Director Health, Safety and Environment
About The Position
The Director of Environmental, Health, Safety & Sustainability (EHS&S) provides strategic leadership, vision, and governance for all EHS&S programs across the Boulder and Louisville sites, while also contributing to global or enterprise-wide EHS&S initiatives. This role sets long-term strategy, ensures regulatory and corporate compliance, and drives a proactive, high-performing safety culture that supports laboratory, manufacturing and support operations. The Director is accountable for EHS&S program effectiveness, risk mitigation, organizational readiness, and continuous improvement. This leader partners closely with Operations, Engineering, Manufacturing, Process Development, AFS, Supply Chain, and Quality to ensure robust risk controls, world-class safety behaviors, and seamless integration of EHS&S into business processes. The Director serves as the primary liaison with regulatory agencies, senior leadership, and cross-functional governance bodies. This role oversees a team of EHS&S professionals and cross-functional representatives, develops site and corporate subject matter experts, and ensures consistent execution of EHS&S standards across systems and processes.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in occupational health & safety, environmental science, engineering, or a related technical discipline.
- 12–18 years of progressive EHS&S experience, including substantial leadership responsibility in a regulated manufacturing, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, or similar environment.
- Demonstrated experience leading EHS&S strategy, regulatory compliance programs, and cross-functional safety initiatives at the site or enterprise level.
- Proven ability to interact with regulatory agencies, provide executive-level guidance, and lead organizational readiness for inspections and audits.
- Relevant professional training and/or certifications in regulated safety and environmental programs, such as: RCRA Hazardous Waste Management DOT Hazardous Materials Shipping First Aid/CPR/AED (Instructor-level preferred) 30-Hour OSHA General Industry Certification 40-Hour HAZWOPER Certification
Nice To Haves
- Experience working in a cGMP manufacturing environment (biotechnology, pharmaceutical, or medical device industries).
- Broad understanding of laboratory, pilot-scale, and commercial operations typical of the biotechnology/pharmaceutical sector.
- Experience directing or influencing EHS&S programs across multiple sites or supporting global safety initiatives.
- Demonstrated ability to lead cultural transformation, organizational capability building, and high-impact safety performance improvements.
- Additional professional certifications (e.g., CSP, CIH, CHMM) strongly preferred
Responsibilities
- Strategic Leadership & Governance Develop and implement the long-term EHS&S strategy for the Boulder and Louisville sites, ensuring alignment with corporate goals and regulatory expectations.
- Lead site-level EHS&S governance, performance management, and strategic risk reviews.
- Provide enterprise-level leadership by contributing to, influencing, or directing EHS&S initiatives across multiple KBI locations
- Regulatory Compliance & Risk Management Ensure compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local EHS&S laws and regulations, and anticipate emerging regulatory requirements.
- Serve as primary point of contact for EHS&S regulatory agencies and inspections.
- Oversee environmental permitting, waste management, wastewater sampling and reporting, and sustainability initiatives.
- Lead complex risk assessments, process hazard analyses, and enterprise risk reduction programs.
- Program Ownership & Continuous Improvement Direct the implementation, integration, and continuous improvement of all site EHS&S programs (e.g., LOTO, confined space, industrial hygiene, hazard communication, PPE, workers' compensation, emergency management).
- Manage EHS budget including budget preparation, purchase order creation and cost center management.
- Oversee EHS&S assessments for new product introductions, new processes, and facility modifications.
- Sponsor initiatives to enhance environmental stewardship, energy efficiency, and sustainability performance.
- Culture, Training & Organizational Development Champion a strong, positive safety culture and behaviors across laboratory, manufacturing, and support operations.
- Provide leadership development, coaching, and technical guidance to the EHS&S team and cross-functional representatives.
- Develop subject matter experts and build organizational EHS&S capability across sites.
- Operational Support & Incident Management Oversee response to EHS&S incidents, near misses, and emergencies; ensure effective investigation, corrective actions, and learning dissemination.
- Ensure timely, accurate reporting of EHS&S metrics, compliance reviews, KPIs, and executive-level dashboards.
- Drive standardization and harmonization of EHS&S systems, procedures, and documents; review and approve key EHS&S documentation.
Benefits
- KBI has a robust total rewards strategy which includes an annual bonus structure for all employees, medical, dental, and vision coverage, paid PTO and holidays, 401K matching with 100% vesting in 60 days and employee recognition programs.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Director
Number of Employees
501-1,000 employees
