Senior Manager, HSE

Zerra DC; Mumbai; On-site; INR 4,000,000 - 6,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Zerra DC in India seeks a Senior Manager, HSE to own safety execution across the India project portfolio, starting with Project Teela at Airoli/Dighe, Navi Mumbai. You will implement the APAC HSE framework consistently across sites and coordinate with the India construction team.

Responsibilities include incident investigations, regulatory compliance, and leading digital HSE capability to deliver transparent reporting and year-on-year safety improvements with a zero LTI mindset.

Qualifications

• 10 to 15 years of progressive HSE experience in complex, high risk construction.
• Experience managing principal contractor HSE obligations in Indian regulatory environment.
• Experience with multiple concurrent projects and mobilising HSE systems.
• Exposure to data centre, HV, or MEP delivery is an advantage.
• Fluency in English and Hindi, or a relevant regional language.

Responsibilities

• Lead investigations for incidents and near misses across India portfolio using structured methods.
• Maintain a live corrective action register with tracked closure dates.
• Coordinate statutory HSE inspections and regulator interactions across India portfolio.
• Build a just culture that distinguishes human error from recklessness and responds proportionately.
• Produce monthly India HSE dashboard and risk registers for governance forums.
• Own India HSE technology stack and digitisation of inductions, permits, inspections, and records.
• Engage with site teams, contractor supervision, regulators and APAC safety function.

Skills

HSE management systems

Investigation

Data & reporting

Contract management

Digital tools

Education

Degree in Occupational Health & Safety

Tools

ICAM

TapRooT

Job description

Zerra develops and operates hyperscale data centre campuses across Australia, Japan and India, delivering capacity at scale into markets driven by the growth of cloud and AI. Our flexible campus developments support hyperscale and neocloud organisations, enabling some of the world's fastest-scaling technology businesses to grow with certainty and ambition.

At Zerra, we empower exceptional people to challenge convention, drive innovation and make a real impact in digital infrastructure. Our culture fuses entrepreneurial agility with global expertise, enabling our teams to deliver results that matter.

Zerra is part of AGP, an independently owned investor and asset manager that develops and operates real assets across the energy, digital and real estate sectors.

Job Description

The Senior Manager, HSE owns HSE execution across Zerra DC's India project portfolio, commencing with Project Teela at Airoli/Dighe, Navi Mumbai. The role sits within the APAC safety function and works alongside the India construction team, applying the APAC HSE framework consistently across every project in the portfolio.

The role owns HSE Management Plan implementation, contractor and OSE vendor HSE compliance, incident investigation, and statutory compliance across the India portfolio, with performance reported transparently into the APAC HSE Leadership Forum and India construction governance.

Success is measured by zero LTIs across the India portfolio, full compliance with Indian regulatory requirements, and year on year improvement in leading indicators, delivered through a function that contractors and their subcontractors treat as enabling, not obstructive.

Site HSE Execution & Contractor Accountability

Safety outcomes across the India portfolio are made or lost on site, day to day, contractor by contractor.

• Implement the APAC HSE Management Plan and site safety plans across all active work fronts in the India portfolio, covering the data centre buildings, campus substations, and external grid connectivity works.
• Review and approve contractor and OSE vendor HSE Management Plans, method statements, and emergency response plans before any site activity commences.
• Establish site-embedded HSE resourcing on each project as it activates, so that the standard is applied consistently across trades, shifts, and projects.
• Use HSE performance data in contractor performance reviews and reappointment recommendations, surfacing risk with the India construction team before it becomes exposure.

Incident Management & Investigation

• Lead investigations for all incidents and near misses across the India portfolio, applying structured methodology (ICAM or TapRooT) and delivering completed reports within defined SLAs.
• Maintain a live corrective action register with tracked closure dates, surfacing overdue actions before they become repeat exposure.
• Manage notifiable incident reporting and regulatory authority interactions across the India portfolio, coordinating formal submissions with the APAC safety function and Zerra Legal.
• Build a just culture across every India site that distinguishes human error from recklessness and responds proportionately.

Regulatory Compliance & Statutory Coordination

• Maintain the India compliance matrix across Indian labour law, the Factories Act, CEA requirements, fire NOC, and the state level requirements of each jurisdiction the portfolio operates in.
• Confirm that mandatory inductions, permits to work, LOTO procedures, and HV safety protocols are applied consistently across all trades, shifts, and projects.
• Track legislative change and update the portfolio's compliance position ahead of obligations taking effect.
• Coordinate statutory HSE inspections and authority audits, closing findings without delay.

