Director, HSE&S APAC

Your Role 

The Director, HSE&S APAC provides strategic leadership and governance across the Asia Pacific region to ensure the highest standards of Health, Safety, Environment and Security (HSES) performance. This role is responsible for developing, driving and harmonizing the regional HSES strategy frameworks, ensuring regulatory compliance, operational excellence and a strong safety culture across multiple countries and sites.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership & Governance

• Develop and execute the APAC HSES strategy aligned with business objectives.

• Provide leadership and oversight of HSES performance across all APAC countries and sites.

• Establish regional governance structures, policies, standards and performance metrics.

• Act as the principal HSES advisor to APAC Executive Leadership Team.

• Lead regional HSES risk management strategy, ensuring mitigation plans are in place for critical risks.

• Drive a culture of accountability, ownership and continuous improvement at all organizational levels.

Regional Compliance & Risk Management

• Ensure full compliance with all applicable local, regional and global HSES regulations and corporate standards across APAC.

• Oversee audit frameworks (internal & external), regulatory inspections and corrective action programs.

• Lead investigation of significant incidents across the region and ensure robust root cause analysis and preventive measures.

• Maintain oversight of high-risk operations including chemical handling, warehousing, transport and manufacturing activities.

• Monitor emerging regulatory developments and ensure proactive regional alignment.

Operational Excellence & Performance Management

• Establish regional HSES KPIs and performance dashboards.

• Drive standardization and harmonization of HSES management systems across APAC.

• Lead digitalization and innovation initiatives to enhance HSES reporting, monitoring and analytics.

• Analyze regional data trends to identify risk patterns and implement preventive strategies.

• Champion continuous improvement programs and embed best practices across countries.

Leadership & Capability Development

• Lead and develop Country HSES Managers and regional HSES teams.

• Build strong succession planning and talent development pipeline within APAC HSES function.

• Foster a high-performance, collaborative and safety-first culture.

• Design and deploy regional competency frameworks and training strategies.

• Act as a role model for visible safety leadership.

Stakeholder Management

• Partner with Global HSES to integrate global initiatives within APAC operations.

• Collaborate with Operations, Supply Chain, Commercial, HR and other functional leaders.

• Represent APAC in Global HSES forums and contribute to global strategy development.

• Engage with regulatory authorities, customers and external stakeholders where required.

• Support business development initiatives with HSES risk evaluation and due diligence for acquisitions or expansions.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in HSES, Engineering, Manufacturing, Chemical Sciences or related discipline (Master’s degree preferred).

• Minimum 15+ years of progressive HSES leadership experience, with at least 5 years in a regional or multi-country leadership role.

• Strong experience in chemical manufacturing, distribution, logistics or industrial operations.

• Demonstrated experience leading large-scale transformation and business improvement initiatives.

• Deep knowledge of APAC regulatory environments.

• Experience working within a multinational corporate structure.

Brenntag provides equal employment opportunities to qualified applicants and employees of all backgrounds and identities to create a workplace where difference is valued because it forms a resilient and more innovative organization. We do not discriminate on the basis of age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, race, religion or belief, parental and family status, or any other protected characteristic. We welcome applications from women, men and non-binary candidates of all ethnicities and socio-economic backgrounds.

Brenntag TA Team