Director, Environment, Health and Safety

Work Location: Wilmington, NC

Supervisor’s Job Title: COO/ President

Direct Reports:

SSHOs on federal projects; future safety department staff as the program builds out

Position Summary:

Our client, a growing infrastructure and construction services firm in the Southeast, is seeking a Health, Safety & Environmental (HSE) Director to build and lead an enterprise-wide safety program. This is a key leadership role reporting into executive leadership.

The HSE Director will be responsible for developing and owning all safety policies, training programs, and incident management processes across a diverse portfolio of infrastructure projects. This leader will maintain a strong presence in both the office and the field, partnering closely with operations and field safety personnel.

This is a true build-and-scale opportunity for someone who can establish a structured, proactive, and metrics-driven safety function aligned with company growth.

Absolute Minimum Must-Have’s / Experience / Requirements:

• Minimum of 5 years in a safety management role in the civil construction industry
• Proven track record running a full safety program and setting safety culture
• Experience with companies of 100 employees and $50M in annual revenue
• Demonstrated ability to lead field safety staff (SSHOs or equivalent) and experience with direct reports
• Strong knowledge of OSHA standards and regulatory compliance
• Comfortable working both in the office and on active job sites equally

Nice-to-Haves:

• Federal project experience (EM 385-1-1 / DOD / NAVFAC / Army Corps of Engineers)
• Rail safety experience
• CSP, CHST, ASP, or OSHA 500/510 certification
• Experience building out a safety department from early stages

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop and standardize company-wide safety policies, procedures, and SOPs across all business units; ensure alignment across civil, federal, and rail projects; own OSHA compliance and regulatory reporting
• Drive behavioral-based safety culture; build and deliver scalable training programs for field and office staff; partner closely with operations leadership to embed safety into daily project workflows
• Lead all incident investigations, root cause analyses, and corrective action plans; manage risk mitigation strategies and ensure timely, accurate regulatory documentation across active projects; identify systemic gaps contributing to incidents and implement preventative measures across all business units
• Performance monitoring; establish and track KPIs (TRIR, DART, EMR); implement safety reporting dashboards; identify trends and drive continuous program improvement
• Establish clear structure, accountability, and ownership within the safety function, including defined reporting lines and communication cadence
• Manage SSHOs on federal projects; build safety department structure over time; serve as a visible, field-present safety leader across all active project sites
• Ensure consistent safety oversight and coverage across all active civil and rail projects, addressing any gaps in current field support
• Embed safety into day-to-day operations by partnering closely with business unit leaders and project teams

Working Relationships:

President, Owner & CEO, CFO, civil and federal business unit leads, SSHOs and field project teams

Key Desired Business Outcomes

Desired Business Outcomes / Key Accomplishments

How success will be measured within the first 180 days

• Build strong working relationships with the President, other leadership team members, and field SSHOs
• Conduct a thorough audit of all existing safety policies, programs, and compliance documentation across civil and federal projects
• Gain full understanding of active project portfolios, field safety exposure, and current SSHO structure and capabilities
• Identify any immediate compliance gaps, incident trends, or cultural issues requiring urgent attention
• Assess field safety team capabilities; establish clear expectations, workflows, and reporting cadence with SSHOs

Desired Business Outcomes / Key Accomplishments

How success will be measured within the first 365 days

• Company-wide safety policies and SOPs documented, standardized, and rolled out across all business units
• TRIR, DART, and EMR baselines established with a clear improvement trajectory
• Training programs built and actively running for both field and office staff
• Field safety culture visibly improving — SSHOs engaged, near-miss reporting active, incidents trending down
• Recognized by the President and operations leadership as the go-to safety authority — a trusted member of the leadership team who elevated safety from reactive to strategic
• Fully transition the safety program from reactive to proactive, with leading indicators actively driving performance
• Build and scale the safety team to support company growth, including hiring and onboarding additional personnel
• Standardize safety practices across civil, federal, and rail business units to ensure consistency in execution
• Deliver measurable improvement in safety performance through defined scorecard metrics and continuous monitoring