Director Global Environmental Affairs

Ingredion Incorporated • Westchester, IL

8d • $181,400 - $241,867 • Onsite

About The Position

The Director, Global Environmental Affairs leads the development and execution of Ingredion’s global environmental strategy by advancing a coordinated, systematic approach to compliance, risk mitigation, and reputation building across all operations. This role drives the development and implementation of the global Environmental, Health, Safety, and Sustainability Management System (EHS&S-MS), conducting a comprehensive annual review, progressing Company Guidelines, and developing new risk-based programs to promote performance improvements and reduce risk. The Director will also drive culture change by communicating expectations and encouraging incident reporting and risk recognition, critically evaluate incident root cause analyses, and develop tools and KPIs to monitor, measure, communicate, and drive the Company’s progress toward mitigation of environmental risks. This role institutes metrics and benchmarks to track environmental compliance, drives continuous improvement, and communicates significant risk issues to senior leaders. Additionally, the Director develops a strategy for negotiating rules and permits with governmental officials, manages the company’s response to government inquiries, and procures, engages, and manages consultant partners. The role also leads the EHS&S risk evaluation process for mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures, oversees consulting partners for risk evaluations, communicates risks to business leaders, and integrates newly acquired facilities into the Ingredion EHS&S culture. The Director provides leadership to Global EHS&S monthly meetings, leads training activities to increase competencies of environmental professionals, builds collaborative partnerships with EHS&S and manufacturing leaders, conducts environmental compliance audits, and serves as the primary point of contact for Global Operations on Environmental Affairs. The role also reviews strategic capital investment projects to ensure environmental compliance and oversees the Environmental Compliance module of the Global EHS&S database.

Requirements

• Minimum of 10 years of experience working in an environmental regulatory function within a complex manufacturing business or consulting.
• Demonstrated experience evaluating risk, compliance issues and fulfilling regulatory requirements in a practical, cost-effective manner.
• Extensive experience in conducting and/or overseeing environmental regulatory compliance and EHS&S-MS audits, prioritizing risk, and developing corrective actions.
• Demonstrated experience in conducting or managing EHS&S due diligence assessments for mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures.
• Experience working in an international context and with people from diverse cultures.
• Proficiency with EHS&S database management systems.
• Successful history negotiating with government agencies on regulatory development and enforcement-related matters.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including formal and informal presentations.
• Bachelor’s degree in the sciences, environment, or (preferably) engineering.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree and professional certifications are a plus.

Responsibilities

• Drive the development and implementation of the global Environmental, Health, Safety, and Sustainability Management System (EHS&S-MS), conducting a comprehensive annual review, progressing Company Guidelines, and developing new risk-based programs to promote performance improvements and reduce risk.
• Drive culture change by communicating expectations and encouraging incident reporting and risk recognition through correct classification of severity.
• Critically evaluate incident root cause analyses and respectfully challenge the sites and segments to complete more in-depth analyses to prevent recurrence through robust corrective actions.
• Develop the tools and KPIs to monitor, measure, communicate, and drive the Company’s progress toward mitigation of environmental risks.
• Institute metrics and benchmarks to track environmental compliance against established goals and recognized standards of excellence.
• Drive continuous improvement to deliver value at the global and segment level regarding regulatory surveillance, environmental reporting, targets and metrics, and community relations initiatives.
• Communicate significant risk issues to the Operations Leadership Team (OLT) and senior leaders with respect to environmental incidents and reporting, root-cause assessments, corrective actions, and non-compliances to drive change and improvements from the top down.
• Develop a strategy for negotiating rules, permits, and other matters with governmental officials.
• Manages and guides the company’s response to government inquiries, enforcement, and other events.
• Procure, engage, and manage consultant partners, including development of scopes of work and requests for proposals, managing change and costs, critiquing reports, and providing feedback.
• Lead the EHS&S risk evaluation process for mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures.
• Oversees consulting partners to complete an evaluation of potential EHS&S and engineering risks with respect to site contamination, non-compliance, safety risks (e.g., combustible dust/explosion prevention, electrical safety, etc.), and the ability to expand operations to meet business objectives.
• Communicate the risks, potential corrective actions, and costs to the business leaders.
• Integrate newly acquired facilities into the Ingredion EHS&S culture.
• Provide leadership to the Global EHS&S monthly meetings with an emphasis on engaging segment and country EHS&S leads to proactively address and solve issues.
• Drives continuous improvements of the meeting and agenda to promote maximum value for the participants.
• Lead activities designed to train and increase the competencies of Ingredion’s environmental professionals and mentor others who have responsibility for environmental affairs.
• Build a collaborative partnership with segment EHS&S and manufacturing leaders to drive environmental compliance practices throughout the organization.
• Conduct environmental compliance and EHS&S-MS audits of manufacturing facilities and use site auditing as an opportunity to build strong local relationships.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for Global Operations on Environmental Affairs to promote regulatory compliance, fulfillment of Company requirements, and advancement of Company initiatives.
• Review strategic capital investment projects to ensure environmental compliance is addressed
• Oversee the Environmental Compliance module of the Global EHS&S database, ensuring that it is properly maintained, consistently implemented across all sites, and effectively utilized to support transparency and alignment in environmental compliance management.

Benefits

• Competitive salary and performance-based pay
• Health, long-term savings, and resources for your physical, mental, and emotional well-being
• Learning, training, and development opportunities, including tuition reimbursement
• A culture of real-time appreciation, with personalized recognition rewards globally
• Provides exclusive discounts on everyday products, services, and travel.
• medical, dental and vision coverage
• 401(k) plan with an competitive company match

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director