Senior Director - Environmental Liability Management

Talen Energy; Allentown (Lehigh County); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Talen Energy is seeking a Senior Director – Environmental Liability Management responsible for owning and delivering financial outcomes associated with the environmental liability portfolio. This role integrates site operations and focuses on financial performance, managing a portfolio exceeding $400 million.

The ideal candidate will have over 10 years of complex portfolio management experience and a relevant bachelor's degree. This position is based in Allentown, PA, requiring routine travel throughout Pennsylvania and occasional travel to other locations.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience managing complex remediation or environmental liability portfolios.
• 10+ years managing accountability for cost and schedule.
• Success in delivering large work scopes on time and budget.

Responsibilities

• Integrate and govern site operations for environmental liability portfolio.
• Own financial outcome, including cost and free cash flow.
• Establish quantitative project-level performance standards.

Skills

Strong business and financial acumen

Risk management and cash flow optimization

Leadership and cross-functional integration

Analytical and problem-solving skills

Project management experience

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering, business administration, or a related field

MBA or advanced business-related degree

Job description

Senior Director – Environmental Liability Management

The Senior Director – Environmental Liability Management is responsible for owning and delivering the financial and risk outcomes associated with Talen’s environmental liability portfolio. This role is accountable for protecting and improving free cash flow by ensuring remediation and closure obligations are completed on time, on budget, and at the lowest total cost, while actively managing current and emerging risks that could expand scope, increase cost, or extend duration. Analogous to asset management responsibility for profit and loss, this position serves as portfolio owner for environmental liabilities, with full accountability for cost, scope, schedule, risk, and cash flow performance. While field execution teams, contractors, and consultants report through this role, the primary focus is ownership of results and financial outcomes, not day‑to‑day supervision of work activities. Reporting to the Vice President of Environmental Affairs and serving as a member of Talen’s corporate leadership team, this role sets strategy, allocates capital, governs execution, and manages risk across an environmental liability portfolio exceeding $400 million, ensuring alignment with Talen’s financial objectives, risk tolerance, and long‑term business strategy.

Location

Allentown, PA (on‑site), with routine travel throughout Pennsylvania and to Baltimore, and periodic travel to Montana as needed (preferred). Houston (home base) candidates will also be considered, provided they meet the travel requirements of the position.

Essential Functions

• With responsibility for the total cost and free cash flow performance of Talen’s environmental liability portfolio, the Senior Director integrates and governs the work of site operations, technical support teams, contractors, consultants, and internal stakeholders.
• Own the end‑to‑end delivery and financial outcome of Talen’s environmental liability portfolio, including total cost, spend timing, and free cash flow impact.
• Serve as the single point of accountability for scope, schedule, cost, and risk, including risks arising from regulatory changes, technical uncertainty, stakeholder actions, litigation exposure, or market conditions.
• Develop and maintain short‑ and long‑term remediation strategies that integrate execution plans with financial objectives, risk mitigation, and capital allocation priorities.
• Identify and implement opportunities to reduce total remediation cost, offset scope growth without incremental cost, and/or improve spend timing.
• Provide oversight of liability operations responsible for safe, compliant, and cost‑effective remediation, including integration with plant staff to avoid operations disruptions.
• Establish and enforce quantitative project‑level performance standards for key objectives, including cost, schedule, risk, and contingency management, and implement processes to achieve such standards.
• Ensure early identification and mitigation of risks that could drive cost overruns or schedule delays.
• Coordinate with Corporate Environmental, Legal, FP&A, Accounting/Settlements, Regulatory, and External Affairs to support accurate financial reporting and compliant execution.
• Manage relationships with regulators, governmental entities, and external stakeholders.

Minimum Qualifications

• Extensive experience managing complex remediation or environmental liability portfolios.
• Minimum of ten (10) years of experience with progressively increasing accountability for cost, schedule, and financial outcomes.
• Demonstrated success delivering large, complex work scopes on time and on budget.
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, business administration, or a closely related field.
• MBA or other advanced business‑related degree preferred.

Required Skills and Abilities

• Strong business and financial acumen, including risk management and cash flow optimization.
• Ability to own outcomes and make sound decisions under uncertainty.
• Strong leadership and cross‑functional integration skills.
• Capable of preparing clear, well‑structured reports and presentations.
• Excellent analytical, problem‑solving, and communication skills.
• Strong project management and related experience.
• Experience dealing with environmental agencies and government entities.
• Strong interpersonal skills and extremely resourceful.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Talen Energy is an equal opportunity employer dedicated to diversity and the strength it brings to the workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, age, sex, religion, national origin, veteran status, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender identity, disability, perceived disability, or any other protected characteristic as may be defined by applicable law.