Health & Safety Director (m/w)

Location: France

Department: Health & Safety

Reports to: Managing Director France

Contract Type: Permanent

Start Date: To be defined

What the role involves

The Country Health & Safety Director for Knauf Gypsum France is responsible for governing, coordinating, and continuously improving the Health & Safety management system, including 12 manufacturing facilities and all non-plant functions, encompassing approximately 1 000 personnel.

The Country Health & Safety Director acts as the functional authority and system owner for Health & Safety and as the functional supervisor for all 9 local Health & Safety Officers across Knauf Gypsum France.

Key responsibilities

• You will act as the functional director, system owner, and functional supervisor of the Health & Safety management system for all Knauf Gypsum France operations, covering manufacturing sites and non-plant functions.
• You will provide functional leadership and supervision to all local Health & Safety Officers, defining expectations, setting priorities, aligning ways of working, and driving capability development across the national H&S organization.
• You will ensure full and sustained compliance with French Health & Safety legislation, and verify that legal requirements are consistently translated into effective operational controls at site and function level.
• You will lead the deployment, governance, and continuous improvement of the Knauf EMEA Health & Safety Management System within Knauf Gypsum France, ensuring that EMEA standards, audits, KPIs, tools, and governance routines are applied consistently and effectively.
• You will drive continuous improvement in Health & Safety performance, using audits, performance data, incident learning, and field observations to identify systemic weaknesses, prioritize actions, and strengthen controls.
• You will actively develop and reinforce a strong safety culture across Knauf Gypsum France by shaping leadership behaviors, promoting visible safety leadership, and embedding prevention-focused routines at all organizational levels.
• You will act as the principal Health & Safety advisor to the General Manager Knauf Gypsum France and the country leadership team, providing expert advice on risk, compliance, strategic decisions, investments, and organizational changes that may impact Health & Safety.
• You will govern national Health & Safety performance, including KPIs, audit outcomes, incidents, high‑potential events, and recurring risk patterns, and elevate structural or systemic risks where controls are insufficient.
• You will lead and coordinate investigations into serious incidents, ensuring high‑quality root cause analysis, strong organizational learning, and sustainable preventive actions.
• You will serve as the national expert interface with French regulatory authorities, labor inspectorates, and external auditors, coordinating inspections, corrective actions, and regulatory follow‑up in close cooperation with HR and Legal.
• You will contribute to EMEA‑level harmonization by collaborating with the Health & Safety organization and sharing learning.

What you need

We’re looking for someone with:

• Minimum 10–15 years of professional experience in Health & Safety management within industrial or manufacturing environments, preferably within multi‑site organizations.
• The ability to influence and develop safety culture, shaping leadership behaviors and embedding prevention‑focused routines across all organizational levels.
• You communicate clearly, confidently, and persuasively, and are able to translate regulatory and system requirements into practical expectations for the field.
• You are structured, analytical, and comfortable working with complex organizations and multiple stakeholders.
• You are fluent in French and professionally proficient in English.
• You are willing and able to travel approximately 40% of the time, primarily within France, to maintain a strong on‑site presence across all facilities.