Manager, Environmental

Kymera International; Durham (NC); On-site; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Job summary

Kymera International seeks an Environmental Manager to lead NA environmental performance across nine sites, driving compliance, permitting, audits, data reporting, and improvements. The role partners with site leadership, SHE, legal, and operations and requires hands-on engagement at sites.

The successful candidate will travel extensively, coach site teams, support EcoVadis, and advance ESG priorities including waste and emissions reduction across the region.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in environmental-related engineering/science; advanced degree preferred.
• 7+ years environmental experience in manufacturing or regulated settings.
• Experience with permitting, audits, compliance systems, and reporting.

Responsibilities

• Lead deployment of environmental strategy across nine North America sites, partnering with site leadership and functions.
• Serve as the primary NA environmental SME and liaise between sites and corporate SHE organization.
• Maintain a strong field presence with extensive site travel to identify risks and implement improvements.
• Ensure compliance programs across air, water, wastewater, waste, stormwater, hazardous materials, and chemical management.
• Guide permitting, reporting, recordkeeping, and compliance obligations including SPCC, SWPPP, TRI, Tier II and Canadian requirements.
• Develop and improve environmental policies, standards, and management systems across North America.
• Conduct and coordinate environmental audits, inspections, and risk assessments with clear corrective actions.
• Lead investigations of incidents and near misses with root-cause analysis and shared learnings.
• Partner with Operations and Engineering on capital projects to identify environmental requirements early.
• Own or coordinate North America environmental data, metrics, and reporting for leadership visibility.
• Support EcoVadis assessment and strengthen environmental performance over time.
• Contribute to sustainability and ESG priorities including waste and emissions reduction.

Job description

Kymera International - Specialty Materials that Shape the Future

Environmental Manager

Reports to: Vice President, Environmental Health & Safety

Work Location: Kymera International - Durham, NC

FLSA Status: Exempt

Position Summary

The Manager, Environmental - North America is responsible for leading and strengthening environmental performance across Kymera’s nine North American locations (seven U.S. and two Canada). Reporting to the Vice President, Safety, Health & Environmental (SHE), this role provides functional environmental leadership to site SHE resources through dotted-line relationships and partners closely with Plant Managers and Operations leadership. This is a hands-on, player/coach role. The successful candidate will spend significant time at our sites, personally engaging in environmental assessments, audits, permitting and compliance activities, corrective actions, data and reporting, and improvement initiatives while also building environmental capability and accountability within the sites. The role will translate Kymera’s environmental strategy into practical site-level execution, establish greater consistency across North America, support sustainability and ESG priorities including EcoVadis, and ensure environmental risks and compliance obligations are identified, understood, and effectively managed.

Essential Duties And Responsibilities

• Lead deployment of Kymera’s environmental strategy across nine North America sites (seven U.S. and two Canada), partnering closely with site leadership, Operations, Engineering, SHE, Legal, and other functions.
• Serve as the primary North America environmental subject-matter expert and key liaison between sites and the corporate SHE organization, providing functional leadership and coaching to site SHE resources through dotted-line relationships.
• Maintain a strong field presence through extensive site travel; work directly with site leadership and SHE teams to identify environmental risks, solve problems, close compliance gaps, and implement sustainable improvements. The expectation is to personally engage in the work while building site capability - not simply provide corporate oversight.
• Ensure effective environmental compliance programs across applicable air, water, wastewater, waste, stormwater, hazardous materials, chemical management, and other regulatory requirements.
• Guide sites in environmental permitting, reporting, recordkeeping, and compliance obligations, including SPCC, SWPPP, TRI, Tier II and applicable Canadian requirements.
• Develop, implement, and continuously improve environmental policies, procedures, standards, management systems, and compliance calendars across North America.
• Conduct and/or coordinate environmental audits, inspections, and risk assessments; establish clear corrective actions, owners, due dates, and verification of closure.
• Lead or support investigation of environmental incidents and near misses, including root-cause analysis, corrective and preventive actions, and sharing of lessons learned across sites.
• Partner with Operations and Engineering on capital projects, process changes, acquisitions/integrations, and other initiatives to identify environmental requirements and risks early in decision-making.
• Own or coordinate North America environmental data, metrics, and reporting; improve data quality and provide clear visibility to leadership on performance, risk, compliance, and priorities.
• Play an active role in Kymera’s EcoVadis assessment and rating process, including coordination of environmental evidence, data, policies, improvement actions, and cross-functional inputs needed to strengthen performance over time.
• Support broader sustainability and ESG priorities, including waste reduction, emissions reduction, resource efficiency, environmental data collection, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Build environmental capability within the organization by coaching site SHE resources and operational leaders and providing practical training on environmental requirements and expectations.
• Manage environmental consultants, vendors, and outside technical resources as needed, with attention to quality, responsiveness, and cost effectiveness.
• Identify emerging environmental regulatory requirements and risks and translate them into clear, actionable plans for Kymera leadership and sites.

