Senior Specialist Safety & Environment

About the role

Basic Functions and Responsibility

Reporting to the Associate Director, Safety & Environment, the Senior Specialist provides technical and program leadership for High Risk Work and Machinery Safety across West Point, North Wales, and Springhouse Innovation Park, supporting Vaccines Manufacturing, Research & Development, and site support functions.

The role serves as a trusted subject matter expert and partners with operations, engineering, maintenance and other various organizations to prevent serious injuries and operational events.

This individual translates regulatory, consensus-standard, and company requirements into practical risk-based solutions; strengthens critical controls in design and field execution; and uses program data, event learning, and field insights to drive sustainable improvement aligned with site priorities and business needs.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the West Point HRW Steering Committee and HRW Councils, aligning all site organizations to one site program, following GSE procedures and training.
• Serve as the site subject matter expert and procedure owner for high-risk work, including hazardous energy control, line breaking, confined space entry, work at height, hot work, and other critical-risk activities.
• Develop and deliver technical training and qualification support for employees, contractors, and program owners responsible for high-risk work and machinery safety.
• Manage HRW contractor, partnering to deploy the HRW Auditing Tool and drive timely, effective improvement to permit compliance.
• Partner with Facilities, Engineering, Operations, and project teams on P&ID reviews, commissioning, and equipment handover.
• Provide technical leadership for machinery safety, including machine risk assessments, safeguarding controls, and verification of risk-reduction measures across the equipment lifecycle.
• Conduct and facilitate field risk assessments, machinery safety reviews, pre-startup reviews, and critical-control verifications; document gaps, establish risk-based priorities, and drive actions to timely closure.
• Lead or support investigations of high-potential events, near misses, and machinery-related incidents; identify systemic causes, evaluate control failures, and ensure corrective and preventive actions are effective and sustained.
• Support regulatory inspections, internal audits, management reviews, and enterprise or divisional initiatives related to high-risk work and machinery safety.

Education Minimum Requirement

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

Required Experience and Skills

• At least 5 years of safety program or technical safety experience in a manufacturing, laboratory, engineering, or similarly complex environment.
• Strong knowledge of high-risk work controls, including hazardous energy control and activities such as line breaking, confined space entry, work at height, excavation, lifting and rigging, or hot work.
• Working knowledge of machinery risk assessment, safeguarding, safety-related controls, interlocks, emergency stops, and control verification.
• Ability to apply OSHA, consensus, and company standards to field work, work planning, equipment design, and capital projects.
• Strong investigation, risk assessment, problem-solving, project management, and corrective-action skills.
• Ability to influence cross-functional teams and communicate technical requirements clearly, using Microsoft Office and relevant digital systems.

Preferred Experience and Skills

• Experience in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, chemical, or other highly regulated manufacturing or research environments.
• Experience applying recognized machinery safety standards and methodologies, such as ANSI, NFPA, ISO, or equivalent risk-based frameworks.
• Professional certification or relevant credential such as CSP, CHST, CMSE, CFSE, or an equivalent 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

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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.
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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.
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• 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

Pay and benefits

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.

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.

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): no
• Job Posting End Date: 11/3/2026

Additional information

*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.