Senior Director, Sustainability- Products & Materials

at  KimberlyClark

ABOUT US

Cottonelle®. Scott®. Kleenex®. Kotex®. Poise®. Huggies®. Depend®. Kimberly-Clark Professional®. You already know our legendary brands—and so does the rest of the world. In fact, millions of people use Kimberly-Clark products every day. We know these amazing Kimberly-Clark products wouldn’t exist without talented professionals, like you.
At Kimberly-Clark, you’ll be part of the best team committed to driving innovation, growth and impact. We’re founded on more than 150 years of market leadership, and we’re always looking for new and better ways to perform – so there’s your open door of opportunity. It’s all here for you at Kimberly-Clark.

THE IMPACT YOU CAN MAKE

• Identifies opportunities to create positive environmental and social impacts and business value via partnerships and innovation in materials, technologies and value chain models
• Builds a pipeline of sustainable products, materials, business models, partnerships to enhance brand equity and create competitive advantage, while delivering sustainable goals.
• Drives/champions the next generation of product/materials-related sustainability strategies that meet the future needs of customers, consumers and other key stakeholders.
• Manages material sustainability topics with a focus on raw materials in packaging, product and associated environmental impacts (e.g. GHG, biodiversity, waste/disposal implications). Assesses environmental impact and fate of materials to inform business decisions.
• Represents and communicates product/materials sustainability strategies to senior leaders and drives integration and accountability throughout the organization, including embedding into key business planning and innovation processes.
• Manages relationships with key internal and external stakeholders to ensure that our sustainability initiatives align to emerging customer, consumer needs/expectations/insights.
• Identifies and prioritizes short, medium and long-term sustainable materials and value chain innovation opportunities and prioritizes based on relevance to brand, consumer, commercial partners, seeking business development and scalable environmental and industry impact.
• Researches and maintains keen understanding of broader industry best practices and emerging technologies and developments related to sustainable materials. Researches and drives solutions to maximize circularity potential of materials and to drive towards a zero-waste and net zero aspiration.
• Relentlessly propagates best practices and leading solutions across the network
• Drives ambitious timelines around development and introduction of sustainable solutions.
• Creates robust business cases to support investments in sustainable alternatives (materials, products, solutions); prioritizes/focuses the Sustainability team accordingly.
• Works closely with suppliers, responsible sourcing, product safety and compliance, and quality teams to promote traceability, transparency, product performance, and compliance.
• Continuous improvement mindset – develops and deploys strategies to improve our systems, processes and capabilities regarding product / packaging sustainability for the enterprise

EXPERIENCES WE’RE LOOKING FOR

• A Bachelors degree (Preferred Master’s degree or above) in policy, risk management, science/ engineering or related fields specific to EHS, Sustainability or ESG (or equivalent experience).
• At least 15 years of experience in innovation/or sustainability experience in a CPG company.
• Demonstrated expertise and knowledge of environmental, ESG and supply chain due diligence and responsible sourcing requirements.
• Demonstrated capabilities in managing global EHS&S risks, compliance/conformance/controls programs and EHS event/crisis management
• Possess (or be capable of supervising staff with) a working knowledge and understanding of relevant: government policy developments and regulatory affairs; responsible sourcing (including human rights requirements and procurement sustainability especially related to fiber)
• Experience leading teams with global accountabilities required to engage and align cross-functionally and a demonstrated track record of leadership, staff development and objective achievement
• Strong communication skills and ability to inform/inspire audiences across various levels/functions, influencing behaviors/outcomes without direct authority
• Strong business acumen, influence, strategic planning, program and change management expertise
• Occasional travel may be required to support the business (up to 20%)

Kimberly-Clark is looking for an ambitious, self-driven and talented individual to lead our Sustainability team. In this role you will be responsible for spearheading strategies and initiatives aimed at optimizing the social and environmental impacts of K-C’s products/materials by identifying new and emerging technologies, partnerships and business models designed to enhance K-C’s position as a sustainable brand leader in the industry.
This role will have a deep understanding of trends, externalities and stakeholder insights and will develop and deploy strategies that clearly align Enterprise sustainability goals with business segment needs/opportunities. You will collaborate closely with Research & Development, Global Growth/Sector Leaders, Environment & Energy and Segment Leaders to advance initiatives that balance business value creation and environmental and social improvements.