Senior Specialist Safety & Environment PSM

Job Description

Basic Functions and Responsibility:

Provides technical direction and program leadership for Process Safety Management (PSM), EHS Management of Change (MOC), and Loss Prevention across West Point, North Wales, and Springhouse Innovation Park, supporting Vaccines Manufacturing, Research & Development, and site support functions. Partners with operations, engineering, maintenance, project teams, and global experts to integrate process safety into design, startup, and operations. Applies company standards and regulatory and engineering requirements, field verification, event learning, and program data to close safeguard gaps, prevent incidents and asset losses, and sustain risk reduction.

 

Key Responsibilities:

• Serve as site PSM subject matter expert and GSE advisor for the PSM standard; align priorities, accountabilities, and implementation with system owners, divisional PSM leads, and process owners.
• Maintain PSM procedures, tools, templates, and role-specific training; translate standard changes and audit and event lessons into practical requirements and guidance.
• Oversee potentially hazardous process inventories, process-owner assignments, and PHA revalidation schedules; guide applicability decisions and risk reviews for hazards outside formal PSM coverage.
• Provide technical leadership for Process Hazard Analyses (PHAs), including HAZOP, What-If, and Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA); support qualified facilitator selection, assess analysis quality, and approve reports and revalidations within assigned authority.
• Coordinate As Low As Reasonably Practicable (ALARP) reviews with process owners, engineering, management, and global experts; document technical rationale, approvals, risk-reduction commitments, and timelines.
• Partner with process owners and engineering to maintain process descriptions, safe operating limits, and piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs); verify documented safeguards against installed conditions through field walkdowns.
• Support capital projects from design through turnover, including PHA planning, design and change reviews, and startup-critical action closure; promote inherently safer design and transfer process safety information and open actions to site owners.
• Lead EHS MOC procedures, assessment checklists, action guidance, training, and digital workflows; review changes and participate in Pre-Start-Up Safety and Environmental Reviews (PSSERs) and approvals within assigned authority.
• Partner with mechanical integrity, pressure relief, automation, and maintenance specialists to document and field-verify safety-critical safeguards and link them to inspection, testing, maintenance, and change-control requirements.
• Support process safety investigations and potential high-severity event reviews; coordinate evidence-based classification and escalation, identify systemic causes and safeguard gaps, and verify corrective and preventive action effectiveness.
• Coordinate Loss Prevention with facilities, engineering, operations, insurers, and global specialists; organize risk surveys, communicate findings, and track maintenance and capital improvements for fire protection, storage, and asset protection.
• Conduct self-assessments, field verifications, and audit support; assign action owners and deadlines, verify documented closure, and report program health, emerging risks, overdue actions, and resource needs to site leadership and EHS councils.

Position Qualifications:

Education Minimum Requirement:

 

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Occupational Safety, or a related technical field.

Required Experience and Skills:

• At least 5 years of process safety, engineering, or technical EHS experience in manufacturing, pilot plant, research, or similarly complex settings, including direct process safety program implementation.
• Experience conducting or supporting PHAs using HAZOP and What-If, applying LOPA, and developing actionable risk-reduction recommendations.
• Working knowledge of EHS MOC, pre-startup reviews, process safety information, mechanical integrity interfaces, and hazardous-process lifecycle management.
• Ability to interpret P&IDs, process descriptions, operating limits, and technical records; assess safeguards and recognize when specialized engineering or global expertise is needed.
• Ability to apply company standards, regulations, engineering codes, and recognized good engineering practices to design, equipment changes, field conditions, and capital projects.
• Strong risk assessment, investigation, problem-solving, project coordination, and action-verification skills; ability to prioritize and escalate significant risks.
• Ability to influence cross-functional teams, deliver training, and explain technical risks to operations and leaders; proficiency with Microsoft Office and digital risk, MOC, and action-management systems.

 

Preferred Experience and Skills:

• Experience in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, chemical, or other highly regulated manufacturing or research environments.
• Formal training or qualification in PHA facilitation, HAZOP, LOPA, or related process safety risk-assessment methods.
• Capital-project process safety experience from design through startup and turnover, including inherently safer design and independent protection layers.
• Experience with loss prevention, insurer surveys, fire protection interfaces, flammable and combustible material risks, or asset-protection improvement plans.
• Experience implementing PHA software, Enablon workflows, digital record migrations, or standardized process safety reporting.
• Professional certification or relevant credential such as CSP, Professional Engineer, or a recognized process safety qualification.

Required Skills:

Adaptability, Biosafety, EHS Auditing, EHS Compliance, EHS Program Management, Environmental Regulatory Compliance, Health and Safety Legislation, Incident Investigations, Industrial Hygiene, Interpersonal Relationships, Occupational Safety and Health Programs, Process Safety Management, Safety Programs, Self Motivation, Training and Development

Preferred Skills:

Current Employees apply HERE

Current Contingent Workers apply HERE

US and Puerto Rico Residents Only:

Our company is committed to inclusion, ensuring that candidates can engage in a hiring process that exhibits their true capabilities. Please click here if you need an accommodation during the application or hiring process.

As an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer, we provide equal opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.  As a federal contractor, we comply with all affirmative action requirements for protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.  For more information about personal rights under the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment laws, visit:

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We are proud to be a company that embraces the value of bringing together, talented, and committed people with diverse experiences, perspectives, skills and backgrounds. The fastest way to breakthrough innovation is when people with diverse ideas, broad experiences, backgrounds, and skills come together in an inclusive environment. We encourage our colleagues to respectfully challenge one another’s thinking and approach problems collectively.

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The primary location for this posting is:

USA - Pennsylvania - West Point

Where required by law, the compensation range for this role is provided below.

The salary range for the primary location of this role is:

$106,200.00 - $167,200.00

This range reflects the Company's reasonable expectation of the base salary applicable to this role at the time of posting. An employee’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, government requirements, and business or organizational needs. The successful candidate will be eligible for annual bonus and long-term incentive, if applicable.

We offer a comprehensive package of benefits. Available benefits include medical, dental, vision healthcare and other insurance benefits (for employee and family), retirement benefits, including 401(k), paid holidays, vacation, and compassionate and sick days. More information about benefits is available at https://jobs.merck.com/us/en/compensation-and-benefits.

Additional location(s): Please note the salary range above applies to the Primary Location of the position. Where a role has other listed locations, different compensation guidelines may apply. You may find the salary ranges for additional locations below. If the salary range is not listed for the location you are applying to, our Talent Acquisition team will provide further information to you relevant to your location.

Additional location(s) Compensation Information:

San Francisco Residents Only: We will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment in compliance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance

Los Angeles Residents Only: We will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance

Search Firm Representatives Please Read Carefully 
Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA, also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, Rahway, NJ, USA, does not accept unsolicited assistance from search firms for employment opportunities. All CVs / resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at our company without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of our company.  No fee will be paid in the event a candidate is hired by our company as a result of an agency referral where no pre-existing agreement is in place. Where agency agreements are in place, introductions are position specific. Please, no phone calls or emails. 

Employee Status:

Regular

Relocation:

No relocation

VISA Sponsorship:

No

Travel Requirements:

No Travel Required

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Hybrid

Shift:

Not Indicated

Valid Driving License:

No

Hazardous Material(s):

N/A

Job Posting End Date:

11/11/2026

*A job posting is effective until 11:59:59PM on the day BEFORE the listed job posting end date. Please ensure you apply to a job posting no later than the day BEFORE the job posting end date.