Safety, Health & Environment Director

Greencore; Leeds; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Annual performance bonus

Long-term incentive opportunity

Family private medical cover

Pension contributions

Life assurance

Share save scheme

Employee discount platform

Wellbeing platform

Job summary

Greencore is seeking a seasoned Safety, Health and Environment Director to shape strategy, standards and culture across a large, multi-site food-manufacturing group. This executive role requires credibility in the boardroom while maintaining strong connections with operational teams.

You will drive risk management, regulatory compliance and transformational change across the business. You will lead a Centre of Excellence for SHE, partner with senior stakeholders, and champion sustainable safety

Qualifications

• Senior enterprise-level leadership experience in Safety, Health and Environment across a large, multi-site organisation.
• Proven track record of leading SHE strategy and governance in a food manufacturing context.
• Current Chartered status with IOSH (CMIOSH or CFIOSH) and up-to-date regulatory knowledge.
• Experience of regulatory processes, risk oversight and insurance risk.
• Ability to influence executive leaders and shape company-wide safety culture.

Responsibilities

• Develop and lead the Group SHE strategy, translating it into standards, frameworks and implementation plans.
• Provide visible leadership for behavioural and cultural change across the organisation.
• Establish Group-wide performance, assurance, incident and risk-management processes.
• Interpret legislation and regulations to ensure risks are understood and mitigated.
• Advise executives on SHE risk related to strategic growth, acquisitions and due diligence.
• Build and lead a Centre of Excellence for SHE and broaden governance across functions.

Skills

SHE leadership

Regulatory knowledge

Stakeholder management

Change management

Risk management

Communication

Business partnering

Education

IOSH Chartered status

Job description

Following the combination with Bakkavor in January 2026, we're one of the UK's leading creators of convenience food, driven by a simple purpose: to make everyday taste better.

As a vibrant and fast-moving business, we're proud to employ over 28,000 talented colleagues across 36 manufacturing sites and 21 distribution depots in the UK and the US. Together, we bring delicious food to life. Our products cover every meal occasion from breakfast through to dinner and dessert, with lunch and snacking in between. In FY25, our shared passion helped us achieve combined revenues of approximately £4bn.

Our extensive direct-to-store network enables us to deliver fresh and frozen food, both our own and from trusted partners, to thousands of stores every day.

This is a significant moment for Greencore. As our new Safety, Health and Environment Director, you'll have the opportunity to shape the strategy, standards and culture of an enlarged organisation and make a lasting difference to colleagues across our business.

What you'll be doing

Reporting at executive level, you'll provide enterprise leadership for Safety, Health and Environment through a Centre of Excellence model. You'll set the strategic direction and establish the policies, standards, assurance and capability needed to protect our people, enable safe growth and embed a proactive, values-led safety culture.

You will:

• Develop and lead the Group SHE strategy, translating it into clear standards, frameworks and implementation plans across the business.
• Provide visible leadership for behavioural and cultural change, building ownership and capability among leaders and operational teams.
• Establish consistent Group-wide performance, assurance, incident and risk-management processes that generate insight and drive continuous improvement.
• Interpret changing legislation and regulation, ensuring risks are understood, mitigated and managed effectively.
• Advise executive leaders on SHE risk across business activity, strategic growth, acquisitions and due diligence.
• Build and lead a high performing SHE Centre of Excellence and strengthen capability across a wider professional community of approximately 130 colleagues.
• Work with senior governance stakeholders on regulatory processes, insurance risk, claims management and plc-level oversight.
• Represent Greencore with regulators, industry bodies and other external stakeholders, enhancing our reputation and influence.
• Lead the environmental dimension of the Group SHE agenda and support delivery of our wider sustainability commitments.

The role will ideally be based at our Leeds Head office and will involve regular travel across our UK manufacturing and distribution network.

What we're looking for

What we're looking for

We're looking for an established senior SHE leader who can operate credibly in the boardroom while remaining connected to the operational realities of a large, multi-site food-manufacturing organisation. This is a senior enterprise appointment requiring directly relevant scale and sector credibility; it is not intended as a first move into food manufacturing or a speculative step up.

You will bring:

• Senior enterprise-level leadership experience in Safety, Health and Environment across a large, complex and geographically dispersed organisation.
• Substantial senior SHE leadership experience in food manufacturing. Exceptionally, we may consider a closely comparable high-volume, multi-site and highly regulated manufacturing environment with a genuinely similar operational-risk profile and workforce complexity.
• Current Chartered status with IOSH (CMIOSH or CFIOSH) and up-to-date knowledge of relevant legislation and regulation.
• A strong record of developing and implementing SHE strategy, standards and governance across a complex organisation.
• Evidence of leading large-scale transformation or integration, including behavioural and cultural change, leadership alignment and the implementation of consistent standards across previously distinct operations.
• Experience of regulatory processes, risk oversight, insurance risk and claims management.
• The credibility to influence, advise and constructively challenge executive leaders, operational stakeholders, regulators and external partners.
• Strong communication, judgement and relationship-building skills.

Post-acquisition integration experience and genuine ownership of environmental or sustainability strategy would be particularly valuable.

What you'll get in return

• Competitive salary and job-related benefits
• Annual performance bonus and long-term incentive opportunity
• Family private medical cover
• Competitive matched pension contributions
• Life assurance
• Company share-save scheme
• Exclusive Greencore employee discount platform
• Access to a comprehensive wellbeing platform

Throughout your time at Greencore, you will be supported with development opportunities to help you succeed and continue building your career.