Director, EHSS Standards & Mgmt. Systems
About the role
The Director, EHS&S Standards & Management Systems is a hybrid position based in New Brunswick, NJ (USA). Alternate Hybrid locations may be considered at Raritan, NJ (USA), West Chester, PA (USA), Warsaw, IN (USA), OR Loughbeg, Ringaskiddy; OR St. Anthony's Road, Leeds, UK. This role is available across multiple countries and may be posted under different requisition numbers to comply with local requirements.
Responsibilities
Enterprise ownership and governance of the EHS&S Management System.
Establish and maintain enterprise policy, standards hierarchy, governance model, document architecture, and the management system operating cadence (forums, controls, accountabilities) across all regions and businesses.
Enterprise governance of EHS&S digital systems and SaaS. Own the enterprise oversight model for EHS management platforms, incident management, audit/assurance tools, regulatory tracking, and performance reporting—ensuring standardization, data governance, cybersecurity/controls alignment (as applicable), and analytics strategy for executive and enterprise risk insights.
Set, approve, and continuously evolve global EHS&S standards. Develop, maintain, and approve global standards aligned to current and emerging legal, regulatory, and internationally recognized management system requirements; ensure standards are risk-based, scalable, and auditable across operating models and supplier networks.
Serve as the enterprise interpretive authority and deviation approver. Provide final interpretation of EHS&S standards; approve/deny risk-based deviations and alternative controls; ensure decisions reflect enterprise risk exposure and governance expectations.
Define the enterprise assurance and audit framework (“second line”). Establish and manage the enterprise assurance model aligned with management system expectations, including audit strategy, assurance protocols, independence/segregation-of-duty principles, and escalation pathways for systemic issues and repeated nonconformance.
Leads and develops global EHS&S Standards and Management Systems team. Provide direct management of global process owners for EHS&S Assurance/Strategy/Standards/Operational Effectiveness and EHS&S Insights & Analytics; direct work of digital and assurance/systems management contractors.
Establish enterprise KPIs, maturity indicators, and governance reviews. Define management system effectiveness measures and maturity model indicators; lead governance forums that evaluate EHS&S performance and systemic effectiveness, consistency, and risk trends across businesses/regions; drive enterprise corrective actions for systemic weaknesses.
Embed EHS&S governance into enterprise processes. Embed EHS&S management system requirements into quality systems, capital project governance, change management, and supplier oversight.
Anticipate external trends and evolve standards proactively. Monitor regulatory, sustainability, and energy-related trends; translate emerging requirements into enterprise standards and management system updates before risk is realized in operations or the supply base.
Participate in enterprise risk reviews, support regulatory inspection readiness/response as enterprise governance lead, and represent the enterprise in external benchmarking and standards forums as required.
Qualifications
Required Minimum Education: Bachelor’s degree in safety, environmental, engineering, or related discipline.
Required Years of Related Experience: Typically, 10-12+ years progressive EHS&S and/or governance experience in global, multi-site, or regulated environments, with demonstrated enterprise-level governance/standards authority and cross-domain integration.
Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: Enterprise-level knowledge of global EHS&S legislation and internationally recognized management system expectations; ability to translate requirements into scalable enterprise standards and controls. Demonstrated capability to resolve ambiguous, systemic, enterprise-level problems and cross-domain tradeoffs (e.g., safety vs. environmental vs. operational risk) through governance mechanisms. Executive-level influence skills to lead horizontally across functions and regions; ability to define governance, assurance, success criteria, and decision rights enterprise-wide. Deep knowledge of global EHS&S legislation; ISO 45001, ISO 14001, ISO 50001.
Preferred Minimum Education: Advanced degree in Environmental Science, Engineering, Sustainability, or related field or professional certification (e.g., CSP, CMIOSH, NEBOSH, ISO Lead Auditor).
Preferred Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: Experience in MedTech, pharmaceutical, or highly regulated manufacturing experience.