Environmental Services Manager Jobs in Buffalo, NY

Join a team that nourishes life from farm to table! Upstate Niagara Cooperative, proudly owned by 200+ local family farms, is one of America’s largest and most stable dairy cooperatives. Guided by farmer- and employee-led values, we process and market high-quality milk, yogurt, dips, sour cream, cottage cheese, and more under our trusted brands: Upstate Farms®, Bison®, Milk for Life®, and Intense Milk®. Here, you’ll support sustainable farming, strong communities, and the mission to deliver fresh, local dairy to families every day.

The Senior Environmental Compliance Manager will lead the design, implementation, and continuous improvement of a comprehensive, enterprise-wide environmental compliance program across all manufacturing facilities. This role serves as both a technical expert and master planner, ensuring proactive permit management, audit readiness, and regulatory compliance while driving environmental performance and operational reliability.

Key Responsibilities

Enterprise Compliance Strategy & Program Development

• Act as the corporate subject matter expert in environmental compliance across all dairy manufacturing operations.
• Design and implement a master environmental compliance program, standardizing processes across all plants.
• Develop and maintain a centralized compliance master plan and calendar that consolidates:
• Permit renewal timelines
• Reporting deadlines
• Audit schedules
• Regulatory commitments

• Ensuring the organization is proactive vs. reactive and never at risk of missed deadlines.
• Build scalable systems to eliminate “scrambling” at permit due dates through visibility, ownership, and automation.
• Establish governance routines (monthly/quarterly reviews) with plant leadership.

Corporate Compliance & Audit Leadership

• Lead all internal environmental audits across facilities with a focus on consistency, repeatability, and audit readiness.
• Own and execute SMETA audits, with specific accountability for the Environmental Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) component.
• Prepare sites for regulatory inspections and third-party audits; lead response strategy.
• Develop and track corrective and preventive action plans (CAPA) to closure.
• Standardize audit tools, templates, and scoring methodologies across all sites.

Permitting & Regulatory Excellence

• Oversee all environmental permitting (air, water, stormwater, waste).
• Develop a forward-looking permit strategy to reduce operational risk and ensure continuity.
• Maintain a centralized repository of permits and regulatory documentation across all plants.
• Ensure timely and accurate regulatory reporting (TRI, Tier II, DMRs, emissions inventories, etc.).
• Translate complex regulatory changes into clear, actionable guidance for plant teams.

Environmental Management & Plant Support

• Evaluate and optimize environmental systems for cost, compliance, and operational efficiency.
• Support capital projects related to environmental infrastructure and compliance.

Operational Integration

• Partner with plant leadership to ensure environmental compliance is embedded into:
• Daily operations
• Production decision-making
• Maintenance and reliability programs
• Provide guidance on high-risk scenarios (e.g., wastewater capacity, discharge risks, whey management).
• Support integration of environmental compliance into SAP/ERP workflows where applicable (e.g., reporting, tracking, alerts).

Training, Culture & Capability Building

• Build environmental competency across plants through structured training programs.
• Coach plant teams to move from compliance dependency → ownership mindset.
• Lead environmental incident investigations with a strong root cause and prevention focus.
• Influence behavior in a unionized environment, balancing compliance with operational realities.

Additional Expectations

• Operate as a “player-coach”—strategic at the enterprise level and hands-on in plants.
• Comfortable working in 24/7/365 manufacturing environments with shifting priorities.
• Ability to drive accountability without direct authority across multiple sites.
• Strong presence in plants to build trust, credibility, and adoption of standards.

Work Environment

• Approximately 50% plant-based work supporting operations directly.
• Requires up to 50% travel across manufacturing sites.
• Exposure to production environments including:
• Wastewater systems
• Chemical handling
• High-speed processing equipment
• Variable temperatures and wet conditions

Salary

$110,000-$135,000 per year*

* The salary range listed for this position represents the good faith and reasonable minimum and maximum pay for this role at the time of posting.  Actual compensation may vary based on factors including, but not limited to, experience, skills, training, knowledge, education, and overall qualifications.  The posted salary range reflects just one component of our total rewards package. Other components of the total rewards package may include participation in group health and/or dental insurance, retirement plan, wellness program, paid time away from work, and paid holidays.

Upstate Niagara Cooperative, Inc. is committed to equal employment opportunity for all, without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or any other protected characteristic.