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Director Sustainability Innovation
- Republic Services (Phoenix, AZ)
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**POSITION SUMMARY:** The Director of Sustainability Innovation will be responsible for providing leadership and strategic direction to identify, innovate, evaluate, and validate emerging business opportunities that can be operationalized and commercialized to drive integrated growth across Republic’s three business segments, Recycling & Solid Waste, Environmental Solutions, and Sustainability Innovation. This position will operate with a high degree of cross-functional agility using outstanding influencing and interpersonal skills to conceptualize, develop and lead the innovation roadmap that will help the Company evolve from incremental improvements in our existing businesses to high impact value emerging growth opportunities and innovative technologies using continuous discovery and delivery.
PRINCIPAL RESPONSIBILITIES:
+ Lead a team responsible for monitoring the external environment and market assessment of new technology ensuring awareness and identification worldwide while developing innovative partnerships with external partners.
+ Create business cases for programs and projects to drive the Company’s Sustainability Innovation business growth and overall integrated growth strategy, including financial returns, capital requirements, project risks and project management.
+ Identify, develop and execute new partnership opportunities.
+ Manage proforma development, due diligence, and integration process for emerging businesses as a lever for market/industry entry and to support the Company’s decarbonization and plastic circularity goals.
+ Manage the continued development of our network of Polymer Centers, collaborating with subject matter experts in Construction, Procurement, Operations and Finance.
+ Serve as the primary liaison to our joint venture partners, ensuring strong strategic connectivity and alignment to our organization. Specifically functions as the designated board liaison to our Blue Polymers joint venture.
+ Report to the board of directors and senior leadership on Sustainability Innovation initiatives and project development.
+ Establish an active and actionable global network of internal and external subject matter experts to collaboratively innovate and co-innovate existing and new offerings with speed to market, optimum design and to maximize efficiency.
+ Assess macro trends, technology innovation data, customer insights and business objectives to identify unmet customer needs and underserved markets to drive innovation and enhanced sustainability opportunities and priorities.
+ Develop technology innovation governance structure to fit in line with program delivery methodologies to screen and validate opportunities though use cases, testing and rework.
+ Partner with Business Development to manage Emerging Business Development acquisition pipeline and Business Case Development.
+ Partner with R&D to lead the discovery of emerging technologies. Identify and evaluate to leverage Republic’s core competencies and solve customer needs.
+ Nurture a culture of customer obsession, entrepreneurism, and innovation.
+ Promote the Company’s innovation agenda; influence and obtain support from business leaders and senior management for successful execution of the agenda.
+ Perform other job-related duties as assigned or apparent.
QUALIFICATIONS:
+ 3+ years executive-level exposure (i.e. comfort in front of and experience working directly with executive and board-level committees) is preferred.
+ Experience in progressively responsible roles that required the analysis of data, budgeting, planning, proforma development, analysis of growth opportunities, processes to determine investment strategy and project management.
+ Excellent negotiation skills, communication, presentation and interpersonal skills. Ability to communicate effectively and professionally across various levels of the organization and with key external customers, vendors and consultants.
+ Excellent knowledge of key trends in technology and innovation (i.e. Clean Technology).
+ Excellent analytical, financial acumen, project management and influencing skills;
+ Proven ability to take projects from idea to commercial success.
+ High ambiguity tolerance and interest in developing adjacent businesses.
+ Cross-functional relationship skills with experience of leading in a matrix organization highly desired.
+ Ability to travel: Up to 50% (domestic and potential for international).
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:
+ Ten years of relevant work experience in innovation identification and investment, corporate strategy and/or strategy consulting experience, and/or business development expertise working experience.
+ Five years of management experience.
Rewarding Compensation and Benefits
Eligible employees can elect to participate in:
• Comprehensive medical benefits coverage, dental plans and vision coverage.
• Health care and dependent care spending accounts.
• Short- and long-term disability.
• Life insurance and accidental death & dismemberment insurance.
• Employee and Family Assistance Program (EAP).
• Employee discount programs.
• Retirement plan with a generous company match.
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP).
