Senior Process Safety & Reliability Engineer

MSD; Dublin; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Flexible working arrangements

Job summary

Merck & Co., Inc. in Dublin seeks an Engineering Senior Specialist to lead the Engineering Centre of Excellence.

You will drive process safety, high-risk work governance, contractor oversight, and digital reliability initiatives while guiding a team to deliver measurable business improvements on a high-hazard site. You will own safety standards, coordinate with EHS, finance and site leadership, and ensure compliance across asset lifecycle.

Qualifications

• Degree in Engineering, Science or related discipline, or equivalent relevant professional experience.
• Significant engineering, maintenance, reliability, process safety or technical operations experience in a regulated or high-hazard environment.
• Ability to lead a team and delivery of cross-functional programmes with measurable business impact.
• Strong knowledge of process safety, risk management, Engineering governance and regulatory expectations.
• Experience in budget ownership, forecasting, cost control and senior-level financial reporting.
• Experience delivering digital reliability or asset-management improvements.

Responsibilities

• Lead process safety across the asset lifecycle, ensuring risks are identified, assessed, controlled and monitored.
• Own and maintain designated Engineering safety standards in line with legal, regulatory and company requirements.
• Lead or support hazard assessments, management of change, incident learning, assurance activities and closure of corrective actions.
• Build process safety capability through coaching, guidance and targeted learning.
• Lead governance and readiness of the site Emergency Response Team (ERT), including organisation, resources, equipment and capability.
• Coordinate recruitment, training, drills and competency development with EHS and site partners.
• Maintain response plans and escalation pathways, using drills and events to strengthen preparedness and close improvement actions.
• Define clear accountabilities and controls for contractor safety, quality, compliance and delivery, in partnership with EHS, Procurement and area owners.
• Monitor contractor performance and assurance findings, addressing recurring risks and driving continuous improvement.
• Provide governance and oversight for high-risk work, ensuring robust planning, risk assessment, authorisation and field execution.
• Own or support relevant standards and critical controls, including permit-to-work, isolation, confined space, work at height, lifting and other designated high-risk activities.
• Lead assurance and learning reviews, verify control effectiveness and ensure gaps and corrective actions are closed promptly.
• Lead Engineering budgeting, forecasting and periodic financial reviews across operating and capital expenditure.
• Provide consolidated oversight of commitments, risks, opportunities and benefits, partnering with Engineering leaders and Finance to improve transparency, forecast accuracy and accountability.
• Maintain appropriate financial governance and support business cases, investment prioritisation and value-realisation reviews.
• Define and lead digital reliability programmes that improve asset performance, maintenance effectiveness and data-driven decisions.
• Coordinate deployment and adoption of reliability technologies, analytics, condition monitoring and digital workflows with Engineering, Operations and Digital/IT.
• Ensure solutions are secure, compliant, scalable and integrated; track adoption, value and sustained benefits.
• Lead, coach and develop direct reports through clear objectives, feedback, accountability and capability planning.
• Translate Engineering and site strategy into prioritised plans, governance, resources and measurable outcomes.
• Build effective partnerships across the site, influence decisions, resolve cross-functional issues and represent the CoE at governance forums.
• Lead change through clear communication, stakeholder engagement, disciplined execution and sustainable

Skills

Process safety leadership

Contractor management

Budget ownership

Digital reliability

Team leadership

Education

Degree in Engineering or related field

Job description

Merck & Co., Inc. in Dublin seeks an Engineering Senior Specialist to lead the Engineering Centre of Excellence.

You will drive process safety, high-risk work governance, contractor oversight, and digital reliability initiatives while guiding a team to deliver measurable business improvements on a high-hazard site. You will own safety standards, coordinate with EHS, finance and site leadership, and ensure compliance across asset lifecycle.