Supervisory Responsibilities

• This position currently has no direct reports. The role provides functional environmental leadership, coaching, and guidance to SHE resources across Kymera’s North American sites through dotted-line relationships. Success requires the ability to influence, coach, establish standards, and drive accountability across a decentralized organization without relying on direct reporting authority.

Leadership/Player-Coach Expectations

• Operate as a player/coach: personally engage in priority work while building capability and accountability within site teams.
• Be visible and credible in the plants; develop a practical understanding of operations and connect environmental requirements to business realities.
• Create consistency without unnecessary bureaucracy, distinguishing where common Kymera standards are required and where local requirements warrant flexibility.
• Influence effectively across a matrixed organization, often through partnership and technical credibility rather than direct authority.
• Bring structure and follow-through to an evolving environment, with a bias toward action, measurable outcomes, and sustainable solutions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering, Environmental Science, Chemical Engineering, or a related technical discipline; advanced degree preferred.
• Typically 7+ years of progressive environmental experience in manufacturing, industrial, metals, chemicals, or another complex regulated environment, including meaningful multi-site responsibility.
• Strong working knowledge of U.S. environmental regulations and compliance programs; experience supporting Canadian operations or ability to quickly develop knowledge of applicable Canadian requirements.
• Demonstrated experience with environmental permitting, audits, compliance systems, incident investigation, corrective actions, and regulatory reporting.
• Experience with sustainability/ESG programs and external assessments such as EcoVadis strongly preferred.
• Experience partnering directly with plant leadership and operations teams; multi-site or regional environmental leadership experience strongly preferred.
• Ability and willingness to travel extensively throughout North America.

Skills And Competencies

• Strong environmental technical knowledge combined with practical business judgment.
• Hands-on, collaborative leadership style with the ability to coach, influence, and build trust at all levels of the organization.
• Ability to move comfortably between strategy, systems development, detailed compliance work, and on-the-floor problem solving.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with disciplined follow-through and attention to detail.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills; able to translate technical and regulatory topics into practical business actions.
• Comfort operating in a changing, decentralized environment and helping build greater consistency across sites.
• Strong project management, prioritization, and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Physical Requirements

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job the employee is:

• regularly required to use hands to handle or feel; reach with hands and arms; climb or balance; stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl and talk or hear.
• frequently required to stand; occasionally required to walk; sit and taste or smell.
• required to lift and /or move up to 10 lbs. (regularly); 25 lbs. (frequently); 50 lbs. (occasionally).
• required to use their close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision and depth perception.

Work Environment

The role requires regular work in manufacturing and industrial environments and frequent travel to Kymera sites. The employee must be able to safely navigate plant environments, wear required PPE, participate in facility tours and inspections, and comply with all site-specific safety requirements.

Kymera International is committed to fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We recruit, hire, develop, and promote employees based on qualifications, merit, and business needs. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, or any other status protected by applicable law in the countries where we operate.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment and employment process for qualified individuals with disabilities or other protected needs, in accordance with applicable law.