Health, Safety & Environment (HSE) Director

Snc-Lavalin; Alexandria, Northern (VA, KY); Hybrid; USD 170,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical

Dental

Vision

Life insurance

Disability insurance

401(k) match

Employee stock purchase plan

Paid Time Off

Flexible work options

Employee assistance program

Job summary

AtkinsRéalis is seeking a Health, Safety & Environment (HSE) Director to lead governance across a major pharmaceutical campus on a full-time, on-site basis. The role oversees environmental, health, safety, and process safety performance across contractors and EPC teams, ensuring owner-side standards and regulatory compliance throughout design, construction, commissioning, startup, and operation readiness.

The ideal candidate brings 20+ years of HSE/PSM leadership on large industrial projects,

Qualifications

• 20+ years of HSE, Process Safety or major capital project delivery.
• 10+ years of leadership overseeing HSE programs on large industrial projects.
• Experience on programs > $1B in capital value.
• Pharmaceutical GMP environments preferred.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the owner's senior HSE representative across all capital project activities and EPC organizations.
• Establish and govern owner-side HSE standards, procedures, and assurance programs.
• Lead sitewide HSE governance frameworks aligned with Lilly requirements and regulatory obligations.
• Oversee contractor compliance with HSE requirements and environmental permits.
• Monitor contractor HSE performance through audits, assessments, inspections, and reviews.
• Lead investigations of significant incidents and high-potential events; manage corrective actions.

Skills

HSE governance

Leadership

Contractor management

Incident investigations

Regulatory compliance

Education

Professional certifications (CSP/CIH/CHMM/ASP/PE/CCPSC)

Job description

Job Description Overview

We are seeking a Health, Safety & Environment (HSE) Director to join our team in TX, AL, VA, PA, OH, IN, and WI . Our Pharmaceutical team is growing! The Health, Safety & Environment (HSE) Director serves as the owner's senior HSE governance leader across a major pharmaceutical manufacturing campus. This role provides independent oversight of environmental, health, safety, and process safety performance across all contractors, construction managers, and EPC organizations. Unlike contractor‑led safety positions, this role represents the owner's interests by establishing expectations, verifying compliance, monitoring performance, identifying systemic risks, and ensuring effective management of Process Safety Management (PSM) obligations throughout the project lifecycle. The position acts as the primary owner authority for HSE governance, contractor assurance, serious incident prevention, life‑critical risk management, process safety oversight, regulatory compliance, and continuous improvement initiatives. Success in this role is measured by the effectiveness of HSE governance systems, contractor compliance performance, reduction of serious incidents and high‑potential events, successful regulatory readiness, and achievement of industry‑leading safety outcomes throughout design, construction, commissioning, startup, and operations readiness activities. This is a unique opportunity to help shape and lead one of the largest pharmaceutical manufacturing investments in North America while working alongside industry‑leading professionals on a career‑defining program on a greenfield campus. We are offering a full‑time position with AtkinsRéalis that provides the opportunity to lead complex, high‑profile programs, collaborate with world‑class delivery teams, and receive a highly competitive compensation package with robust benefits.

Your role

• Serve as the owner's senior HSE representative across all capital project activities, contractors, construction managers, and EPC organizations.
• Establish, implement, and govern owner‑side HSE standards, expectations, procedures, and assurance programs across the campus.
• Lead development and execution of sitewide HSE governance frameworks to ensure alignment with Lilly requirements and regulatory obligations.
• Oversee contractor compliance with project HSE requirements, environmental permits, regulatory requirements, and owner standards.
• Monitor and evaluate contractor HSE performance through audits, assessments, inspections, observations, and assurance reviews.
• Lead owner investigations of significant incidents, high‑potential events, process safety concerns, and environmental non‑compliance issues.
• Oversee corrective action management programs and ensure timely closure of identified deficiencies and improvement opportunities.
• Provide independent verification that contractor safety performance data, leading indicators, and lagging indicators are accurate and complete.
• Establish and oversee life‑critical risk management programs including working at height, confined space, lifting operations, energized work, excavation, and contractor control systems.
• Lead Process Safety Management (PSM) oversight activities during design, construction, commissioning, startup, and operational readiness phases.
• Ensure effective management of PSM elements including process hazard analysis, management of change, pre‑startup safety reviews, operating procedures, mechanical integrity, and contractor safety programs.
• Partner with engineering, operations, commissioning, CQV, startup, and project leadership teams to identify and mitigate process safety risks.
• Participate in design and constructability reviews to ensure HSE and PSM requirements are incorporated into project execution strategies.
• Facilitate HSE leadership reviews, executive governance meetings, and contractor performance evaluations.
• Develop executive‑level HSE dashboards, risk assessments, assurance reports, and performance metrics for owner leadership.
• Monitor regulatory developments and ensure project compliance with applicable OSHA, EPA, environmental, and process safety requirements.
• Support emergency preparedness, crisis management planning, incident response readiness, and contractor emergency response coordination.
• Drive continuous improvement through lessons learned programs, trend analysis, and industry best‑practice implementation.
• Promote a culture of safety, environmental stewardship, risk awareness, accountability, and operational excellence across the project.
• Build strong relationships with client leadership, regulatory stakeholders, contractor organizations, and project delivery teams.
• Communicates on a regular basis with clients to assure satisfaction with services provided.
• Direct risk management initiatives and supports enterprise‑wide HSE improvement objectives.
• Obtains client feedback and manages lessons learned processes to improve future program delivery.

