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Director of Sustainability

ŌURA • United States • Added on Sep 1, 2026
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As Oura’s first dedicated sustainability leader, you will design and execute a comprehensive enterprise strategy from the ground up. Embedded within the supply chain team, you will bridge the gap between high-level environmental goals and the technical realities of hardware manufacturing. Your daily work involves setting carbon reduction roadmaps, defining supplier standards, and integrating circularity into every stage of the product lifecycle, from initial industrial design to end-of-life recycling.

This role is a unique opportunity to shape the environmental legacy of a high-growth wearable tech brand. Because Oura’s mission is rooted in personal health, your work directly connects individual wellness with planetary health, ensuring that a product designed to improve lives does not harm the ecosystem. You will be the architect of a sustainable value chain, influencing how millions of devices are sourced, built, and eventually reclaimed.

This suits someone who is a strategic generalist with deep hardware or consumer electronics expertise. You must be comfortable navigating the complexities of contract manufacturing and international logistics while maintaining the executive presence to advise the Board on ESG risks and climate disclosures.

Job FAQs

What are the main missions and responsibilities of this role?

The Director of Sustainability is tasked with building Oura’s environmental framework from scratch, moving from a blank slate to a fully operational strategy. You will own the roadmap for carbon reduction across Scope 1, 2, and 3, while specifically targeting the high-impact areas of hardware manufacturing and global logistics. Your responsibilities extend to integrating sustainability into product requirements. This means collaborating with engineers and designers to ensure that repairability and recyclability are not afterthoughts but core features. You will also manage compliance with evolving regulations like CSRD, RoHS, and REACH. Beyond technical execution, you are the internal advisor for senior leadership. You will prioritize investments, manage the carbon credit policy, and communicate Oura’s progress to external stakeholders, including retailers and the Board of Directors.

Key learning opportunities for this job

In this role, you will gain unparalleled experience in foundational function building within a fast-scaling startup environment. Since this is the first role of its kind at Oura, you will learn how to navigate the specific ESG challenges of the wearable electronics industry, including conflict minerals and electronics waste. You will deepen your expertise in circular economy principles as applied to complex consumer hardware. Working closely with manufacturing partners in different geographies will provide a masterclass in global supply chain diplomacy and sustainable procurement. Additionally, you will stay at the forefront of global regulatory compliance. Translating complex frameworks like the UFLPA or CSRD into actionable business processes will build a high-demand skill set in corporate governance and environmental law.

How does the ideal candidate look like (experience, skills)?

Oura is seeking a seasoned leader with over a decade of experience, specifically within hardware or consumer electronics. You should have a proven track record of moving beyond theory to execute sustainability strategies that impact physical product design and manufacturing processes. The ideal profile combines technical literacy in carbon accounting and lifecycle assessments with the emotional intelligence to lead cross-functional teams. You must be able to speak the language of supply chain, finance, and engineering to successfully negotiate trade-offs between cost, quality, and environmental impact. Experience with supplier auditing and risk management is essential. Familiarity with standards like EcoVadis or ISO 14001 will be highly valued, as will a pragmatic, evidence-based approach to solving sustainability dilemmas.

Advice to stand out and make a successful application

To stand out, demonstrate your ability to be a bridge-builder between technical departments and executive leadership. Your application should highlight specific instances where you successfully integrated sustainability metrics into a product roadmap or a sourcing decision without compromising business resilience. Given Oura’s focus on health and wellness, align your narrative with their mission. Show that you understand the nexus between human health and environmental health. A candidate who can explain why a sustainable supply chain is a competitive advantage for a health brand will be very compelling. Prepare to discuss trade-offs. The hiring team will be looking for someone who doesn't just advocate for the greenest option but understands how to balance environmental goals with the realities of hardware margins, logistics speed, and manufacturing scale.

What aspects of the company's sustainability is this role likely to focus on?

The primary focus will be on supply chain and product footprint. Because Oura is a hardware company, the majority of its environmental impact is embedded in materials, manufacturing energy, and international shipping. You will likely spend significant time on decarbonizing these external tiers. Circular design and end-of-life will be another major pillar. You will investigate how to make the Oura Ring more durable, repairable, and easier to recycle, potentially exploring take-back programs or secondary markets to minimize electronic waste. Social responsibility is equally critical. You will lead ethical sourcing initiatives, ensuring that labor rights and human rights are protected throughout the vendor base, particularly concerning minerals and factory conditions in the global supply chain.

What are the main challenges someone in this role might face?

One of the steepest challenges will be influencing without direct authority over manufacturing partners. As a brand working with contract manufacturers, Oura must leverage its partnership to drive energy transitions and waste reductions in facilities it does not own. Balancing sustainability with hardware constraints is another hurdle. Electronics often face rigid trade-offs between battery life, device size, and material recyclability. Navigating these technical conflicts while maintaining a high-quality user experience will require constant negotiation. Finally, as the first person in this role, you may face the challenge of establishing data baselines where none exist. Building the controls and reporting systems from the ground up while simultaneously driving strategy will require significant resilience and organization.

How could a typical day look like for someone in this position?

A typical day might begin with a cross-functional design review, where you advise hardware engineers on low-impact material choices for the next generation of rings. You might then shift to a meeting with the Sourcing team to review supplier ESG scorecards and discuss corrective actions for a logistics partner. Your afternoon could involve data analysis for carbon accounting, perhaps working with a consultant or software platform to refine Scope 3 emissions estimates. You will likely spend time drafting executive briefs or board materials to report on Oura’s progress against its multi-year sustainability roadmap. Communication is a constant theme. You will spend a portion of your day engaging with external partners, whether that is discussing renewable energy targets with a factory manager or responding to a retailer's inquiry about Oura’s packaging sustainability.

What are the opportunities for professional growth and development in this role?

As the inaugural Director of Sustainability, you have the potential to grow into a Vice President or Chief Sustainability Officer role as the function expands. You are not just filling a slot; you are defining the trajectory of the entire department. There are significant high-visibility opportunities associated with this role. Representing the company in industry groups and at global sustainability summits can establish you as a thought leader in the intersection of wearable tech and ESG. Internally, the role offers lateral exposure to every major business unit. By working so closely with Supply Chain, Finance, and Product, you will develop a holistic understanding of how a modern tech hardware company operates, which is invaluable for any future C-suite or senior operational leadership position.

The main stakeholders you might be interacting with

You will interact daily with the Supply Chain and Hardware Engineering teams, as they are your primary partners in turning sustainability goals into physical reality. Collaboration with Product and Industrial Design is equally vital for upstream circularity planning. On the corporate side, you will work with Legal and Finance to ensure compliance with global regulations and to secure budget for sustainability initiatives. You will also serve as a key advisor to the Executive Team and the Board of Directors on ESG strategy and risk. External stakeholders include contract manufacturers and logistics providers, with whom you will negotiate environmental performance standards. You will also engage with NGOs, regulators, and retail partners who increasingly demand transparency regarding Oura’s social and environmental impact.

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