Director of Environmental Health & Safety

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was founded in 2015 by Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg to harness the power of technology to pursue some of society’s most ambitious goals — from curing or preventing all disease to transforming how students learn.

At CZI, you’ll join a deeply collaborative, mission-driven community where your work helps drive breakthroughs across our flagship nonprofit organizations, Biohub and Learning Commons. Whether enabling scientific breakthroughs via open science and AI-powered biology or strengthening the tools teachers and students rely on every day, your contributions help turn bold ideas into real-world impact.

Our teams operate at the intersection of innovation and scale, building the infrastructure, partnerships, and capabilities that allow scientists, educators, and innovators to tackle some of the most complex challenges of our time — and to do so with urgency, integrity, and optimism.

The Team

The Operations team is a key partner in enabling Biohub’s pioneering work to combine frontier AI with frontier biology to solve disease and Learning Commons’ mission to build AI infrastructure that aligns how students learn with the tools that shape their learning experiences.

Operations includes our Central Tech, Finance, Marketing & Communications, People, and Real Estate / Workplace / Events / Facilities / Security (REWFS) teams. Together, these teams create the systems, programs, and experiences that empower our partners and colleagues across Biohub and Learning Commons to drive impact.

This work requires strategic and operational rigor, creativity, and deep collaboration. Whether designing world-class employee experiences, safeguarding data and infrastructure, or shaping how we communicate our impact, Operations plays a critical role in helping deliver meaningful change at scale.

The Opportunity

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) is hiring a Director of Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) to support our growing footprint. Our Operations team provides the infrastructure and operational excellence that enables this mission.

Reporting to the Vice President, Real Estate & Operations, the Director of EH&S will partner closely with Legal, Security, Facilities, and Biohub Lab Operations to ensure compliance with all applicable CZI, Biohub, OSHA, EPA, Fire/Life Safety, and state and local regulatory requirements.

This role provides strategic leadership and operational oversight for environmental health and safety programs across multiple sites and jurisdictions.

What You'll Do

• Lead and oversee environmental health, safety, risk management, and related vendor programs across all locations.
• Develop and implement health and safety protocols to minimize risk, including engineering controls, administrative controls, and personal protective equipment recommendations.
• Partner cross-functionally to ensure facilities maintain safe operating conditions, including inspections, testing, validation, hazard identification, risk assessments, and investigations.
• Manage biological, chemical, and laboratory-specific waste disposal programs.
• Participate in capital projects and initiatives with EH&S implications to ensure compliance and risk mitigation.
• Develop, implement, and maintain EH&S policies and compliance programs.
• Maintain required records and regulatory reporting related to environmental health and safety matters.
• Design and maintain comprehensive EH&S training programs and associated documentation.
• Lead EH&S-related committees and working groups.
• Maintain licenses and certifications; serve as the primary point of contact for regulatory agencies.
• Establish and execute a portfolio-wide support model that aligns internal resources and vendor partnerships to drive efficiency, consistency, and performance.
• Support emergency management planning, preparedness, and response.
• Serve as a subject matter expert and advisor on EH&S-related matters.
• Perform other related duties as needed.

What You'll Bring

• Bachelor’s degree and at least 8 years of relevant EH&S experience.
• Strong working knowledge of OSHA, EPA, Fire/Life Safety regulations, and applicable state and local standards.
• Experience in corporate and college/university campus environments.
• Advanced degree in Environmental or Occupational Health, Safety Management, Chemical Engineering, or a related field.
• Demonstrated ability to build cross-functional relationships and drive collaboration.
• Experience overseeing EH&S programs across multiple states and jurisdictions.
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision and operate at a strategic level.

The Redwood City, CA base pay range for a new hire in this role is $193,000 - $265,100. New hires are typically hired into the lower portion of the range, enabling employee growth in the range over time. Actual placement in range is based on job-related skills and experience, as evaluated throughout the interview process. 

Better Together

As we grow, we’re excited to strengthen in-person connections and cultivate a collaborative, team-oriented environment. This role is a hybrid position requiring you to be onsite for at least 60% of the working month, approximately 3 days a week, with specific in-office days determined by the team’s manager. The exact schedule will be at the hiring manager's discretion and communicated during the interview process.

Benefits for the Whole You 

We’re thankful to have an incredible team behind our work. To honor their commitment, we offer a wide range of benefits to support the people who make all we do possible. 

• Provides a generous employer match on employee 401(k) contributions to support planning for the future.
• Paid time off to volunteer at an organization of your choice. 
• Funding for select family-forming benefits. 
• Relocation support for employees who need assistance moving

If you’re interested in a role but your previous experience doesn’t perfectly align with each qualification in the job description, we still encourage you to apply as you may be the perfect fit for this or another role.

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