Senior Director, Corporate Social Responsibility
Sales & Business Development
Palo Alto, CA, USA
USD 227,100-311,950 / year
Company Description
Guardant Health is a leading precision oncology company focused on guarding wellness and giving every person more time free from cancer. Founded in 2012, Guardant® is transforming patient care and accelerating new cancer therapies by providing critical insights into what drives disease through its advanced blood and tissue tests, real-world data and AI analytics. Guardant tests help improve outcomes across all stages of care, including screening to find cancer early, monitoring for recurrence in early-stage cancer, and treatment selection for patients with advanced cancer. For more information, visit guardanthealth.com and follow the company on LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and Facebook.
The Senior Director, Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability is an enterprise leader accountable for architecting and delivering the organization’s global ESG and corporate responsibility strategy. This role owns the full ESG governance model, reporting framework, and execution roadmap, translating the organization’s commitments into measurable priorities aligned with business strategies. Central to this mandate is advancing the company’s social impact agenda: improving patient outcomes, expanding access to healthcare for underserved communities, upholding health equity, and embedding responsible business practices throughout the value chain. Environmental sustainability initiatives, including climate, emissions, and circularity, support and reinforce this broader mission.
The ideal candidate brings a proven track record as a leader who has built ESG programs, governance structures, and reporting frameworks from the ground up in life sciences or other complex, regulated industries, combined with deep fluency in ESG disclosure frameworks, external assurance, and ratings management. As the primary external interface on sustainability and corporate responsibility matters, this leader manages relationships with customers, investors, regulators, and ratings agencies, and influences board-level decision-making on ESG strategy, risk, and long-term value creation. Success requires deep ESG expertise, a mission-driven mindset, and the credibility and communication skills to drive enterprise-wide alignment without direct authority.
Key Responsibilities:
ESG Strategy & Governance
Lead responsibility
Architect and champion the organization’s global ESG strategy, with emphasis on responsible business practices, social impact, health equity, sustainability, and long-term stakeholder value creation
Define enterprise commitments, roadmaps, KPIs, and governance frameworks that reflect materiality assessments and the perspectives of a wide range of stakeholders
Provide strategic recommendations to executive leadership and the board on ESG risks, opportunities, and priorities
Build the business case for corporate citizenship initiatives and assist in managing applicable external partnerships
Monitor emerging regulatory trends (California climate legislation, EU CSRD) and evolving stakeholder expectations to continuously refine strategy
Reporting, Disclosure & Assurance
Lead responsibility
Oversee all ESG and corporate responsibility reporting, ensuring quality, timeliness, and audit-readiness of disclosures
Determine reporting approach aligned with disclosure frameworks including SASB, TCFD, CDP, and GHG Protocol
Establish metrics, data governance, internal controls, and reporting cadence aligned with assurance-readiness requirements
Lead external assurance activities; track progress against targets and drive corrective actions
Serve as subject matter expert on evolving disclosure standards
Stakeholder Engagement, Communications & External Relations
Lead responsibility
Serve as primary corporate responsibility and sustainability interface with customers, investors, regulators, auditors, and ESG ratings agencies
Design and lead ESG stakeholder engagement processes
Embed social responsibility standards into supplier expectations and enterprise policies
Communicate complex social impact and sustainability concepts, initiatives, progress, and performance to internal and external audiences
Manage performance across key ESG ratings platforms including MSCI, ISS ESG, Sustainalytics, EcoVadis, and CDP
Represent the organization in external forums and industry coalitions
Regulatory & Standards Compliance
Lead responsibility
Ensure compliance with evolving sustainability and environmental regulations across operational jurisdictions; monitor disclosure requirements and industry standards
Coordinate organizational responses to emerging regulations, translating regulatory requirements into clear, actionable guidance for business teams
Environmental Stewardship
Lead responsibility
Coordinate climate and environmental initiatives including greenhouse gas accounting (Scope 1, 2, 3), renewable energy, energy efficiency, and waste and circularity objectives
Embed environmental stewardship into operational planning and capital investment decisions in partnership with relevant business functions
Track and report progress against environmental targets; identify gaps and drive corrective actions
Operational Integration & Enablement
Partnership responsibility
Partner with Legal, Supply Chain, Finance, HR, R&D, and Commercial teams to integrate corporate responsibility and sustainability into planning, capital investments, and product innovation
Enable cross-functional trade-off discussions balancing cost, resilience, social impact, and environmental considerations
Provide ESG advisory guidance, standards, and tools to support consistent execution across operating teams
Support sustainability and social responsibility due diligence in business transformation and M&A initiatives
Required Qualifications:
15+ years in ESG, sustainability, corporate responsibility, or related roles, spanning in-house enterprise leadership, consulting, and advisory experience across complex, regulated industries
Demonstrated experience as an ESG leader, building programs, governance structures, and reporting systems from the ground up
Deep knowledge of ESG disclosure frameworks (SASB, TCFD, CDP) and GHG accounting (Scope 1, 2, 3)
Proven success managing ESG ratings improvement programs and investor and stakeholder engagement on sustainability and corporate responsibility topics
Familiarity with evolving sustainability and social responsibility regulations including U.S. disclosure requirements and EU directives
Knowledge of health equity, patient access, community health initiatives, human rights, responsible supply chain practices, and social impact program design
Strong cross-functional influence, advisory, and communication skills; ability to drive alignment without direct authority
Preferred Qualifications:
Experience in life sciences, medical technology, biotech, diagnostics, or other healthcare-adjacent industries
Background spanning both in-house corporate roles and external ESG consulting or advisory engagements
Net-zero strategy development and climate transition planning experience
Familiarity with capital markets, investor relations, and sustainability reporting to institutional investors
Experience with ESG materiality assessments, Code of Conduct development, and corporate citizenship program design
Participation in industry forums, thought leadership, or standard-setting activities
AI & Digital Fluency
- Demonstrate curiosity, sound judgment, and the ability to critically evaluate and responsibly leverage AI-enabled tools in accordance with company policies, ethical standards, and regulatory requirements to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and quality of work.
Hybrid Work Model: This section is applicable to onsite employees who are eligible for hybrid work location as specified by management and related policies. Guardant has defined days for in-person/onsite collaboration and work-from-home days for individual-focused time. All U.S. employees who live within 50 miles of a Guardant facility will be required to be onsite on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. We have found aligning our scheduled in-office days allows our teams to do the best work and creates the focused thinking time our innovative work requires. At Guardant, our work model has created flexibility for better work-life balance while keeping teams connected to advance our science for our patients.
Employee may be required to lift routine office supplies and use office equipment. Majority of the work is performed in a desk/office environment; however, there may be exposure to high noise levels, fumes, and biohazard material in the laboratory environment. Ability to sit for extended periods of time.
Guardant Health is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our hiring processes for candidates with disabilities, long-term conditions, mental health conditions, or sincerely held religious beliefs. If you need support, please reach out to Peopleteam@guardanthealth.com
A background screening including criminal history is required for this role. GH will consider qualified applicants with criminal arrest or conviction histories in a manner consistent with applicable law including but not limited to the LA County Fair Chance Policies and the Fair Chance Act (Gov. Code Section 12952).
Guardant Health is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.
All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.
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Please visit our career page at: http://www.guardanthealth.com/jobs/