Process Safety Engineer III

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight!

This role is part of Advanced Concepts and Enterprise Engineering (ACE), supporting Blue Origin’s mission of millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. The team fosters innovation and drives engineering workflows of the future, shared solutions and standards, simplicity and lower costs, and manufacturable design.

In this hands-on role, you will be based full-time on-site at our Los Angeles facility, working with the Space Resources Program team. We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced process safety engineer to own critical process safety and reliability activities, starting with early hazard identification and carrying through to full evaluation and execution of mitigation plans. You will dive deep into both flight and non-flight hardware, collaborating with the team to drive robust process safety and reliability and address nuances inherent in early technology development with exotic materials and processes. This role is ideal for someone who thrives in a fast-paced, highly collaborative environment and is comfortable balancing technical risk, schedule pressure, and evolving program needs.

You will partner closely with engineering, test, and operations teams to ensure that process hazards and system risks are identified early, engineered into design solutions, and managed throughout the lifecycle from concept through test execution.

While this role collaborates closely with Environmental Health & Safety (EHS), it is primarily engineering-driven, focusing on process safety, system risk reduction, and reliability performance.

As part of a hardworking team of technical professionals, you will provide subject matter expertise to engineering, production, and test teams on process safety and hazard analysis, and risk-informed design and operations.

You will support all phases of hardware development and campaign execution, including design reviews, hazard analyses, management of change, test readiness reviews, failure investigations, and evaluation of abnormal and emergency operating scenarios.

This role will directly impact the history of space exploration and will require your commitment and detailed attention toward safe and repeatable spaceflight. Join us in lowering the cost of access to space and enabling Blue Origin’s vision of millions of people living and working in space to benefit Earth.

We are looking for someone to apply their technical expertise, leadership skills, and commitment to quality to positively impact safe human spaceflight. Passion for our mission and vision is required.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

Process Safety & System Risk Engineering

• Apply inherently safer design principles to eliminate or reduce hazards at the source (material substitution, energy minimization, simplification, and passive controls)

• Lead process hazard identification activities from early concept through operations

• Drive hazards through full lifecycle: Identification, risk ranking, control definition, verification, and closure

• Define and implement engineering and administrative controls into systems and processes

• Evaluate risks associated with novel materials, high-energy systems, and non-routine processes

Design & System Integration

• Provide process safety and reliability input into system architecture, design reviews, and configuration baselines

• Partner with design and integration teams to ensure hazard controls are embedded into hardware, software, and operational procedures

• Support Management of Change (MOC) with focus on technical risk evaluation and system impact

Reliability & Failure Analysis

• Analyze test and operational data to identify dominant failure modes and system vulnerabilities

• Apply reliability methods to support system robustness

• Drive corrective actions based on failure trends and hazard analysis

Test & Operations Support

• Support test readiness reviews, go/no-go decisions, and operational risk assessments

• Provide real-time process safety support during campaign operations and non-routine activities

• Evaluate abnormal conditions (thermal events, pressure excursions, system upsets) and define mitigation strategies

• Provide supplemental support to EHS-related operational activities during high-tempo test campaigns and non-routine operations, as needed

Cross-Functional Risk Alignment

• Collaborate with Mission Assurance, Quality, and EHS to align hazard controls with program risk acceptance frameworks

• Serve as a technical risk focal point for process safety decisions and escalation

• Ensure hazard and reliability data supports system certification, verification, and acceptance criteria

Continuous Improvement

• Identify opportunities for process improvement and risk reduction

• Standardize hazard analysis methodologies across development programs

• Support development of tools and workflows for scalable process safety engineering

Qualifications:

• B.S. in Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related technical field

• 7+ years of experience in process safety, system safety, reliability engineering, or complex system risk analysis

• Experience supporting high-hazard or complex engineered systems (e.g., aerospace, energy, chemical processing, pilot plant, or R&D test environments)

• Strong understanding of process safety principles and risk-informed decision making

• Experience integrating hazard controls into system design, test planning, and operations

• Experience supporting failure investigations, root cause determination, and corrective action implementation

• Ability to provide technical risk input to design reviews, test readiness reviews, and non-routine operations

• Familiarity with safety and engineering standards (e.g., NFPA, ANSI) as applied to technical systems

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to communicate complex technical risks clearly

• Ability to work effectively across engineering, operations, and test teams

• Ability to operate in a fast-paced, highly collaborative environment with evolving technical requirements

• Ability to meet physical requirements including lifting up to 50 lbs, climbing stairs, and working in industrial environments as needed

Additional Role Context:

This role provides embedded process safety and system risk engineering support for complex development and test activities. It works hand-in-hand with EHS, engineering, and operations to ensure hazards are identified early and engineered into design, clearly communicated, and effectively controlled before and during execution.

This role may also serve as a supplemental resource to EHS during high-demand operational periods, while maintaining primary responsibility for engineering-driven process safety and system risk management.