Senior Process Safety Engineer, Chemical Hazards

OSI Engineering, Inc.; Menlo Park (CA); On-site; USD 250,000 - 325,000; Full time

Job summary

OSI Engineering, Inc. seeks a senior, hands-on process safety expert for our AI-enabled lab in Menlo Park, CA. The role centers on hazard analyses and building scalable safety review processes that scientists rely on daily.

You will lead HAZOPs, FMEAs and risk assessments, design safety systems with automation teams, and extend the EHS program to new lab spaces while collaborating with ML engineers.

Qualifications

• Deep expertise in reactive chemistry and chemical hazards.
• Senior experience in process safety, EHS, or chemical operations in lab/manufacturing.
• Hands-on leadership in HAZOPs, FMEAs or similar risk assessments.
• Experience designing or reviewing functional safety systems.
• Willing to work on-site in a changing hazard lab environment.

Responsibilities

• Run hazard analyses (HAZOPs, PHAs, FMEAs) from lab scale to scale-up.
• Build and manage the safety review pipeline for fast yet thorough reviews.
• Prepare readiness for autonomous operation: pre-startup safety reviews, commissioning, inspections.
• Design and review life safety systems with controls/automation teams.
• Extend the EHS program to new lab spaces, permitting and safety design.
• Collaborate with ML engineers to teach hazard reasoning for experiments.
• Promote a safety culture visible in the lab.

Skills

Reactive chemistry hazards

Process safety leadership

HAZOPs / risk assessments

Functional safety systems design

On-site field lab experience

Education

CSP or CIH certification

Job description

Our client is an AI and physical sciences company running a high-throughput materials lab, where hazardous and air-sensitive chemistry, high-temperature and high-pressure processing, and thin-film deposition run around the clock, much of it autonomously overnight. With reactive chemistry as the lab’s primary hazard and new lab space coming online, they’re looking for a senior, hands-on process safety expert who can work through the details with scientists while building the review processes a growing team depends on. Along the way, you’ll also help teach the company’s AI to reason about hazards as it plans experiments.

What you’ll do:

• Run hazard analysis for new chemistries and processes. This includes HAZOPs, PHAs, FMEAs and reactivity assessments, from lab scale through scale-up.
• Build the safety review pipeline: how scientists, engineers and technicians submit work for review, with enough time and flow to analyze it properly.
• Set up readiness for autonomous operation: pre-startup safety reviews, commissioning, alarm rationalization and equipment inspections.
• Design and review life safety systems with the controls and automation teams. That covers toxic gas detection, interlocks, e-stops, fire suppression, scrubbers, safety PLCs and robotics safety.
• Extend the existing EHS program (permitting, chemical inventory, hazard communication, inspections) to new lab spaces.
• Work with ML engineers to teach a model to reason about process hazards and safety constraints.
• Be visible in the lab and build a safety culture that the scientists buy into.

Must-haves:

• Deep expertise in reactive chemistry and chemical hazards. You have spent years judging whether a new chemistry or process can run safely.
• Senior experience in process safety, EHS or chemical operations in a lab, pilot plant or manufacturing setting.
• Hands-on experience leading HAZOPs, FMEAs or similar risk assessments.
• Experience designing or reviewing functional safety systems.
• You want to work in the field, on site, in a lab with a changing hazard profile.

Nice-to-haves:

• Membership on an NFPA, OSHA or IEC standards or technical committee.
• CSP or CIH certification.
• Experience with solid-state chemistry, materials processing or lab automation.
• Experience with a new lab build-out, including permitting and safety design alongside construction.
• Experience with, or strong interest in, AI/ML tools for risk assessment or experiment planning.
• People leadership experience.

Location: Menlo Park, CA (on-site, in the lab)

Work model: Full-time on-site

Employment type: Full-time

Salary: $250,000 - $325,000 per year, plus equity

Visa sponsorship: Available