Health, Safety & Environment (HSE) Manager

Victory Farms is the world's fastest growing aquaculture company, focused on mission-oriented operations in Kenya.

The HSE Manager at Victory Farms Kenya will report directly to the Managing Director and be responsible for embedding HSE practices across various operational areas including farms, hatcheries, processing facilities, road operations, and construction sites. This role involves ensuring safe working practices are understood, followed, and continuously reinforced, especially as the company scales production and commissions new facilities. The manager will play a critical role in identifying and stopping unsafe work, translating established policies into disciplined, consistent execution on the ground, and maintaining the independence and authority necessary to uphold a strong safety culture within the business.

1. Implement, roll out, and maintain the HSE management system as defined in the company’s HSE plan, including policies, procedures, risk registers, safe systems of work, and the incident-management framework.
2. Manage the established HSE governance by convening safety committees, maintaining reporting cadence, and reporting agreed leading and lagging KPIs monthly to the Managing Director and leadership team.
3. Exercise the authority to stop any work deemed unsafe, without commercial or operational override.
4. Keep the HSE system current by applying updates from Group and regulators, and flagging gaps or improvement needs rather than redesigning the framework independently.
5. Enforce water and marine safety across all lake operations, covering life jackets, boat and vessel safety, man-overboard and rescue protocols, weather, and swimming competency, addressing the single highest life-safety risk in the business.
6. Apply machine, chemical, and cold-room safety controls across facilities.
7. Enforce road and fleet safety across the cold-chain distribution network, including driver standards, journey management, and vehicle safety.
8. Enforce construction and engineering safety on all build sites, covering working at height, lifting, excavation, and contractor management.
9. Deliver daily environmental compliance, including NEMA licensing conditions, EIA/EA obligations, effluent and waste management, and water-quality monitoring.
10. Protect Victory Farms’ social license to operate on Lake Victoria by upholding environmental performance, in coordination with the Development function and community stakeholders.
11. Ensure full and ongoing compliance with the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA 2007), the Work Injury Benefits Act (WIBA), the Environmental Management and Co-ordination Act (EMCA), and all related DOSHS and NEMA requirements.
12. Manage statutory audits, inspections, registrations, and returns, acting as the primary point of contact with regulators.
13. Deliver HSE induction and ongoing training for staff and contractors; drive a proactive reporting culture with near-miss reporting and closed-loop corrective action.
14. Lead incident investigation, root-cause analysis, and emergency preparedness and response drills across all sites.

1. Possess 8+ years of progressive HSE experience in Kenya or East Africa, with a strong track record of implementing and running established HSE management systems in a high-hazard, multi-site environment.
2. Have a background in high-hazard industries such as marine/maritime, manufacturing and food processing, construction, oil & gas, or logistics, with hands-on ownership of both safety and environmental compliance in the field.
3. Be registered as an OSH Advisor/Practitioner with DOSHS.
4. Hold a NEBOSH and/or professional HSE qualification (IOSH, ISO 45001/14001 lead auditor is an advantage).
5. Demonstrate deep working knowledge of Kenyan HSE law (OSHA 2007, WIBA, EMCA) and NEMA/DOSHS processes.
6. Show a track record of executing HSE programmes and measurably reducing incidents through disciplined, consistent enforcement, not just administering paperwork.
7. Water/marine or cold-chain safety experience is strongly preferred.
8. Experience commissioning HSE for a new processing or manufacturing facility is strongly preferred.
9. Must be hands-on and field-oriented, comfortable on a boat, on the processing floor, and on a construction site, not just at a desk.
10. Be a disciplined, reliable executor who follows the plan consistently and closes the loop on every action.
11. Be independent and courageous, able to hold the line on safety with senior operators and stop unsafe work.
12. Be data-led and uncompromising on integrity; a natural coach who builds safety culture rather than merely policing it.