About you

• Professional certifications such as CSP, CIH, CHMM, ASP, PE, CCPSC, or equivalent preferred.
• 20+ years of professional experience supporting HSE, Process Safety, industrial operations, construction safety, or major capital project delivery.
• Minimum 10 years of leadership experience overseeing HSE programs on large industrial, manufacturing, chemical, pharmaceutical, energy, infrastructure and projects.
• Demonstrated experience supporting programs exceeding $1billion in capital value.
• Pharmaceutical industry experience preferred; semiconductor, chemical processing, petrochemical, battery manufacturing, energy, advanced manufacturing, or other highly regulated industrial sectors will also be considered.
• Demonstrated experience implementing and governing Process Safety Management programs within complex industrial environments.
• Experience leading incident investigations, root cause analysis programs, corrective action management, and assurance reviews.
• Experience managing contractor HSE compliance and performance across multiple EPC organizations.
• Experience performing HSE audits, management system assessments, and governance reviews.
• Strong understanding of environmental regulatory compliance, permitting obligations, and sustainability considerations.
• Strong understanding of design, construction, commissioning, startup and operational readiness activities from an HSE and PSM perspective.
• Extensive knowledge of OSHA regulations, Process Safety Management, contractor safety management and industrial risk management practices.
• Experience presenting HSE performance, risks, and recommendations to executive leadership teams.
• Familiarity with GMP‑regulated pharmaceutical manufacturing environments preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to identify systemic risks and implement proactive mitigation strategies.
• Exceptional communication, leadership, stakeholder management, and influencing skills.
• Strong analytical, organizational, and problem‑solving capabilities.
• Demonstrated success working on large, fast‑paced programs with multiple contractors and stakeholders.
• Full‑time on‑site engagement required.

Rewards & benefits

At AtkinsRéalis, our values—Safety, Integrity, Collaboration, Innovation, and Excellence—are more than just words. They are the foundation of who we are and how we work. These principles shape our culture, guide our decisions, and inspire us to create an environment where every team member feels empowered to grow, succeed, and make a meaningful impact.

• medical
• dental
• vision
• company‑paid life and short‑ and long‑term disability benefits
• employer‑matched 401(k) with 100% vesting
• employee stock purchase plan
• Paid Time Off
• leaves of absences options
• flexible work options
• recognition and employee satisfaction programs
• employee assistance program
• voluntary benefits

You can review our comprehensive benefits page here.

Expected compensation

Expected compensation range is between $170,000 - $200,000+ annually depending on skills, experience, and geographical location.

Additional information

AtkinsRéalis is an equal opportunity, Drug‑Free employer EOE/Veteran/Disability. Please review AtkinsRéalis’ Equal Opportunity Statement here. AtkinsRéalis cares about your privacy and is committed to protecting your privacy. Please consult our Privacy Notice on our Careers site to know more about how we collect, use and transfer your Personal Data. By submitting your personal information to AtkinsRéalis, you confirm that you have read and accept our Privacy Notice.

Note to staffing and direct hire agencies: In the event a recruiter or agency who is not on our preferred supplier list submits a resume/candidate to anyone in the company, AtkinsRéalis family of companies, we explicitly reserve the right to recruit and hire the candidate(s) at our discretion and without any financial obligation to the recruiter or agency. https://careers.atkinsrealis.com/recruitment-agencies

Worker Type Employee Job Type Regular At AtkinsRéalis, we seek to hire individuals with diverse characteristics, backgrounds and perspectives. We strongly believe that world‑class talent makes no distinctions based on gender, ethnic or national origin, sexual identity and orientation, age, religion or disability, but enriches itself through these differences. Created by the integration of long‑standing organizations dating back to 1911, AtkinsRéalis is a world‑class engineering services and nuclear company dedicated to engineering a better future for our planet and its people. We create sustainable solutions that connect people, data and technology to transform the world’s infrastructure and energy systems. We deploy global capabilities locally to our clients and deliver unique end‑to‑end services across the whole life cycle of an asset including consulting, advisory & environmental services, intelligent networks & cybersecurity, design & engineering, procurement, project & construction management, operations & maintenance, decommissioning and capital. The breadth and depth of our capabilities are delivered to clients in strategic sectors such as Engineering Services, Nuclear and Capital.

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