Director, Hazardous Medical Waste Operations

SUMMARY

We are seeking an experienced Director of Hazardous Waste Operations in Houston, TX to lead and grow a national hazardous waste platform for a growing medical waste service provider. This role offers the opportunity to shape a growing hazardous waste platform, strengthen service quality and compliance, and develop operational leaders in an essential industry. The position provides exposure to cross-functional operations and opportunities for long-term career development.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead all hazardous waste operations across the organization, including on-site hospital programs, regional route-based services, third-party transportation coordination, and hazardous waste disposal partnerships.
• Develop and implement scalable national operating models, standardized operating procedures, staffing strategies, performance metrics, and best practices that support growth, consistency, and service excellence.
• Develop operating plans and resource strategies that support business growth while maintaining operational efficiency, service quality, and regulatory compliance.
• Drive operational performance by improving safety, service execution, labor productivity, route efficiency, customer retention, vendor performance, operating margin, and overall profitability.
• Lead hazardous waste service delivery within healthcare systems while ensuring operational readiness for new customer implementations, expansions, and operational transitions.
• Partner with Transportation and Supply Chain leadership to optimize routing strategies, fleet utilization, scheduling efficiency, equipment utilization, and overall operational effectiveness.
• Identify opportunities to improve operational leverage through process improvements, standardization, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Manage transportation, treatment, recycling, and disposal vendor relationships while supporting enterprise vendor negotiations, strategic vendor consolidation initiatives, and accountability for service levels, compliance, responsiveness, and pricing.
• Partner closely with Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) leadership to ensure compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local hazardous waste regulations.
• Support regulatory inspections, audits, corrective actions, incident investigations, and continuous improvement initiatives that strengthen safety, compliance, and operational excellence.

REQUIREMENTS

• Direct, hands-on operational experience with RCRA- and DOT-regulated hazardous waste is required, including hazardous waste handling, transportation, treatment, storage, or disposal (TSD) is a must.
• Bachelor's degree in Operations, Environmental Sciences, Supply Chain, Engineering, Business Administration, or a related field preferred.
• 10+ years of progressive operations leadership experience, including at least 5 years directly leading RCRA- and DOT-regulated hazardous waste operations (hazardous waste TSD, hazardous waste transportation, or industrial hazardous waste services). Experience in adjacent regulated industries is valued only in addition not as a substitute for this requirement.
• Deep working knowledge of RCRA, DOT, and EPA hazardous waste regulations, with direct experience operating within these regulatory frameworks.
• Experience leading remote, multi-site field operations across multiple geographic regions.
• Strong understanding of hazardous waste transportation, operations, service delivery, and regulatory compliance.
• Demonstrated success driving operational standardization, improving operational performance, implementing process improvements, and scaling business operations.
• Strong financial acumen with experience managing operational budgets, performance metrics, profitability, and overall business performance.
• Experience leading and developing large field-based operations teams and operational leadership talent.
• Excellent leadership, communication, problem-solving, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Experience limited to Regulated Medical Waste (RMW) and sharps operations, solid waste, general environmental services (EVS), or distribution/logistics alone does not satisfy the hazardous waste experience requirement for this position.
• Ability to travel up to 50% nationally as business needs require.