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Head of Environmental Health & Safety (EHS)

Periodic Labs· Science
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Menlo Park, CA$250k - $325kFull-timePosted 5mo ago

About the role

Leadership role building Periodic Labs' safety architecture for autonomous scientific operations, integrating permitting, life safety, hazard analyses, and EHS automation to support high-throughput, hazardous materials research and autonomous labs.

Responsibilities

  • Lead the site EH&S team through problem solving and operational support while promoting a strong safety and environmental culture. Ensure compliance with applicable EH&S regulations and standards, develop and improve programs aligned with company goals, and actively partner with lab and operations teams on day-to-day safety challenges. Own the digital EHS infrastructure, integrating inspections, training records, incident reporting, compliance tracking, KPI dashboards, action-item tracking, and audit workflows into a unified operational safety platform.
  • Own and manage all permitting processes with local, state, and federal agencies: Fire Department/CUPA via Accela, CERS submissions for hazardous materials, AQMD/BAAQMD air permits, and TSDF coordination for hazardous waste.
  • Maintain and update chemical inventory systems, SDS library, and hazard labeling in compliance with OSHA, CalEPA, and permitted MAQ thresholds including managing the expansion of our chemical inventory as new thin-film processes introduce HF-based wet chemistry, fluoride compounds, and specialty gases.
  • Lead Hazard Communication (HazCom) and SDS training programs for lab staff, including night shift and autonomous overnight operation protocols.
  • Coordinate EHS inspections and maintain required documentation and postings across both the existing powder lab and thin-film facility.
  • Design and review life safety systems, including fire suppression, e-stop networks, gas detection (including toxic gas alarms for HF, H2Se, and other process chemistries), interlocks, alarm interfaces, and emissions/waste abatement systems such as baghouses and scrubbers.
  • Conduct and document HAZOPs, PHA/FMEA, and risk assessments for new processes and lab systems, including high-pressure furnace operations, glovebox workflows, and thin-film deposition platforms.
  • Establish operational readiness and laboratory reliability systems for autonomous operations, including pre-startup safety reviews (PSSR), commissioning validation, alarm rationalization, startup/shutdown procedures, and critical equipment inspection programs.
  • Partner with automation and controls teams to implement machine safeguarding, fail-safes, interlocks, robotics safety controls, functional safety validation, safety PLC reviews, and automated motion hazard assessments for autonomous experimental systems.
  • Collaborate with ML/AI engineers on training an LLM to reason through process hazards, risk assessments, and safety constraints during experimental planning and autonomous execution — making EHS a first-class input to our AI’s decision-making.

Qualifications

  • 10+ years of experience in EHS, process safety, or chemical operations in labs, pilot plants, or manufacturing environments preferably in solid-state chemistry, materials science processing, or lab automation.
  • Strong knowledge of EH&S regulations, standards, and best practices.
  • Hands-on experience conducting HAZOPs or FMEAs and designing or reviewing functional safety systems.
  • Certification in EH&S (e.g., Certified Safety Professional, Certified Industrial Hygienist) is a plus.
  • Comfort working on-site in a fast-paced, high-complexity lab environment where experiments run 24/7 and the hazard profile evolves as new processes and equipment are introduced.

Skills

Required:EHS leadership and program developmentHazard analyses (HAZOP, PHA/FMEA)Regulatory compliance (OSHA, CalEPA, MAQ thresholds)
Last updated Oct 14, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Periodic Labs

From bits to atoms.

Periodic Labs is an artificial intelligence research company pioneering the next leap in scientific discovery. We operate at the intersection of machine learning and scientific experimentation under the thesis that that true understanding of the universe is only possible by interacting and experimenting on it.

artificial intelligencescientific discoverymachine learningscientific experimentation
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