Director of Sustainability - Product

Shaw Industries is seeking a Director of Sustainability - Product to lead efforts in material and product optimization using Cradle to Cradle® principles. This role involves engaging stakeholders, guiding sustainability certification programs, and developing strategies for product optimization and sustainability marketing. The position requires expertise in sustainability certifications and will oversee a technical sustainability team, reporting to the Vice President of Global Sustainability. The job is located in Dalton, GA.
Shaw Industries Group, Inc. is a leader in flooring and other surface solutions designed for residential housing, commercial spaces and outdoor environments. Leveraging strengths in design, innovation and operational excellence, the company takes a people-centered, customer-focused, and growth-minded approach to meet diverse market needs. It creates differentiated customer experiences through its expansive portfolio of brands: Anderson Tuftex, COREtec, Shaw Floors, Patcraft, Philadelphia Commercial, Shaw Contract, Shaw Sports Turf, Shawgrass, Southwest Greens, Watershed Geo and more. Headquartered in Dalton, Georgia, Shaw is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. with more than $6 billion in annual sales and 18,000 associates worldwide.

We are seeking a Sustainability Products Director to jon our team!

Job Description

The Sustainability Products Director will engage appropriate internal and external stakeholders to drive material and product optimization using the Cradle to Cradle® design philosophy, Life Cycle Assessment tools, and relevant market insights and information. This role will provide leadership to the technical product sustainability team to deliver necessary sustainability certification program achievement in support of the overall corporate sustainability strategy as well as business partner brand-level sustainability efforts. This role will report to Shaw’s Vice President of Global Sustainability.

Key Responsibilities:
• Engage and influence external stakeholders connected to product transparency and public disclosure programs
• Serve as subject matter expert on market-relevant sustainability certification schemes, building certifications, and product certifications and how Shaw’s flooring products can maximize contribution for our customers
• Serve as subject matter expert for turf & geosynthetic materials, consumer requirements, and support turf business in implementing effective sustainability marketing program
• Provide guidance on company and industry positions regarding all sustainability certification programs
• Develop strategy and execute plans for fully utilizing Cradle to Cradle design principles to inform product technical teams and the product development process including Shaw’s global operations and sourced product supply chain
• Develop and oversee framework for Cradle to Cradle (C2C) Material Health optimization activities; work directly with technical teams to implement optimization strategy across commercial, residential, & turf business units
• Develop strategy for using Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) data to drive and inform product optimization and new product design within Shaw
• Partner with carpet industry peers to effectively advocate for Shaw and flooring industry on multi-stakeholder Product Category Rules (PCR) development committees
• Coach and develop the Product Sustainability Manager(s) and the Sustainability Specialist(s), ensuring high performing technical talent
• Effectively manage the development and marketing positioning of Environmental Product Declarations for Shaw’s flooring product platforms
• Develop sustainability criteria for supplier raw materials specifications. Implement in partnership with Sourcing and product category management teams.
• Partner with Global Sourcing to manage chemical data shared as part of third-party supplier agreements and disclosures, overseeing Shaw’s Sustainable Sourcing Policy, Chemical Management Policy, and Restricted Substance List
• Oversee process of product chemistry optimization for Cradle to Cradle certified products by product technical teams
• Evaluate new products and new raw materials for chemicals of concern and certification impacts.
• Provide training and support to product development and technical teams.
• Manage the process for Bill of Materials (BoM) management to support environmental certification requirements.
• Ensure best practices for managing product certification data
• Deliver sustainability technical training materials for use by Sales and Marketing teams
• Participate in sustainability conference speaking engagements.
• Travel to customer locations to support sales force engagements with key customers
• Deliver CEU training to customer groups and sales staff
• Provide technical support to RFP and sales teams for sustainability related questions

Requirements:
• 4 year degree (Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering, Chemistry, Material Science, Environmental Studies, or related technical field)
• 5+ years experience managing a highly technical team
• 3+ years of sustainability experience
• Ability to travel domestically (up to 20%)
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Ability to maintain confidential business information
• Ability to manage ambiguity effectively
• Ability to understand major enterprise and business issues and challenges
• Ability to translate complex technical issues into simple terms
• Ability to lead and influence a team of cross-divisional internal leaders

Role is an in person role in Dalton, GA.