Director, Sustainability Strategy & Governance

Baxter•Deerfield, IL

63d•$184,000 - $230,000

About The Position

The Director of Sustainability Strategy & Governance provides enterprise-wide leadership to advance Baxter's sustainability strategy through robust governance, policy development, and program execution. This role manages the governance structure, ensuring seamless coordination between Sustainability Councils and real-time scorecards to track progress against KPIs and milestones. The Director drives the creation and updates of cross-cutting sustainability policies-including Climate, Plastics, and Circular Economy-while leading the EcoDesign program across commercial, operational, and customer-facing areas to embed sustainability into product and process innovation. Additionally, the Director of Sustainability Strategy & Governance curates customer and internal case studies for external release, elevating Baxter's brand identity and demonstrating value creation through sustainability initiatives. This position also oversees the annual update to the sustainability materiality assessment, working across the enterprise and scanning industry trends and segment opportunities to expand Baxter's sustainability program and maintain a leadership position. Success in this role requires strategic vision, strong governance expertise, and the ability to translate sustainability performance into actionable programs. The person in this role will cultivate relationships across the enterprise, including procurement, segment business teams, EHS, operations, communications, finance, legal, and marketing. Essential to this role is to work well in a collaborative, matrix environment which is nimble with a bias for action.

Requirements

10+ years of professional experience with 5+ years of leadership experience; preference of this experience within a sustainability function
Strong relationship building acumen; ability to understand, articulate and engage on multiple priorities at all levels across a large global/regional organization, and ability to build and maintain relationships with a diversity of external stakeholders
Excellent leadership, management, organizational, time and project management skills; strong analytical and problem-solving skills and demonstrated ability to drive change and achieve results
Strong business acumen; possess a working knowledge of related disciplines/other functions including R&D, legal, compliance, finance, manufacturing and supply chain
Ability to influence and interface effectively with site/regional/corporate leadership teams as well as organizations outside Baxter including a variety of external trade associations and membership groups
BS or BA degree required

Nice To Haves

Master's degree in business administration, environmental science, sustainability and/or professional certifications that demonstrate relevant subject matter expertise highly preferred

Responsibilities

Manage the enterprise sustainability governance structure, ensuring alignment across Sustainability Councils and facilitating cross-functional coordination for accountability and timely execution.
Oversee real-time scorecards and KPIs, including communication and monthly reviews with Sustainability Leadership Teams to ensure proper follow-up and mitigation plans.
Monitor progress against milestones and drive continuous improvement in sustainability performance across the organization.
Drive creation of cross-cutting sustainability policies (e.g., Plastics Policy, Circular Economy, Climate Policy).
Ensure policies align with global standards and support Baxter's long-term sustainability commitments.
Develop and manage the EcoDesign program across product development, operations, customer-facing and end-of-life.
Embed sustainability principles into product design and lifecycle management.
Lead enterprise projects including the annual update to the sustainability materiality assessment, identifying opportunities to strengthen Baxter's sustainability program.
Benchmark against industry trends and competitor practices to maintain leadership positioning.

Benefits

Baxter offers comprehensive compensation and benefits packages for eligible roles.
Our health and well-being benefits include medical and dental coverage that start on day one, as well as insurance coverage for basic life, accident, short-term and long-term disability, and business travel accident insurance.
Financial and retirement benefits include the Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP), with the ability to purchase company stock at a discount, and the 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan (RSP), with options for employee contributions and company matching.
We also offer Flexible Spending Accounts, educational assistance programs, and time-off benefits such as paid holidays, paid time off ranging from 20 to 35 days based on length of service, family and medical leaves of absence, and paid parental leave.
Additional benefits include commuting benefits, the Employee Discount Program, the Employee Assistance Program (EAP), and childcare benefits.

Stand Out From the Crowd

Upload your resume and get instant feedback on how well it matches this job.

Upload and Match Resume