Director, Environmental Health & Safety

Location: Torrington, CT, US, 06790

About the role

We are seeking an experienced Director, Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) to own and elevate the EH&S function across FuelCell Energy’s multi-facility operations. Reporting to the Vice President, Chief of Staff Operations, this leader sets the enterprise EH&S vision, strategy, and management systems; ensures regulatory compliance; and drives a proactive, employee-driven safety culture during a period of major manufacturing scale-up. This is both a strategic and hands-on leadership role.

The Director will build, lead, and develop a multi-disciplinary EH&S team — including managers, engineers, and site safety representatives — while partnering closely with Operations, Manufacturing, Field Service, Engineering, Facilities, Quality, Human Resources, Finance, and senior leadership to embed EH&S into daily operations, capital projects, and every stage of the company’s production ramp. The role carries executive- and Board-level visibility and accountability for EH&S performance across the enterprise.

Responsibilities

• Leadership & Strategy
  • Set and own the enterprise EH&S vision, multi-year strategy, and annual objectives; establish standards, policies, and continuous-improvement expectations across all FCE sites and field operations.
  • Build, lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing EH&S team; provide coaching and career development to managers, engineers, and site safety representatives.
  • Drive a management-supported, employee-driven safety culture that proactively eliminates hazards through achievement of daily, monthly, and annual safety goals.
  • Serve as the senior EH&S advisor to executive leadership; prepare and deliver Board-level slides, communications, and technical reports.
  • Define, track, and achieve sustained improvement to top-quartile performance in EH&S KPIs — including recordable incidents, near misses, leading indicators, risk scores, and audit findings.
  • Own the EH&S budget, resources, systems, and vendor relationships to support effective program execution and scale.
• Regulatory Compliance
  • Ensure compliance with all federal, state, local, and corporate environmental and safety regulations (e.g., OSHA, EPA, DOT, State Environmental Agencies – i.e. CT, NY, CA), and with corporate EH&S policies and procedures.
  • Own OSHA compliance programs, including but not limited to OSHA 300 recordkeeping, hazard communication, lockout/tagout, confined space, machine guarding, respiratory protection, electrical safety, fall protection, hot work, and personal protective equipment.
  • Direct environmental compliance programs, including air permitting (Clean Air Act), stormwater (SWPPP), spill prevention (SPCC), hazardous waste generation and disposal (RCRA), chemical management, and emergency planning and community right-to-know (EPCRA).
  • Maintain required regulatory and agency permits and paperwork in a timely manner, and own the corporate EH&S compliance calendar.
  • Serve as the primary liaison with regulatory agencies, external auditors, consultants, and insurance representatives; lead regulatory inspections and agency interactions.
  • Lead the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of formal EH&S management systems, including ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 where pursued.
• Manufacturing Scale-Up & Capital Projects
  • Own the EH&S aspects of the Torrington capacity expansion and manufacturing scale-up — embedding safety and environmental requirements into new production lines, equipment installation, and facility build-out.
  • Lead management-of-change (MOC) and front-end process and design reviews — assessing new processes, equipment, chemicals, and facility layouts for safety, ergonomic, and environmental considerations before commissioning.
  • Establish and lead contractor and construction safety management programs for capital projects, including pre-qualification, orientation, permitting, and on-site oversight.
  • Scale EH&S staffing, training, and infrastructure to keep pace with headcount growth, new shifts, and expanded production throughput.
  • Anticipate emerging regulatory and permitting requirements associated with increased production volumes and communicate business impacts to leadership.
• Operations & Risk Management
  • Oversee EH&S compliance audits, inspections, risk assessments, job hazard analyses, and corrective and preventive action (CAPA) tracking to closure.
  • Lead accident/incident investigations and re-enactments to identify root causes; develop, recommend, and implement corrective actions and share lessons learned.
  • Lead and sustain EH&S continuous improvement / kaizen activity across the organization.
  • Develop and maintain emergency preparedness, crisis-response, evacuation, fire-prevention, and business-continuity safety plans; manage Safety Data Sheets (SDS) and all fire and emergency-response equipment.
  • Partner with HR and Finance to administer the workers’ compensation program and facilitate employees’ safe return to work.
  • Ensure timely communication of critical metrics, incident reporting, incident-reduction activities, training, and employee involvement.
• Field Service & Multi-Site Operations
