Ophthalmic Technician Supervisor

Lead Ophthalmic Technician (Supervising Technician)

Overview:

The Lead Ophthalmic Technician plays a vital leadership role in ensuring the smooth, efficient, and high-quality operation of the technician team. This position oversees multiple locations of daily technician workflow, training, and clinical support for providers across all subspecialties. The Lead Ophthalmic Technician acts as the primary resource for troubleshooting equipment, maintaining clinical standards, and fostering teamwork within the ophthalmic and optometric departments. This working manager role bridges patient care and practice operations by ensuring consistency, efficiency, and excellence in every clinical encounter.

Key Responsibilities:

Oversee schedules, daily assignments, and coordination of technicians to providers and clinics to ensure balanced workload and efficient patient flow. Train, mentor, and coach new and existing technicians in ophthalmic testing, documentation, and patient interaction standards. Maintain and enforce clinical protocols for patient workups, diagnostic testing (OCT, VF, topography, photography), and EMR documentation. Lead team huddles to promote communication, clinic flow, patient care goals, and operational readiness. Monitor and track clinic metrics including patient flow, provider efficiency, wait times, productivity, and quality measures to help drive continuous improvement. Collaborate with Clinical Operations leadership to identify process improvements and implement workflow enhancements. Serve as point of contact for equipment troubleshooting, calibration, and maintenance scheduling. Ensure compliance with all clinical quality, HIPAA, and OSHA standards. Assist providers directly with patient care as needed, including refractions, IOP checks, scribing, and diagnostic testing. Support recruitment, onboarding, and performance evaluations within the technician team. Promote a positive, team-oriented culture that aligns with the practice's mission and values.

Qualifications:

High level skill with and knowledge of ophthalmic technician skills, usually acquired through a minimum of 3-5 years of experience in an ophthalmic or optometric clinical setting. Strong communication, leadership, and problem-solving skills with the ability to work collaboratively across multiple providers and departments in a fast-paced environment. High school diploma or equivalent required; associate's or bachelor's degree preferred. Certified Ophthalmic Assistant (COA), Certified Ophthalmic Technician (COT), or Certified Ophthalmic Medical Technologist (COMT) preferred. Familiarity with healthcare compliance, EMR systems (Athena/Nextech a plus), and regulatory standards.