Senior Director of Safety

GEODIS • Brentwood, TN

9d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Director of Safety provides strategic leadership, governance, and operational oversight for enterprise-wide health and safety across a multi-site logistics, warehousing, transportation, and distribution network. The role designs and executes a comprehensive safety management system to minimize workplace hazards, ensure regulatory compliance, drive operational excellence, reduce enterprise risk, improve sustainability performance, and strengthen ESG reporting and CSR initiatives within Health and Safety responsibilities.

The Senior Director partners with executive leadership and teams across operations, engineering, facilities, procurement, HR, transportation, and customer-facing functions to improve safety performance and drive continuous improvement. The position directly influences operational performance, regulatory compliance, customer confidence, ESG credibility, and long-term enterprise value. It requires 40–50% travel for site visits, audits, customer meetings, incident reviews, and strategic initiatives.

GEODIS is a global third-party logistics provider. The role follows a hybrid schedule requiring four days in the office per week, with the flexibility to work remotely one day each week.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Environmental, Health & Safety, Engineering, Industrial Hygiene, Occupational Safety, Environmental Science, or a related field.
• 8–10+ years of progressive EHS leadership experience.
• 5+ years leading multi-site EHS programs.
• Strong experience in high-volume, fast-paced operational environments.
• Expert-level command of OSHA, EPA, and DOT/FMCSA frameworks encompassing warehouse and transportation safety, industrial hygiene, root cause analysis, risk assessments, incident investigation, CAPA systems, and workers’ compensation management.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree.
• Experience supporting customer-facing logistics operations.
• Experience leading ESG, sustainability, or decarbonization initiatives.
• Certifications such as CSP, CIH, CHMM, or Six Sigma.

Responsibilities

• Design, author, and execute enterprise-wide safety strategies aligned with business growth.
• Advise executive leadership on safety risk, cost volatility, and long-term enterprise value.
• Establish and authorize enterprise-wide health and safety standards, policies, procedures, and governance frameworks across a multi-site network.
• Partner with Operations, Engineering, Facilities, Procurement, HR, and Transportation to integrate Health and Safety into daily business decisions.
• Ensure Health and Safety representation, due diligence, and management of change during site start-ups, facility expansions, customer implementations, automation and capital projects, and acquisitions.
• Align operational safety benchmarks with customer expectations to protect brand reputation and strengthen customer confidence.
• Develop and continuously improve safety programs covering material handling equipment, forklift and PIT safety, dock safety, ergonomics, contractor safety, hazard communication, and emergency response.
• Drive incident prevention to reduce injury frequency and severity and associated workers’ compensation costs.
• Oversee enterprise incident reporting, root cause analysis, and learning reviews for serious injuries and near misses, ensuring sustainable corrective and preventive actions.
• Maintain compliance and manage relationships with external regulatory bodies under OSHA guidelines.
• Lead internal health and safety inspections and compliance audits, monitor regulatory changes, and implement required operational adjustments.
• Direct, coach, and develop succession plans for a regional team that includes Regional EHS Directors, Sustainability Managers, Environmental/Safety Managers, Transportation Safety Managers, and EHS Coordinators.
• Lead training to improve safety leadership, hazard recognition, forklift certification, and reporting competency.
• Drive behavioral change, operational discipline, employee engagement, ownership, and accountability at all leadership levels.
• Establish enterprise scorecards, dashboards, and KPI tracking systems, and present accurate data, recordkeeping, and performance trends to executive leadership.
• Own performance data for safety KPIs, including TRIR, DART, Lost Time Incident Rate, Severity Rate, Workers’ Compensation Costs, Near Miss Rates, CAPA Closure Rates, and Audit Scores.
• Travel 40–50% for site visits, audits, customer meetings, incident reviews, and strategic initiatives.

Benefits

• Early access to wages through the Rain financial wellness app.
• Free telemedical access to doctors and therapists through FirstStop Health, available from the first day of employment.
• Health, dental, and vision insurance after 30 days of employment.
• 401(k) match.
• Paid maternity and paternity leave.
• Career development, employee resource groups, and mentorship programs.
• Employee discounts.
• Fitness class discounts and free access to a relaxation and meditation app.
• Free financial wellness programs.
• Daycare discount program.
• Opportunities to volunteer and give back to the community.

What This Job Offers

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