Environmental Health and Safety

Periodic Labs•Menlo Park, CA

2d•Onsite

About The Position

Periodic Labs is an AI and physical sciences company building state-of-the-art models to accelerate breakthroughs across materials, energy, and beyond. We are seeking an Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) professional to build our safety architecture from the ground up. This role is crucial for enabling autonomous science by defining permitting strategy, designing life safety systems, conducting process hazard analyses, and training our AI to reason about risk. The position will also involve building and leading a team to support this work as the company scales. The lab handles hazardous chemistries, high-pressure and high-temperature processes, air-sensitive synthesis, fluoride compounds, toxic gas exposure risks, and various thin-film deposition tools. A new thin-film facility is under construction, increasing the complexity of operations.

Requirements

5+ 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.
Demonstrated familiarity with hazardous materials permitting systems: CERS, Accela, and AQMD/BAAQMD portals.
Hands-on experience conducting HAZOPs or FMEAs and designing or reviewing functional safety systems.
Drive to achieve fluency in industry-relevant codes and standards: OSHA, Cal/OSHA, NFPA, EPA, RCRA, DOT, as well as IEC 61511, ISO 13849, and ISO/TS 15066.
Ability to interface effectively with external agencies and internal engineering, automation, and facilities teams.
Comfort working on-site in a fast-paced, high-complexity lab environment where experiments run 24/7 and the hazard profile evolves.
Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education and training or experience.

Nice To Haves

Experience designing EHS systems for autonomous or semi-autonomous lab environments.
Background supporting the build-out of a new laboratory facility, including coordinating permitting and safety system design in parallel with construction.
Familiarity with AI or ML tools as applied to risk assessment, safety documentation, or experimental planning.
Active participation in technical committees contributing to OSHA, NFPA, or IEC standard development.
Demonstrated accomplishments recognized in your field.

Responsibilities

Own and manage all permitting processes with local, state, and federal agencies, including 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.
Manage the expansion of 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 existing and new facilities.
Design and review life safety systems, including fire suppression, e-stop networks, gas detection (HF, H2Se, toxic gases), interlocks, alarm interfaces, and emissions/waste abatement systems.
Support process safety design through utilities analysis and upgrade of facilities equipment.
Establish a formal Incident Commander role and evacuation notification infrastructure.
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.
Collaborate with automation, facilities, and controls teams to implement functional and operational safety protocols: LOTO, fail-safes, industrial hygiene monitoring, and safe work-alone procedures for overnight autonomous lab operation.
Develop and maintain SOPs, incident response protocols, and lab safety procedures, building on existing frameworks.
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.
Hire and build the EHS team to sustain and scale the EHS program.