EHS Process Safety Engineer (AI)

Location: Menlo Park, California, United States; on-site

Salary: $200,000–$250,000 annually plus equity

Company

Periodic Labs is an AI and physical sciences company developing models and experimental systems to accelerate discoveries in materials, energy, and related scientific fields.

What you will do

• Lead and document HAZOPs, PHA/FMEA studies, and risk assessments for hazardous chemicals, high-pressure operations, gloveboxes, and thin-film deposition systems.
• Build operational readiness and laboratory reliability systems, including PSSRs, MOC, commissioning validation, alarm rationalization, operating procedures, and equipment inspection programs.
• Partner with automation and controls teams on machine safeguarding, fail-safes, interlocks, robotics safety controls, safety PLC reviews, and automated motion hazard assessments.
• Develop scalable EHS standards, procedures, specifications, and governance systems for multiple facilities.
• Collaborate with ML/AI engineers on training an LLM to reason about hazards, risk assessments, and safety constraints during experimental planning and autonomous execution.
• Lead incident investigations, root cause analyses, corrective actions, permitting assessments, regulatory inspections, and Chemical Hygiene Plan maintenance.

Requirements

• 7–10+ years of experience in EHS, process safety, or chemical operations in laboratories, pilot plants, or semiconductor fabs.
• Hands-on experience leading HAZOPs or FMEAs and operating PSSR and MOC programs.
• Working knowledge of functional safety, including interlocks, safety PLCs, ISO 13849, and IEC 61508 concepts.
• Knowledge of Cal/OSHA, OSHA PELs, ACGIH TLVs/BEIs, NIOSH, and ANSI standards.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience; CSP, ASP, CIH, or a similar credential.
• Ability to work on-site in Menlo Park in a complex laboratory operating continuously around the clock.

Nice to have

• Semiconductor or thin-film process safety experience, including HF, toxic and pyrophoric gases, gas cabinets, and SEMI S2.
• Experience designing EHS systems for autonomous or semi-autonomous laboratories.
• Experience with solid-state chemistry, materials processing, laboratory automation, or AI/ML applications in risk assessment and experimental planning.

Culture & Benefits

• Work in a fast-paced, high-complexity research environment where experiments run 24/7.
• Help make EHS a core design discipline for autonomous science rather than a compliance function added afterward.
• Compensation includes equity.
• Visa sponsorship is available.