Associate Director, Environmental, Health & Safety

Associate Director of EHS – Strategic Projects (North Chicago site)

Key Objectives/Deliverables:
- Act as the EHS liaison with project stakeholders and Global EHS
- Partner with cross-functional teams to develop, establish, and sustain EHS systems, processes, and programs
- Ensure regulatory compliance (e.g., evaluate environmental impacts)
- Safety by design: anticipate and eliminate potential issues during design/engineering
- Embed high-level safety considerations for AI and new technologies
- Engage site resources to achieve an interdependent safety culture
- Provide EHS technical support
- Consistently implement AbbVie internal technical standards and best practices across EHS network
- Introduce automated tools/technology for safety compliance, analysis, and evaluation
- Partner with construction company to ensure contractor employee health and safety

Responsibilities:
- Align deliverables to organization strategy and build awareness with stakeholders
- Monitor external/internal trends and facilitate continuous long-term improvements
- Monitor regulatory requirements/enforcement trends; conduct impact analyses; implement compliance action plans
- Identify root causes, recommend alternatives, and create models/systems to apply solutions
- Develop and implement global programs, policies, and procedures
- Develop and report EHS KPIs; summarize/report compliance status, strengths, and priority issues; ensure corrective actions
- Lead/direct staff, promote teamwork/empowerment, coach/develop, and manage performance
- Lead/participate on cross-functional teams to represent EHS objectives
- Global scope: represent the company externally; contribute to sustainability/regulatory reports; minimize EHS liability; investigate EHS incidents

Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s in EHS/Science/Engineering + 10+ years EHS experience, or Master’s + 8–10 years
- Experience implementing EHS regulations, incident investigations, regulatory agency interactions, and managing cross-functional teams
- Ability to plan against business targets, define/assess problems, coordinate response, and develop prevention procedures
- Ability to build relationships, resolve conflict, and negotiate while representing EHS
- Ability to manage projects and programs

Additional/Preferred:
- Presenting EHS KPIs to senior leadership; GMP manufacturing; major capital projects/Greenfield sites
- Project management certification preferred; CSP/CIH preferred; EHS experience in manufacturing/R&D preferred; EHS certification preferred but not required