Process Safety Engineer

Fervo Energy Company • Houston, TX

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

Geothermal energy is a vast, untapped resource, and Fervo is pioneering commercial-scale enhanced geothermal systems to make it a significant part of the global energy mix. We are moving beyond first-of-a-kind projects to aggressive deployment, driven by explosive demand. Safety at Fervo is approached as a first-principles engineering challenge, maintaining world-class process safety standards through continuous improvement. We seek a process safety engineer who deeply understands system design and ownership to ensure the best safety outcomes. This role is crucial for building the safety foundation for a geothermal fleet and making a large-scale impact. As a Process Safety Engineer on the Integration team, you will own the process safety engineering scope for Fervo's ORC facility portfolio, encompassing hazard identification, consequence analysis, SIS design and validation, relief and blowdown system design, and safety documentation from HAZOP through SIL assessment to startup. You will be positioned at the intersection of all engineering scopes to identify risks at system boundaries.

Requirements

• B.S. or M.S. in Chemical, Mechanical, or Process Engineering or related discipline.
• 7+ years of process safety engineering experience with direct ownership of HAZOP facilitation, LOPA, SIL assessment, and relief system design for power generation or industrial facilities.
• Hands-on experience with IEC 61511 functional safety lifecycle, SIS design, and SIL verification.
• Strong understanding of consequence modeling, relief system design, and pressure protection philosophy.
• Able to translate technical complexity into clear, fast decisions for cross-functional partners and project leadership.

Nice To Haves

• Background building something that had to scale, where the safety standard you set mattered beyond the project in front of you.
• Experience with ORC, geothermal, or similar power generation process systems.
• Certified Functional Safety Expert (CFSE) or equivalent.
• Track record driving process safety standardization across multiple facilities or project phases.

Responsibilities

• Own Process Safety Across the Plant: Lead and own HAZOP, LOPA, and SIL assessment processes across the powerblock. Own relief system design and validation of PSVs, rupture disks, flare and vent systems, understanding the full consequence basis. Own the safety instrumented system (SIS) design and validation for the plant, including SIL verification, logic solver specification, and functional safety documentation in accordance with IEC 61511. Question every inherited safety requirement and trace every protection layer to its consequence basis.
• Own the Integration Interface: Sit at the intersection of all engineering scopes and catch the process safety risks that live at system boundaries. Define and maintain the safety-critical interface register for the plant. Own safety documentation — cause and effect matrices, functional descriptions, safety requirements specifications — and ensure they are updated as the design evolves. Work closely with the controls team on the SIS/DCS interface.
• Build the Standard: Standardize the process safety design basis, HAZOP methodology, and SIS architecture across all power plants. Drive safety engineering into the design process early. Close the feedback loop between safety design and field operations aggressively, applying incidents and near-misses as data.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Associate degree