Environmental Health and Safety Lead

About the Company

We are a renewable energy and ocean technology company committed to rapidly developing and deploying technologies that will ensure a sustainable future for Earth by unlocking the vast energy potential of its oceans. Our focus is on capturing civilizational levels of ultra-low-cost renewable energy for applications including computing and affordable renewable fuels delivered to shore.

The company is a public benefit corporation headquartered in Portland, Oregon and backed by leading venture capitalists, philanthropic investors, university endowments, and private investment offices. We operate as an idea meritocracy in which the best ideas change the company’s direction on a regular basis.

About the Job

Our core technology is the node, a device that produces energy in the ocean’s harshest conditions for years at a time without human maintenance or intervention.

We are seeking an Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) Lead to build and scale a proactive, consistent safety program across labs, fabrication spaces, marine operations, pilot manufacturing, and field environments. This role is not just about expertise—it’s about partnership. You will work side-by-side with engineers, technicians, and operators to identify risks early, develop practical solutions, and embed safety directly into how work gets designed and done.

This is a unique opportunity to design safety systems from the ground up in a fast-moving engineering environment. The EHS Lead will champion our Safety Principles, integrate safety into engineering and design processes, and help teams solve real problems—balancing rigor with pragmatism so safety enables progress rather than slowing it down.

We’re looking for someone who thrives in a startup culture, prefers practical, lightweight processes over bureaucracy, and approaches safety as a collaborative, solutions-oriented discipline. At Panthalassa, safety is an enabler, not a gate, and this role is central to making that real.

Our staff have worked at organizations such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, Boeing, Tesla, Apple, Virgin Orbit, Astra, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, New Relic, Bridgewater, Raytheon, Disney Imagineering, and the US Army and Air Force, as well as research universities, startups, and small companies across a range of industries. We are organized as a public benefit corporation and are backed by leading venture capital firms, private investors, philanthropic investors, and endowments.

Responsibilities

• Lead the rollout and adoption of Panthalassa’s Safety Principles, making them visible, tangible, and actionable across labs, shops, docks, and test environments.
• Build a simple, transparent safety management system to track inspections, near misses, and incidents; ensure clear ownership and accountability for timely review  and implementation of resulting corrective actions. 
• Create a structured training framework that prepares teams for safe work in all environments including: fabrication, marine operations, electrical work, lab environments, and pilot manufacturing.
• Integrate safety into design and engineering by leading safety reviews during design phases, construction, equipment installation, and process development.
• Participate in engineering design reviews, design the set of assessment criteria that are appropriate for each phase of engineering development efforts.
• Provide timely, practical safety guidance to teams, approaching safety as a service and partnership, and rapidly developing solutions to mitigate emergent or unplanned hazards without unnecessary disruption to work.
• Deliver safety advice and support with a customer-service mindset—responsive, pragmatic, and solutions-focused—helping teams address hazards and unblock work safely.
• Develop clear, consistent communication channels for sharing safety information, lessons learned, and relevant marine and industrial standards.
• Own safety preparedness, including emergency response planning and drills, and partnerships with external training providers.
• Build practical, lightweight EHS policies and roles that can grow with us—from our current domestic operations to future sites and activities as we expand internationally.
• Lead incident investigations and drive practical, long-term corrective and preventive actions.
• Serve as a trusted partner to Engineering, Workplace Design & Operations, Manufacturing, Marine Ops, and Testing to ensure safety decisions are engineering-informed and operationally grounded.

Required Qualifications

• 7+ years experience in Environmental Health & Safety roles supporting engineering, R&D, industrial, fabrication, or manufacturing environments.
• Demonstrated ability to build or scale a safety program in a fast-changing or early-stage context.
• Strong technical understanding of OSHA regulations, hazard communication standards, industrial safety, and risk assessment methodologies.
• Experience with high-voltage electrical safety, including NFPA 70E requirements, arc flash analysis, LOTO programs, and safe energized work practices.
• Working knowledge of lithium-ion battery safety, including storage, handling, thermal runaway risk mitigation, hazardous waste classification, and environmental compliance obligations.
• Experience supporting environments with energy storage systems, high-power test equipment, or power conversion hardware.
• Proven ability to lead incident investigations and develop effective corrective and preventive actions.
• Ability to influence and collaborate across diverse teams: engineers, technicians, manufacturing teams, marine crews, and program managers, with a hands-on, partnership-driven approach.
• History of working directly in labs, shops, docks, or field environments to understand the work and co-create safety solutions.
• Ability to build trust and influence without relying on authority, compliance enforcement, or heavy process.
• Ability to translate regulatory or technical concepts into clear, practical guidance for a variety of work settings, from labs and shops to docks and pilot manufacturing areas.
• A systems thinker who can simplify complexity, establish clear ownership, and build accountability and visibility across teams.

Desired Qualifications

• Background in metal fabrication, engineering, hardware assembly, or rapidly evolving industrial environments.
• Experience planning for critical lifts, large scale steel fabrication, or ship building
• Experience supporting battery labs, energy storage systems (ESS), or lithium-ion storage/testing environments.
• Familiarity with key electrical and battery safety standards (e.g., NEC/NFPA 70, NFPA 70E, NFPA 855, UL 9540/9540A) and relevant EPA/DOT regulations.
• Experience with marine operations or maritime safety and conducting risk assessments for field or vessel activities.
• Knowledge of Federal, California, Oregon, and/or Washington OSHA regulations.
• Experience integrating safety into engineering design reviews, construction planning, equipment installation, and commissioning.
• Experience developing or managing EHS training and onboarding programs for diverse technical teams.
• Comfort working with regulators, fire authorities, and permitting agencies, especially for high-voltage or battery systems.
• Relevant certifications such as CSP, CIH, CHST, ASP, OSHA 30/500, NFPA 70E Qualified Worker, or First Aid/CPR instructor.

The above qualifications are desired, not required. We encourage you to apply if you are a strong candidate with only some of the desired skills and experience listed.

Additional Requirements

• Travel to vendors and test sites as needed
• Intermittently able to work longer hours and weekends to support critical needs. While we expect a lot of each other, we also offer a high degree of autonomy and work-life balance, including unlimited PTO and flexible working hours.

Compensation and Benefits

If hired for this full-time role, you will receive:

• Cash compensation of  $135,000 - $185,000
• Equity in the company. We’re all owners and if we’re successful, this equity should be far and away the most valuable component of your compensation.
• A benefits package that helps you take care of yourself and your family, including:
  • Flexible paid time off
  • Health insurance (the company pays 100% of gold level PPO plan for full time employees, their partners, and dependents)
  • Dental insurance (the company pays 100% for full time employees and 100% for their partners and dependents)
  • Vision insurance (the company pays 100% for full time employees, their partners, and dependents)
  • Disability insurance (the company pays 100% for a policy to provide long term financial support if you become disabled)
• Relocation assistance to facilitate your move to Portland (if needed).

Location

This is an on-site position. Our offices, lab, and shop are located in Portland, Oregon.