Manager, Pipeline Safety
Southern Company· enterprise· Utilities· Oct 16, 2026 · 12d ago
Virginia Beach, VA, United States
In office
Full-time
Manager
$137K–$205K est.
Job description
The Manager, Pipeline Safety provides leadership and coordination for the Southern Company Gas Pipeline Safety Management System, known as APEX, with responsibility for implementation and enterprise initiatives. The position supports the development, implementation, evaluation, and continuous improvement of APEX in alignment with API Recommended Practice 1173, applicable regulatory requirements, operating-company priorities, and enterprise governance.
The Manager leads work across Operations, Engineering, Compliance, Quality Assurance, Integrity Management, Construction, contractor management, Safety, Human Performance, Training, Crisis Management, Risk Management, Communications, Legal, and executive leadership. The position translates leadership direction and pipeline-safety expectations into clearly defined initiatives, decisions, responsibilities, measures, and sustainable operating practices.
The Manager also maintains continuity among operating needs, enterprise APEX governance, management review, operational learning, stakeholder engagement, and industry collaboration. Success requires strong systems thinking, operational judgment, facilitation, communication, program leadership, and the ability to influence outcomes across organizational boundaries.
Business Execution & Innovation:
• Coordinate the development of strategy, design and implementation of Pipeline Safety Management programs across the enterprise.
• Serve as Manager of assigned enterprise projects/programs, involving design and implementation of recommended practice API-1173 elements and initiatives
• Develop, implement, and execute supporting program process components with specific focus on Management of Change Program (MOC)
• Support the APEX governance model, including element owners, element leads, support structures, operating routines, and documented responsibilities.
• Establish clear project and program charters, scope, objectives, deliverables, owners, schedules, decision points, and escalation paths.
• Ensure proper interpretation, application, and implementation of federal, state and local codes and guidelines as applicable on projects/programs
• Present APEX performance, emerging risks, program gaps, priorities, and resource needs to appropriate leadership forums.
• Coordinate management-review inputs, including goals, performance measures, risk-management results, audit and assessment findings, incident and learning-review outcomes, stakeholder feedback, corrective actions, and improvement opportunities.
• Prepare leadership materials that clearly distinguish approved measures from exploratory or prototype metrics.
• Ensure management-review outputs result in documented decisions, assigned actions, responsible owners, due dates, resource commitments, and follow-through.
• Provide forward thinking supported by quantitative analyses and risk analyses to achieve compliance and optimal business results
• Analyze project/program performance / lessons learned and initiate appropriate process improvements
Communication Relationships & Networking:
• Identify and contract qualified contractors and resources for project/program work
• Prepare and present project/program metrics to indicate project/program and budget health for presentation to business owners and upper management
• Lead and advocate for continuous improvement and strategic alignment of PSMS across the enterprise.
• Meet with Compliance & Technical Services leadership and support development of processes and standards as new compliance initiatives are introduced
• Collaborate with business unit leaders to assure alignment with operating, regulatory and legal requirements.
• Provide business and operations direction to contractors and team members based on evaluation of risks, company standards and procedures, regulatory requirements, etc.
• Coordinate program training and communication across the enterprise
Development of Others
• Lead direct reports and matrixed project teams responsible for PSMS analysis, program management, assessments, implementation, reporting, and continuous improvement.
• Establish clear objectives, responsibilities, deliverables, development expectations, and performance measures.
• Build team capability in API RP 1173, facilitation, operational learning, action management, stakeholder engagement, data interpretation, and change leadership.
• Acquire and coordinate subject-matter experts and cross-functional resources needed to deliver assigned work.
• Promote collaboration, constructive challenge, timely escalation, and documented accountability.
Qualifications
Education, Certifications/Licenses:
Required
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, safety, operations, business, project management, risk management, organizational learning, or a related discipline, or an equivalent combination of education and directly relevant experience.
Preferred
• Graduate degree in engineering management, business administration, safety, risk management, or a related field.
• Professional Engineer, Project Management Professional, Certified Safety Professional, Six Sigma, change-management, causal-analysis, or comparable credential relevant to the work.
Related Work Experience:
Required
• Seven or more years of progressive experience in pipeline operations, natural-gas utilities, safety management systems, integrity management, regulatory compliance, operational excellence, risk management, engineering, or complex program leadership.
• Five or more years leading cross-functional programs, process improvements, or management-system implementation.
• Demonstrated experience converting strategic or regulatory requirements into executable processes, governance, measures, and sustained operating practices.
• Experience preparing and presenting complex operational or safety information to leadership.
Preferred
• Experience implementing or supporting API RP 1173 or another recognized safety or quality management system.
• Experience in natural-gas distribution, transmission, Storage & Peaking, Construction, System Operations, or related utility operations.
• Experience with Management of Change, operational learning or incident review, CAPA, contractor engagement, management review, audits, or maturity assessments.
• Three or more years of formal supervisory or people-leadership experience.
• Experience working with regulators, industry associations, or cross-company peer groups.
Applicant may possess a combination of equivalent education and work experience .
Specific Skills & Knowledge:
Required
• Working knowledge of API RP 1173 and Pipeline Safety Management System principles.
• Ability to distinguish regulatory obligations from voluntary management-system expectations.
• Knowledge of governance, management review, continuous improvement, and Plan-Do-Check-Adjust principles.
• Strong facilitation and decision-framing skills.
• Operational judgment and ability to work effectively with field and technical organizations.
• Advanced stakeholder-management, influencing, negotiation, and conflict-resolution skills.
• Ability to lead work across organizational boundaries without relying solely on direct authority.
• Ability to translate complex operational, technical, or regulatory matters into clear leadership decisions and executable actions.
• Knowledge of project and program management, risk management, change management, and process design.
• Ability to define and interpret KPIs, dashboards, trends, action aging, and program-effectiveness measures.
• Strong written communication, presentation, documentation, and executive-reporting skills.
• Ability to manage multiple concurrent initiatives and appropriately prioritize safety, regulatory, operational, and time-sensitive commitments.
• Proficiency with Microsoft 365 and applicable project, reporting, dashboard, action-tracking, and document-management tools.
Preferred
• Natural-gas distribution or transmission engineering and construction knowledge.
• Knowledge of applicable federal and state pipeline-safety requirements.
• Experience with MOC, OLR, CAPA, Good Catch, near miss, Stop Work, safety alerts, and learning communications.
• Experience with contractor PSMS or contractor safety-management integration.
• Experience supporting assessments, audits, management reviews, or safety-culture evaluations.
• Familiarity with enterprise reporting and action-management environments such as Power BI, SharePoint, Maximo, and comparable platforms.
Working Conditions/Physical Requirements:
• The incumbent primarily works in an office environment.
• The incumbent may work near or with moving mechanical parts.
• The incumbent may be exposed to fumes, airborne particles, or chemicals.
• The incumbent may be exposed to construction related activities
• Occasional local and overnight travel
• Keyboarding required in approx 50% - 80% of daily tasks
Disclaimer : This information describes the general nature and level of work performed by employees in this job. The description is not designed to be a comprehensive inventory of duties, responsibilities and qualifications required in the job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to qualified disabled individuals for performance of essential duties and responsibilities.
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