Environmental Compliance Manager (Field Based)

ERM • Richmond, VA

11d • Onsite

About The Position

ERM is hiring an Environmental Compliance Manager (Owner Advisor) in Richmond, Virginia, to serve as a trusted partner to a key pharmaceutical client’s project leadership and delivery teams. The role supports environmental stewardship and regulatory compliance across a large, fast-paced capital project. Acting on behalf of the client, the manager provides owner-side environmental leadership across construction management, design-build teams, and contractors, helping anticipate environmental risks, implement controls, and meet compliance obligations through visible field presence and leadership influence.

This is a full-time role of 40 or more hours per week for a limited term of one year, with potential to extend. The position requires coordination with client environmental subject-matter experts, permitting resources, construction management, contractors, waste vendors, and site teams. The work spans field verification, compliance framework development, environmental performance tracking, incident response, waste and chemical management, and environmental readiness for startup and commissioning.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Environmental Science, or equivalent experience.
• At least 8 years of environmental experience, including significant experience supporting large construction or capital projects.
• Demonstrated ability to operate as an owner-side environmental leader, balancing field verification with programmatic oversight.
• Strong working knowledge of construction-phase environmental compliance domains, including stormwater, spill prevention, waste management, and air and dust controls.
• Ability to translate environmental requirements into practical execution through others.
• Experience influencing construction management and contractor performance and driving accountability without direct line authority.
• Strong communication skills, including the ability to deliver concise, executive-level updates using metrics and risk-based insights.
• Experience conducting environmental audits or assessments and verifying effective corrective-action closure.
• High standards for documentation quality, data integrity, and compliance reporting.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in life sciences, pharmaceutical, or similarly regulated industries.
• Familiarity with environmental management system concepts and continuous improvement practices.

Responsibilities

• Provide owner-side environmental compliance leadership across the project, ensuring alignment with applicable local, state, and federal requirements and client expectations.
• Establish and maintain a project-specific environmental compliance framework defining requirements, roles, and interfaces for construction management and contractor execution.
• Maintain a strong field presence to verify that environmental controls, practices, and behaviors align with approved plans and permit obligations.
• Quality-check contractor and construction management environmental inspections and documentation, confirming inspections occur at the appropriate cadence and are effective.
• Coach construction management and contractor teams on environmental findings, gaps, and emerging risks, and drive timely, sustainable corrective actions without direct authority.
• Identify, assess, and prioritize environmental risks through regulatory aspect and gap reviews, and recommend risk-based mitigation strategies.
• Support development, review, and continuous improvement of project environmental plans and procedures to ensure they are executable and field-ready.
• Partner with client environmental subject-matter experts and permitting resources to keep construction activities aligned with permit conditions and reporting expectations.
• Develop, track, and communicate environmental performance metrics, trends, and key risks to project and executive leadership.
• Participate in environmental incident and spill investigations, ensuring appropriate containment, root-cause identification, and preventive actions.
• Coordinate with waste vendors and site teams to support compliant waste handling, profiling, storage, and disposal.
• Support chemical inventory management and applicable regulatory reporting by ensuring data accuracy and clear ownership for updates.
• Serve as a primary point of contact for environmental questions requiring practical judgment regarding changing scope, sequencing, or site conditions.
• Support environmental readiness for startup and commissioning by verifying that environmental requirements are integrated into transition plans.

What This Job Offers

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