Senior HSE Manager

About Us
A career at Hitachi Rail will help create a legacy. With operations in every corner of the world, our work goes to the cutting-edge of digital transformation and technology. From the multi-cultural strength of our global organisation to the sustainable and innovative ways we work to bring people together, there's something for everyone to get stuck into. And that's where you come in.

Description
Job Title
Senior HSE Manager – Philippines

Reporting to
Director HSE APAC

Appointed Deputy
N/A

Job Overview
As a
Senior HSE Manager
, you will lead the strategic development and execution of health, safety, and environmental plans and initiatives across major turnkey infrastructure projects. A key focus of this role is to build and enhance HSE capability across internal teams and contractor organisations. You will play a pivotal role in contractor management and risk governance, ensuring alignment with Human Organisational Performance (HOP) and High Reliability Organisation (HRO) principles. Your leadership will drive a proactive safety culture, operational resilience, and continuous improvement by embedding capability development into all aspects of project delivery, stakeholder engagement, and high-risk activity management.

You will support the Project Management Team to provide expert advice, support and coordination to maintain compliance with Workplace Health, Safety & Environmental (HSE) legislation IMS and client requirements.

Geographical area of responsibility
Philippines

Main Responsibilities
Project Safety Leadership, Expertise and Contractor Oversight

• Lead HSE function in Philippines and support HSE team development and capability growth.
• Lead HSE strategy and ensure contractor alignment with safety and risk standards.
• Develop and implement improvement plans linked to performance, risk and opportunities
• Advise project and contractor leaders on governance, mitigation, and compliance.
• Drive contractor engagement programs to build capability, ownership, and accountability in safety and risk performance.
• Oversee onboarding and assurance to meet project HSE expectations.
• Provide expert guidance on safety regulations and industry practices.

Safety Culture Promotion

• Champion a proactive safety culture across all project phases—design to delivery.
• Facilitate leadership safety walks and interactions, forums, and workshops to embed safety, risk awareness and capability development as core project values.
• Promote open communication and feedback loops between contractors, project teams, and frontline workers.
• Promote a proactive and continuous improvement mindset regarding safety.
• Develop and implement action plans and initiatives to drive cultural change and embed safety as a core value.

Risk Management and Assurance

• Lead the development and implementation of comprehensive risk management and assurance frameworks.
• Facilitate risk identification workshops with internal teams and contractors to assess and prioritise project risks.
• Build capability in risk recognition and control verification across project teams and contractors.
• Ensure verification of critical risk controls and develop mitigation strategies to reduce exposure to high-consequence events.
• Monitor emerging risks and trends across project sites and contractor operations, providing strategic insights and recommendations.
• Integrate risk management into project planning, execution, and reporting processes.

Human and Organisational Performance

• Implement HOP-aligned systems to enhance learning from work-as-done and build operational resilience.
• Lead learning teams and post-event reviews to drive continuous improvement and reduce harm potential.
• Collaborate with functions and coordinate learning team meetings whilst fostering ownership and accountability.

Stakeholder Influence and Collaboration

• Partner with internal and external stakeholders including engineering, procurement, legal, and contractor teams to integrate safety and risk management into project delivery.
• Influence senior leadership to embed safety and risk considerations into strategic project decisions and contractor performance reviews.

Compliance and Accreditation

• Ensure project compliance with local, regional, and national safety regulations.
• Lead ISO 45001 and ISO 14001 accreditation efforts across project sites and contractor operations.
• Conduct regular audits and assurance reviews of contractor HSE systems and performance.

Incident Investigation and Analysis

• Lead investigations into serious incidents and high-potential events.
• Promote a lessons-learned culture across project teams and contractors.
• Analyse incident and risk trends to inform strategic safety interventions and improvement plans.

Management Systems and Continuous Improvement

• Lead implementation and improvement of HSE management systems aligned with ISO standards.
• Developing and implementing effective policies, procedures and maintain systems for the identification, verification and compliance to HSE legal and other requirements
• Ensure systems support turnkey projects and contractor operations.
• Build capability in using HSE systems through training and coaching.
• Monitor system performance and use data to drive improvements.
• Promote digital tools to enhance usability and reporting.

ACTIVITIES/ TASKS

• Travel to project sites and contractor premises for audits, inspections, training, and workshops.
• Facilitate project-specific HSE and risk management workshops and contractor engagement sessions.
• Support project delivery teams with HSE and risk planning, execution, and reporting.
• Work outside normal business hours as required by project timelines.
• Assist in all team tasks and any other identified tasks assigned that may arise as required

Job Skills, Experience And Qualifications
Key Skills & Experience
It is our expectation that the person in this role should be able to demonstrate the experience and skills listed below:

• Demonstrated leadership in HSE and risk management on major turnkey projects.
• Extensive experience overseeing contractor safety and risk.
• Proficient in applying HOP and HRO principles in complex environments.
• Skilled in risk assessment, investigations, and compliance.
• Strong communicator with influence across senior and contractor levels.
• Background in high-risk sectors like rail and construction.
• Effective at building relationships and fostering continuous improvement.
• Committed to integrity, ethics, and a strong safety culture.

Qualifications

• A degree (or equivalent) in a relevant safety discipline or appropriate experience and knowledge
• Lead Auditor for ISO 45001 and ISO14001
• Lead Investigator Qualification

Other Requirements:
Ability to pass a medical examination to prove fitness for work

Drivers Licence

Thank you for your interest in Hitachi Rail. If your application is of interest, we will be in contact. Please do not hesitate to discover more about us and our latest jobs at

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