Safety & Training Manager

Stake Center Locating is an industry leader in underground utility damage prevention. We are evolving our training ecosystem to raise quality standards, develop our workforce, and strengthen safety and field performance—especially within high-risk, high-volume markets. You will play a vital role in this transformation across our Illinois region.

The Safety & Training Manager is responsible for leading all safety, training, and competency development efforts for locators in the Illinois region. This role will be responsible for building a strong partnership with the Operations team and its leaders to ensure we are fostering a culture of safety, quality-production and team success. This role ensures field teams exceed the expectations of our customers by protecting their infrastructure as well as ensuring Stake Center’s internal performance is surpassed, and all state and federal regulatory requirements are met.

You will contribute to the full employee development lifecycle – from a warm welcome aboard, effectively teaching utility centric concepts and conducting hands on learning opportunities, to field ride-alongs, recertification, coaching, and incident prevention. You will also serve as the primary training and safety liaison between Operations, our customer and the Stake Center Training Department.

This position combines hands-on field leadership with training strategy, data-driven decision-making, and a strong coaching mindset. This position will require up to 75% travel.

Training & Development

· Effectively deliver and own the blended training program and its results, including eLearning content, hands-on field labs, scenario-based learning and critical thinking training.

· Cultivate a team environment of quality-production, efficiency and teamwork through effective communication, targeted feedback and catching people doing things right.

· Conduct field evaluations using established performance standards for training to operations hand offs.

· Coach, create action plans, certify, and recertify new and tenured locators in accordance with Stake Center and contract requirements.

· Collaborate with the curriculum development team to refine content, develop resources and continue to raise the bar of our training programs.

· Contribute on root-cause analyses for incidents, damages, near-misses, and unsafe behaviors; implement targeted coaching or retraining plans.

· Support zero-damage and zero-injury initiatives through proactive field audits, PPE compliance checks, and hazard-mitigation coaching.

Field Operations Support

· Foster an environment of valuing our employees, investing in their growth and celebrating their success

· Provide real-time coaching during field ride-alongs to build decision-making, hazard awareness, and consistent workflow execution.

· Maintain all contract-specific and Stake Center training compliance, documentation, and performance benchmarks.

· Effectively use training and safety dashboards to identify performance trends and recommend improvements.

· Prepare reports for internal leadership on training progress, safety trends, and field competence.

· Participate in regional audits, internal reviews, and continuous improvement initiatives.

Qualifications:

· High School diploma or equivalent

· 3–5 years combined experience in underground utility locating, damage prevention, or field safety leadership; preferred natural gas and electric facilities

· Expert level locating ability with deep understanding of Locate Theory and electromagnetic induction

· Highly effective communicator, using thoughtful questions, acute active listening skills and learning transfer techniques

· Preferred Qualifications:

o Experience developing training materials (eLearning content authoring, simulations, or instructor-led content)

o Familiarity with blended learning, adult learning principles, and microlearning design.

o Demonstrated success reducing damages, improving first-year retention, or elevating field performance.

o Highly developed emotional intelligence skills, change management experience and team development processes

Stake Center Locating 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, disability or veteran status, age or any other federally protected class.