Senior Vice President, Recycling

Job Description

Job Description

Senior Vice President, Recycling & Sustainability

Cincinnati, Ohio | Full Time | Reports to the CEO & President

Recycling is a core aspect of the waste industry. Rumpke Waste & Recycling is a leader in the space, and we’re only getting started. We’re seeking a visionary leader to take our growing company to the next level. Are you a fit?

Reenergize your entrepreneurial spirit and your leadership passion. Rumpke is a company where leaders take ownership. It’s a place where senior leadership creates new plans, implements strategy and then achieves the results that drive the company and industry innovation forward.

Rumpke Waste & Recycling offers leaders a rare opportunity: a business with real assets, and real earnings responsibility to deliver outcomes that matter to the communities it serves. A position at a company still owned and led by people who take the long view, an experienced, educated and practical family who has dedicated their lives to making the world a better place with calculated investments and inventive thinking that spans three generations and nearly 100 years.

At Rumpke the pace of business is swift with very little red tape. Private ownership means agility and opportunity. Leaders and team members work alongside owners to achieve the company’s mission to deliver exceptional waste and recycling solutions to our customers and communities through a commitment to safety, service, the environment and the growth of our people. No one is a number at Rumpke. People, safety, compliance and innovation drive company progress. The values of teamwork, quality, perseverance, growth and responsibility shape Rumpke’s culture and strategic decisions.

Rumpke is looking for someone to lead its recycling business end to end — the Material Recovery Facility network, its capital plan, the commodity value of everything we process, and the recycling programs our customers and municipalities rely on.

We are looking for a well-rounded, polished leader who can run a demanding multi-site operation safely and profitably through commodity cycles, while continuing to build recycling into a capability that strengthens Rumpke's position in every market it serves. Rumpke requires a realistic and strategic visionary who understands recycling mechanics, commodity markets and the value of public education and perception.

About Rumpke

Founded in 1932 Cincinnati-based Rumpke Waste & Recycling is the tenth largest family-owned waste and recycling company in the United States, Rumpke’s team of 4,600 people provides service to 2.5 million customer accounts across Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and West Virginia. Rumpke has a fleet of nearly 3,000 vehicles and operates 18 landfills and 28 transfer stations. In 2025, company revenues reached $1.3 billion.

Widely regarded as a recycling leader in the Midwest with industry-wide prominence, Rumpke processed more than 1.4 billion pounds of recycling in 2025. Rumpke operates 16 recycling centers including two of the largest and most technologically advanced single stream recycling facilities in North America in Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio. The Rumpke Recycling & Resource Center in Columbus, Ohio earned the 2025 National Waste & Recycling Association Recycling Facility of the Year Award.

Rumpke also operates a one-of-kind glass processing facility in Dayton, Ohio, two industrial material recycling operations and a tire collection and processing operation.

A seven-time Platinum US Best Managed Company, Rumpke has completed 84 acquisitions since 2018. Rumpke is growing and determined to continue leading the industry, particularly in recycling innovation.

What You Will Own

Recycling Line of Business. Own the recycling P&L — processing cost, commodity revenue, tip and processing fees, and facility operating expense. Set cost-per-ton targets by facility and hold teams accountable. Build plans that ensure stability even through commodity pricing downturns and deliver a return on Rumpke’s capital investments.

Safety. Own safety performance across the recycling organization and make it a priority for every operating review. Partner with Corporate Safety for adherence to appropriate processing environment standards, according to OSHA, ANSI, DOT, EPA and Rumpke standards (such as machine guarding, PPE, lockout/tagout, mobile equipment, pedestrian separation, housekeeping, compliance reporting, etc.).

Facility & Management Consistency. Lead every material recovery facility and processing operation according to a common operating model encompassing throughput, uptime, quality specifications and maintenance discipline. Drive down system contamination and residue. Identify and direct automation and technology work that lowers cost per ton and reduces dependence on a tightening labor market.

Commodity Quality & Value. Own commodity marketing and the sale of processed material, including long-term supply agreements with mills and end markets. Keep forward visibility on commodity markets and advise the CEO and CFO on earnings exposure. Set the processing cost floors that underpin customer and municipal pricing.

Capital Planning. Lead multi-year planning for recycling infrastructure, sorting technology, and automation. Build the investment case, present it to the CEO and CFO, and deliver on the commitments.

Growth. Pursue new material streams, processing services, and third-party volume. Serve as technical lead on municipal and large commercial recycling bids. Evaluate acquisition and partnership opportunities.

Recycling and Diversion Programs. Set diversion goals and track performance against them. Lead identification and outreach to new end users. Develop a customer program that improves inbound material quality and strengthen local relationships. Collaborate with Rumpke Corporate Communications to enhance public education programs.

The Bench. Build a recycling leadership team with ready successors for every critical role, including your own.

What Success Looks Like

In your first year, you will have every facility measured against a single operating standard, taken full ownership of the commodity line, put a multi-year automation capital case in front of executive leadership, and established the safety operating rhythm across the network.

By year two, we expect committed earnings delivered through a full commodity cycle, top-quartile cost per ton across the network, safety performance better than industry benchmark and improving, recycling capability measurably strengthening our position on municipal bids, and internal successors ready for facility general management.

Who Thrives Here

An operator with a strategist's range. You are credible walking a processing floor at 5 a.m. and presenting a capital case to executive leadership the same week. Neither is a stretch for you.

Commercially literate about a commodity. You are comfortable with index exposure, contract structure, and the economics of end markets. You do not treat commodity swings as weather.

Willing to be the one who says no. You hold cost floors when a deal is on the line and hold safety when the schedule is tight. You are direct with your peers, not deferential.

A builder of standards. You improve a network by installing a repeatable operating model, not by personally rescuing the worst site.

Externally credible . You carry weight with regulators, municipal officials, industry bodies, and the media, and you represent the company as an authority rather than an advocate.

What You Bring

• 12+ years of progressive leadership in waste management, recycling operations, or environmental services, including 7+ years at senior executive level
• Demonstrated multi-site operational leadership with full profit and loss ownership
• Experience with material recovery facility operations, commodity markets, municipal contracts, and recycling program design
• Experience leading capital-intensive operational transformation
• A bachelor’s degree in Business, Environmental Science, Engineering, Sustainability, Operations Management, or a related field is required; a master's degree is preferred
• Approximately 50% travel across our five-state footprint, with flexibility for nights, weekends, and emergency response as needed
• A valid driver's license and legal eligibility to work in the United States

 

Rumpke Waste and Recycling is committed to equality in all aspects of employment. It is Rumpke's policy to provide equal opportunities to all employees and potential employees without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, protected veteran status or disability status.