Process Safety Engineer

Fervo Energy•Houston, TX

20h•Hybrid

About The Position

Fervo Energy is seeking a Process Safety Engineer to join their Integration team. This role is crucial for establishing and maintaining world-class process safety standards as Fervo deploys geothermal power plants at scale. The engineer will own the process safety engineering scope across Fervo's ORC facility portfolio, focusing on hazard identification, consequence analysis, SIS design and validation, relief and blowdown system design, and safety documentation. The position is situated within the integration team, allowing for a cross-functional perspective to identify risks at system boundaries. The goal is to build the safety foundation for a geothermal fleet and ensure safety is a core engineering principle, not an afterthought.

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 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

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 inherited safety requirements and trace protection layers to their credible hazard scenario basis.
Sit at the intersection of all engineering scopes to identify process safety risks 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, owning the safety logic side.
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 using incident and near-miss data.