  • Extend EH&S programs, standards, and oversight to field service, installation, commissioning, maintenance, and customer-site work.
  • Assess and mitigate EH&S risks related to equipment, installations, and high-risk field activities — including electrical safety, crane and rigging operations, and work at customer and project sites.
  • Develop, deliver, and sustain safety orientation and required training for employees, supervisors, managers, contractors, and field personnel to comply with OSHA, corporate, and site protocols.
• General
  • Stay current on regulatory changes and industry best practices, and translate them into practical, business-aware guidance for leadership.
  • Perform other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Education & Experience
  • Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Health & Safety, Occupational Health & Safety, Environmental Science, Engineering, Industrial Hygiene, or a related field is required; a Master’s degree is preferred.
  • Minimum of eight to ten (8 - 10) years of progressive EH&S experience in a manufacturing, industrial, energy, or technical-operations environment, including at least three (3) years of EH&S leadership or people-management responsibility.
  • Demonstrated experience managing EH&S programs across multiple sites, departments, or geographically dispersed teams.
  • Demonstrated experience developing EH&S management systems, risk assessments, and process-control tools, and leading regulatory inspections, compliance audits, and corrective-action programs.
  • Experience supporting capital projects, plant expansions, or manufacturing scale-up (including contractor safety and management-of-change) is strongly preferred.
  • Experience with ISO 14001 / ISO 45001 or other formal EH&S accreditations is strongly desired.
• Certifications
  • Certified Safety Professional (CSP) — required or strongly preferred.
  • Associate Safety Professional (ASP), Certified Hazardous Materials Manager (CHMM), or Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) are desirable.
  • OSHA 30-Hour General Industry certification.
• Critical Competencies & Skills
  • Deep knowledge of EH&S regulatory requirements at the federal and state level (e.g., OSHA, EPA, State Environmental Agencies – i.e. CT, CA, NY), in addition to corporate environmental and safety policies and procedures.
  • Executive presence and leadership skills to guide business leaders and employees with technical expertise, EH&S knowledge, and hands-on implementation of related initiatives.
  • Strong interpersonal skills that foster teamwork and collaboration, and the ability to build high-quality relationships that influence, gain support, and achieve results — with coworkers, senior leadership, and external agencies.
  • Program- and project-management and organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously with attention to detail and accuracy.
  • Professional oral, written, and presentation skills — communicating clearly, persuasively, and credibly to all levels of the organization, including executive leadership and the Board.
  • Problem-solving, critical-thinking, and analytical skills, including the ability to identify underlying issues, trends, and cause-and-effect relationships and to make data-driven decisions.
  • Results-oriented, with a strong sense of urgency and the discipline to meet deadlines under time pressure.
  • Intermediate to advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office applications.
• Core Leadership Competencies
  • Strategic leadership & operational execution: sets vision and delivers results in a fast-scaling environment.
  • Regulatory compliance expertise: authoritative command of EH&S law and standards.
  • Risk assessment & hazard mitigation: proactively identifies and reduces risk.
  • Incident investigation & root-cause analysis: drives learning and prevention.
  • Safety culture & employee engagement: builds an employee-driven safety culture.
  • Cross-functional collaboration & influence: aligns partners across the enterprise.
  • Change management & communication: leads through growth and change.
  • Continuous improvement: advances EH&S maturity and performance over time.

Working Conditions & Physical Requirements

• Must be able to work throughout the 170,000-square-foot Torrington manufacturing facility — including the production floor, mechanical rooms, and outdoor grounds; the Danbury location, and outdoor fuel cell power plant installations.
• Role requires work in office, manufacturing, laboratory, warehouse, field, and customer-site environments, including walking the manufacturing floor, accessing field work areas, and participating in inspections and incident reviews.
• Travel as needed (estimated 15–25%), including to other FCE locations and job sites; international travel may be required as the company grows.
• Must be able and willing to work outside of core business hours in response to business needs.
• Willing and able to wear required Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), including safety glasses, safety shoes, hard hats, hearing protection, gloves, and other designated PPE.
• Must be able to effectively read, write, and speak English to ensure team communication and to follow written procedures.
• Must have, or be able to obtain, a valid driver’s