, design training programs for staff, partnering with QA/QC Leads. Operate and troubleshoot advanced instrumentation. Interpret complex data analyses, ensure accurate reporting. Understand the principles and practices of postmortem forensic toxicology pharmacology and analytical chemistry.

Duties include but are not limited to the following: independently review data packets for completeness, adhere to standard operating procedures and accreditation requirements, ensuring technical accuracy. Ensure that results and interpretations are objective, defensible, and unbiased. Manage quality control materials and reference materials, monitor trends and systematic errors, report quality control issues, and collaborate with the Forensic Toxicology Laboratory Manager on process improvements and updates.

Duties include but are not limited to the following: perform independent method development and validation to ensure that analytical methods used to identify analytes in biological matrices via screening and confirmation are accurate, precise, reliable, and compliant with current scientific standards and accreditation requirements. Collaborate with the Daily Operations and QA/QC Technical Leads to provide seamless integration of newly validated methods.

for the complete job description of Toxicologist III.

Take a short look inside the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office, illustrating its role as an active partner and regional leader in providing information, comfort and safety to San Diego and its surrounding communities.

• Acts as a lead worker providing technical guidance and training to subordinate toxicologists.
• Assists the Forensic Toxicology Laboratory Manager in scheduling laboratory personnel.
• Handles the most complex examinations and analyses.
• Evaluates all evidence submitted for analysis to determine if the quality and quantity is adequate for scientific testing, performs detailed and complex qualitative and quantitative evaluations of forensic specimens to include blood, urine, tissue, vitreous and other biologic specimens, or physical evidence.
• Identifies, confirms and quantifies levels of drugs and/or chemicals using a variety of laboratory and analytical procedures (e.g., GC, GC/MS, LC/MS, LC/MS/MS, etc.).
• Follow standard forensic toxicology and chemistry analytical procedures consistent with the Laboratory's Standard Operating Procedures.
• Reviews and updates laboratory procedures at the direction of the Forensic Toxicology Laboratory Manager.
• Prepares reports on findings, including analytical calculations, and maintains an accurate and precise record of all work performed.
• Reviews, authorizes reports, and determines qualification on physiological specimens in accordance with specified methods and the analysis of testing performed from external reference laboratories.
• May testify in court to report laboratory findings and explain the theory, principles, and methods of analysis to support the laboratory findings and technical details.

The timeline for this recruitment is…