_The statements used herein are intended to describe the general nature and level of the work being performed by an employee in this position, and are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of responsibilities, duties and skills required by an incumbent so classified. Furthermore, they do not establish a contract for employment and are subject to change at the discretion of the Company._
EEO STATEMENT:Republic Services is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, relationship or association with a protected veteran (spouses or other family members), genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
ABOUT THE COMPANY
Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE: RSG) is a leader in the environmental services industry. We provide customers with the most complete set of products and services, including recycling, waste, special waste, hazardous waste and field services. Our industry-leading commitments to advance circularity and support decarbonization are helping deliver on our vision to partner with customers to create a more sustainable world.
In 2023, Republic’s total company revenue was $14.9 billion, and adjusted EBITDA was $4.4 billion. We serve 13 million customers and operate more than 1,000 locations, including collection and transfer stations, recycling and polymer centers, treatment facilities, and landfills.
Although we operate across North America, the collection, recycling, treatment, or disposal of materials is a local business, and the dynamics and opportunities differ in each market we serve. By combining local operational management with standardized business practices, we drive greater operating efficiencies across the company while maintaining day-to-day operational decisions at the local level, closest to the customer.
Our customers, including small businesses, major corporations and municipalities, want a partner with the expertise and capabilities to effectively manage their multiple recycling and waste streams. They choose Republic Services because we are committed to exceeding their expectations and helping them achieve their sustainability goals. Our 41,000 team members understand that it's not just what we do that matters, but how we do it.
Our company values guide our daily actions:
+ **Safe** : We protect the livelihoods of our colleagues and communities.
+ **Committed to Serve** : We go above and beyond to exceed our customers’ expectations.
+ **Environmentally Responsible:** We take action to improve our environment.
+ **Driven** : We deliver results in the right way.
+ **Human-Centered:** We respect the dignity and unique potential of every person.
We are proud of our high employee engagement score of 86. We have an inclusive and diverse culture where every voice counts. In addition, our team positively impacted 4.6 million people in 2023 through the Republic Services Charitable Foundation and local community grants. These projects are designed to meet the specific needs of the communities we serve, with a focus on building sustainable neighborhoods.
STRATEGY
Republic Services’ strategy is designed to generate profitable growth. Through acquisitions and industry advancements, we safely and sustainably manage our customers’ multiple waste streams through a North American footprint of vertically integrated assets.
We focus on three areas of growth to meet the increasing needs of our customers: recycling and waste, environmental solutions and sustainability innovation.
With our integrated approach, strengthening our position in one area advances other areas of our business. For example, as we grow volume in recycling and waste, we collect additional material to bolster our circularity capabilities. And as we expand environmental solutions, we drive additional opportunities to provide these services to our existing recycling and waste customers.
Recycling and Waste
We continue to expand our recycling and waste business footprint throughout North America through organic growth and targeted acquisitions. The 13 million customers we serve and our more than 5 million pick-ups per day provide us with a distinct advantage. We aggregate materials at scale, unlocking new opportunities for advanced recycling. In addition, we are cross-selling new products and services to better meet our customers’ specific needs.
Environmental Solutions
Our comprehensive environmental solutions capabilities help customers safely manage their most technical waste streams. We are expanding both our capabilities and our geographic footprint. We see strong growth opportunities for our offerings, including PFAS remediation, an increasing customer need.
SUSTAINABILITY INNOVATION
Republic’s recent innovations to advance circularity and decarbonization demonstrate our unique ability to leverage sustainability as a platform for growth.
The Republic Services Polymer Center is the nation’s first integrated plastics recycling facility. This innovative site processes rigid plastics from our recycling centers, producing recycled materials that promote true bottle-to-bottle circularity. We also formed Blue Polymers, a joint venture with Ravago, to develop facilities that will further process plastic material from our Polymer Centers to help meet the growing demand for sustainable packaging. We are building a network of Polymer Centers and Blue Polymer facilities across North America.
We continue to advance decarbonization at our landfills. As demand for renewable energy continues to grow, we have 70 landfill gas-to-energy projects in operation and plan to expand our portfolio to 115 projects by 2028.
RECENT RECOGNITION
+ Barron’s 100 Most Sustainable Companies
+ CDP Discloser
+ Dow Jones Sustainability Indices
+ Ethisphere’s World’s Most Ethical Companies
+ Fortune World’s Most Admired Companies
+ Great Place to Work
+ Sustainability Yearbook S&P Global
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