Reporting, Risk & Analytics

• Produce the monthly India HSE dashboard (TRIFR, LTIFR, near miss ratios, audit compliance), feeding into the APAC HSE dashboard and India construction reporting.
• Maintain the India critical risk register, reviewed at every programme governance cycle, and provide formal risk opinions ahead of stage gate reviews.
• Report HSE performance honestly into the APAC safety function and India construction governance, including failures, without dilution.

Systems, Digitisation & Capability

• Own the India HSE technology stack, driving digitisation of inductions, permits, inspections, and incident records so that decisions happen at source, in minutes not days.
• Build inspection and reporting templates designed to be scalable, not just compliant, so each new project in the portfolio starts from a proven system rather than a blank page.
• Deliver structured HSE inductions and trade specific toolbox talks, building capability across the contractor and OSE workforce rather than correcting individuals.
• Identify digital HSE platform and automation opportunities without waiting for a regional mandate, and share what works back into the APAC HSE Leadership Forum.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Maintain a visible, regular presence with contractor site teams, subcontractor supervision, and site workers across all active India projects.
• Represent India HSE performance at India construction governance forums and the quarterly APAC HSE Leadership Forum.
• Partner with the India construction team on integrating HSE performance into contractor performance reviews and tender evaluations.
• Work with the APAC safety function to keep the India portfolio aligned to the regional standard, and feed India specific learning back into it.

Safety Leadership (Injury & Incident Free)

This role carries personal accountability for maintaining an Injury & Incident Free (IIF) environment across all activities, teams, and sites it influences.

• Model visible safety leadership through regular, unannounced site visits across the India portfolio; engage directly with workers, contractor supervision, and subcontractors on live site conditions.
• Exercise and enforce stop work authority without hesitation, and create an environment where every person on site feels able to do the same.
• Report safety performance honestly, including failures, and build a just culture that distinguishes human error from recklessness.

Experience, Skills and Competencies

Experience

• 10 to 15 years of progressive HSE experience in complex, high risk construction, with direct site based experience in India.
• Demonstrated track record managing principal contractor HSE obligations in the Indian regulatory environment, including notifiable incidents and formal regulatory investigations.
• Experience covering multiple concurrent projects or work fronts rather than a single site, including mobilisation of HSE systems and resourcing on a new project.
• Data centre, HV, or MEP intensive delivery exposure is an advantage.
• Fluency in English and Hindi, or a relevant regional language, able to operate across Zerra DC's international environment and to lead contractor, vendor, and authority engagement in India.

Skills

• HSE management systems: ISO 45001 design and implementation across multiple project sites.
• Investigation: structured methodologies (ICAM, TapRooT) applied consistently, with corrective actions tracked to closure.
• Data and reporting: HSE analytics and dashboard production for project and regional audiences.
• Contract management: enforcing HSE schedules in principal contractor and OSE vendor contracts.
• Digital tools: proficiency in digital HSE platforms for inductions, permits, inspections, and incident records.

Desirable Qualifications / Professional Certifications

• Degree in Occupational Health & Safety, Engineering, or Construction Management; a postgraduate qualification in HSE management is an advantage.
• Professional membership: National Safety Council (India), IOSH (CMIOSH), or equivalent.
• Auditor certification: ISO 45001 Lead Auditor or Lead Implementer.
• Investigation certification: ICAM or TapRooT Lead Investigator.
• High risk work qualifications, or demonstrated HSE management experience in HV energisation and confined space programmes.

Competencies

Delivery Mindset:Drives corrective action closure across every active project, holds the standard with contractors without hesitation, and measures success through leading indicators, near miss ratios, hazard identification rates and audit compliance, not lagging statistics alone.

Technical Credibility: Builds an operationally present HSE function across the India portfolio that earns its outcomes with contractors, regulators, and the construction team through demonstrated expertise and consistent application of the standard.

Stakeholder Orientation: Engages effectively across site workers, contractor supervision, the India construction team, and Indian regulatory authorities; calibrates content and tone to the audience without diluting the standard.

Analytical Thinking: Identifies systemic issues before they become events through incident data, leading indicators, and audit findings, and presents HSE intelligence in a form that enables programme decisions.

Integrity & Ethics: Reports safety performance honestly, including failures, and refuses to trade genuine safety outcomes for programme schedule or cost.