Senior Director - Safety, Health and Environment

ASTRAZENECA UK LIMITED; Macclesfield; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading pharmaceuticals company in Macclesfield is seeking a Senior Director of Safety, Health and Environment. This role involves shaping SHE strategy and influencing company policy on global and regional scales. You will lead diverse teams, manage SHE compliance, and drive cultural change to enhance safety and environmental performance in a multi-discipline environment. The ideal candidate has significant SHE expertise and a proven track record in change management.

Qualifications

• Significant SHE expertise and knowledge.
• Ability to lead and drive cultural change through process and capability improvement.
• Experience leading a team of senior direct reports with mixed specialisms.

Responsibilities

• Create, define, and implement long-term SHE strategies.
• Develop effective SHE management processes.
• Lead and influence external thinking in SHE.

Skills

SHE expertise

Change management

Stakeholder influence

Financial management

Job description

Responsibilities

• Create, define, and implement long‑term SHE strategies to align with corporate business objectives across diverse service delivery portfolios and complex geographical mixes.
• Develop effective Safety, Health, and Environment management processes that align strategic objectives with internal customer demands.
• Accountable for setting SHE policy and plans at a global or regional level, ensuring local SHE policy organization performance.
• Provide strategic direction through membership in regional or global leadership teams.
• Define and deliver the function's strategy in alignment with the overarching strategic framework.
• Ensure SHE direction and policy align with broader SHE initiatives.
• Lead and influence external thinking in your specialist area, developing innovative approaches with recognized bodies and organizations.
• Oversee compliance reporting processes, monitoring team and functional performance to identify and rectify deficiencies, areas of concern, and non‑compliances.

Qualifications

• Significant SHE expertise and knowledge.
• Professional standard knowledge or practical experience in several functional areas.
• Experience leading a team of senior direct reports with mixed specialisms.
• Significant track record in change management.
• Ability to influence senior stakeholders, including those external to AZ.
• Ability to lead and drive cultural change through process and capability improvement.
• Successful financial management background.

Desirable Skills/Experience

• Experience leading a team across two or more countries.
• Existing strong networks internally and externally to AZ with a particular focus on SHE.

About the Campus & Role

Macclesfield is AstraZeneca's largest UK campus and a major European hub for end‑to‑end medicines development, manufacturing, and supply. It's a truly multi‑discipline campus: research and development sit alongside commercial manufacturing, packaging, quality, clinical supply, and global distribution-plus enterprise functions such as IT, Supply Chain, HR, Legal, Finance, and Procurement—all on one integrated site. For Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) professionals, that means unmatched exposure across the full lifecycle, from molecule development to medicine delivery, and the ability to shape standards that protect people, assets, and the environment across every function.

Introduction to role: As the Senior Director of Safety, Health and Environment, you'll be at the helm of shaping SHE strategy and influencing company policy on a global or regional scale. You'll join a high‑performance operation where flawless delivery includes leading indicators, risk‑based controls, and rigorous management systems. We embed ISO 45001, ISO 14001, and process safety principles into design, commissioning, and daily operations, partnering closely with production, laboratories, engineering, logistics, and enterprise teams to eliminate hazards, reduce risk, and drive continual improvement. Innovation powers how we manage risk and sustainability. Across the campus, digital, data and AI, automation, advanced analytics, and real‑time monitoring enable smarter prevention‑predictive safety insights, exposure reduction, human‑factors design, and next‑generation containment and ventilation strategies. You’ll help pioneer solutions that improve safety culture and environmental performance while supporting reliable supply. Our connected community of operations, quality, engineering, sustainability, IT, Supply Chain, HR, and Legal accelerates your development. With this breadth on site, you’ll influence design and change at source, lead cross‑functional initiatives, and build deep expertise in areas such as process safety management, industrial hygiene, laboratory safety, contractor management, emergency preparedness, regulatory compliance, and environmental stewardship. Your impact will be visible and meaningful. Macclesfield supplies over 100 million packs of medicine each year to patients worldwide and is advancing our commitment to carbon zero by the end of 2025. In SHE, you will safeguard our people and neighbours, reduce environmental footprint (energy, water, waste, emissions), and strengthen resilience—so lifesaving medicines reach patients safely and sustainably.

Our Culture

At AstraZeneca, you'll be part of a pioneering Operations function during an exciting time of growth and evolution. We empower our teams to foster a Lean mindset and sustainable practices, driving better outcomes for patients. With cross‑functional working practices, we adapt and evolve to overcome obstacles, ensuring everyone's voice is heard. Our supportive environment encourages trust and respect, making our sites more than just workplaces but homes for our family. Here, you can expect new challenges every day while contributing to life‑changing medicines. When we put unexpected teams in the same room, we unleash bold thinking with the power to inspire life‑changing medicines. In‑person working gives us the platform we need to connect, work at pace and challenge perceptions. We balance the expectation of being in the office while respecting individual flexibility. Join us in our unique and ambitious world. If you're motivated by scale, complexity, and purpose—and want to see your work translate directly into safer operations and better environmental outcomes—Macclesfield is where you can do your best work in Safety, Health and Environment.