Director of Environmental, Health and Safety

Job Title: Director of Environmental, Health & Safety (EHS)

Location: Tyler, Texas (Corporate Headquarters), Gainesville, GA, or Valley, AL

Department: Safety

Reports To: Head of HR & Safety

Direct Reports: Plant Safety Managers (Tyler, TX; Gainesville, GA; Valley, AL) and any future locations

Travel: Up to 50%, including overnight travel to manufacturing facilities

Normal

Work Schedule:

Monday – Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm

Work Schedule Requirements: Working irregular hours, including evenings, weekends, and off-shifts when necessary, is expected. This role is also expected to be available for incident response outside of normal business hours.

Soules Foods is a thriving family-owned food company that has made a positive difference for its customers and consumers for nearly 50 years. Our purpose and promise of Great Food, Made Simple® drives us. Based in Tyler, Texas, the company is a leading national producer of ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook chicken and beef products and is the number one producer of chicken and beef fajitas in the USA.

We proudly serve a broad portfolio of great-tasting, high-quality products sold throughout the US via retail, food service distributors, and restaurants. Our wide array of national customers includes prominent organizations such as Walmart, Costco, Sam’s Club, Sysco, and HEB. The company was established in 1975 by John Soules Sr., and the business is now in the second generation of family leadership.

The organization has expanded dramatically over the past decade, and with its continued growth, it now has annual sales of approximately $1 billion. The company employs over 2,000 individuals and has three manufacturing facilities in Gainesville, Georgia;
Valley, Alabama; and its headquarters in Tyler, Texas.

The Director of EHS owns the enterprise environmental, health, and safety strategy for John Soules Foods and is accountable for the safety performance of every facility (Tyler, TX; Gainesville, GA; Valley, AL, plus any future sites). This role sets the standard that Plant Safety Managers are expected to execute and holds both the safety organization and operating leadership accountable for meeting it.

This position is not advisory or reactive. The Director of EHS is expected to lead from the production floor as often as from the office, personally verify conditions at each plant, and challenge unsafe behaviors, shortcuts, or decisions regardless of role, tenure, or title — including at the plant leadership and senior leadership level. Where a Plant Safety Manager is unable to resolve a risk locally, this role is the escalation point and is accountable for driving it to closure.

Success is measured not only by enterprise KPIs, but also by the consistency of safety execution across all sites, the urgency and ownership demonstrated, the strength of the safety talent bench, and the degree to which EHS is embedded in operations, capital planning, training, and leadership decision‑making.

• Bachelor’s degree in Safety, Environmental Health, Safety Engineering, Industrial Hygiene, or a related field.
• Minimum of ten (10) years of progressive occupational health and safety experience in an industrial or manufacturing environment.
• Minimum of five (5) years of leadership experience managing safety professionals, including hiring, performance management, and development.
• Demonstrated experience with multi‑site or enterprise‑level EHS accountability.
• Working knowledge of environmental compliance requirements (EPA and state agencies), including air, wastewater, stormwater, and hazardous waste programs.
• Proven record of building safety programs and improving safety culture, not simply maintaining…