Job Type
Full-time
Description
As Process Safety Engineer on the Integration team, you own the process safety engineering scope across Fervo's ORC facility portfolio. That means hazard identification, consequence analysis, SIS design and validation, relief and blowdown system design, and the safety documentation that ties the plant together, from HAZOP through SIL assessment through startup. You sit on the integration team, which means you see across every engineering scope and are positioned to catch the risks that live at the boundaries between systems. You report to the Integration Lead.
Requirements
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. Understand the full consequence basis, not just the set pressure.
- 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. Trace every protection layer to its consequence basis. If it can't be justified by a credible hazard scenario, it should not be in the design.
Own the Integration Interface
- Sit at the intersection of all engineering scopes and catch the process safety risks that live at system boundaries - between the ORC and utilities, between the turbine package and site infrastructure, between plant control and safety systems.
- Define and maintain the safety-critical interface register for the plant. Every boundary between scopes that has a safety implication should be documented, owned, and tracked.
- Own safety documentation - cause and effect matrices, functional descriptions, safety requirements specifications - and ensure they are updated as the design evolves, not treated as one-time deliverables.
- Work closely with the controls team on the SIS/DCS interface. Safety logic and process control logic are separate systems with a well-defined boundary. Own your side of it.
Build the Standard
- Standardize the process safety design basis, HAZOP methodology, and SIS architecture across all power plants. Every plant Fervo builds should benefit from the risk analysis done on the last one.
- Drive safety engineering into the design process early, not late. The cheapest protection layer is the one that gets designed out of the hazard scenario before the P&ID is issued for construction.
- Close the feedback loop between safety design and field operations aggressively. Incidents and near-misses are data. Apply them forward.
Qualifications Required
- 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.
Preferred
- 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.
Location Fervo Energy is headquartered in Houston, TX with growing offices in Oakland, CA, Golden, CO, Reno, NV, and Salt Lake City, UT. This position will be eligible for some hybrid work flexibility, but regular in-office presence at Fervo's
Houston office will be required. Some travel is required for this position.
