Associate Director, Environmental Health and Safety

Our mission is to make biology easier to engineer. Ginkgo is constructing, editing, and redesigning the living world in order to answer the globe’s growing challenges in health, energy, food, materials, and more. Our bioengineers make use of an in-house automated foundry for designing and building new organisms.

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Grow with Ginkgo

Our mission is to make biology easier to engineer. We move fast across multiple business units, and right now we're building the world's first autonomous lab right here in Boston. Our team is ambitious, hands-on, and energized by hard problems - think tech-company pace and curiosity, applied to biology.

Job Description

Ginkgo isn't slowing down, and neither should you. As we push into new territory - including building the world's first autonomous lab - keeping our team safe and our infrastructure compliant is mission-critical work. The Associate Director, EH&S will lead the development, implementation, and maintenance of comprehensive Environmental Health and Safety programs across Ginkgo sites. This role requires a resourceful, hands-on leader who can build practical, scalable EH&S programs with the lean resources of a company our size while maintaining site-specific operational excellence. The ideal candidate will have previous experience in chemical hygiene as well as working within regulated environments such as CLIA or FDA. You will work cross-functionally to drive efforts to optimize laboratory safety and infrastructure to enhance efficiency and quality.

Key Responsibilities

• Regulatory Compliance: Manage all applicable EH&S permits (Local, State, Federal) including County AQMD, EPA, OSHA, USDA, and Fire Departments. Ensure compliance with regulated processes, including CLIA standards.
• Management Systems: Support the implementation and continuous improvement of the EH&S Management System, including event reporting, CAPA management, bio-risk management, and chemical hygiene programs.
• Program Leadership: Lead the authoring and maintenance of EH&S programs for the organization with a view toward building scalable corporate programs.
• Operational Oversight: Support site leaders to progress EH&S programs and actively measure performance through compliance metrics.
• Training & Development: Develop and improve training materials, managing both in-person and online training via the Learning Management System.
• Committee Management: Direct site EH&S Committees, chairing meetings and working collaboratively to deploy global safety standards.
• Expansion Support: Transition existing EH&S programs into new facilities, creating site-specific manuals and coordinating contractor or site-level support as needed, working within a lean team structure.
• Audit & Inspection: Develop internal inspection and audit programs for lab safety, flammable inventory checks, and controlled substance reconciliation.
• Stakeholder Collaboration: Collaborate with cross-functional teams including Facilities, Shipping and Receiving, and Technical Management to ensure regulatory compliance.

Minimum Requirements

• Education: Four-year degree (BS/BA) in Science, Occupational Safety & Health, Environmental Science, or a related applicable degree.
• Experience: 4+ years of management and EH&S experience specifically in a laboratory or manufacturing setting. Demonstrated knowledge of managing Chemical Hygiene programs.
• Program Execution: Demonstrated ability to create and execute EH&S programs that engage employees and enable a safe work culture.
• Regulatory Knowledge: Strong understanding of systems under applicable regulatory controls at the local, state, and federal levels.
• Communication: Advanced interpersonal and communication skills, with a focus on collaboration, innovation, and inclusion.

Preferred Capabilities

• Advanced Degree: Master's degree in a scientific discipline or engineering field.
• CLIA Familiarity: Working knowledge of CLIA lab requirements, with the ability to take on ongoing CLIA compliance ownership if needed.
• Systems & Process Improvement: Comfortable identifying and adopting modern tools, including AI-assisted approaches, to improve program efficiency and reduce manual overhead.
• Strategic Alignment: Ability to quantitatively capture initiative deliverables and link outcomes to corporate strategy and vision.

DEI is in Our DNA

There is a serious lack of diversity in our industry, and we are committed to driving change. Our culture promotes inclusion and embraces the value of working with people from all walks of life. We care about how our biological engineering platform is used, and having a diverse team gives us the best chance to build something we are proud of.

It is the policy of Ginkgo Bioworks to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and employment applicants.

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The base salary range for this role is $127,000k- $190,000k. Actual pay within this range will depend on a candidate's skills, expertise, and experience. We also offer company stock awards, a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental & vision coverage, health spending accounts, voluntary benefits, leave of absence policies, 401(k) program with employer contribution, 8 paid holidays in addition to a full-week winter shutdown and unlimited Paid Time Off policy.

Ginkgo has implemented a return to office policy effective October 1, 2025 with required in-office days 5 days per week. This policy applies to all employees who live within 50 miles of Ginkgo’s offices in Boston, MA, Emeryville, CA and West Sacramento, CA.

It is the policy of Ginkgo Bioworks to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees, employment applicants, and EOE disability/vet.

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