EHS Specialist

Synthego is seeking a hands-on, detail-oriented Environmental, Health & Safety (EHS) Specialist to support environmental compliance, hazardous waste management, and workplace safety across its laboratory and manufacturing facilities in Redwood City, California.

This role will be responsible for executing and maintaining EHS programs, with a strong emphasis on chemical and hazardous waste compliance, regulatory inspections, environmental reporting, and facility safety. The EHS Specialist will ensure that required inspections, assessments, permits, records, and corrective actions are completed accurately and on time.

The ideal candidate has practical experience managing EHS compliance in a chemical, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, or laboratory environment; a strong working knowledge of California and local environmental regulations; and the ability to work independently in a changing regulatory environment. This individual must be comfortable working directly with employees, facility and manufacturing teams, external consultants, and regulatory agencies to resolve compliance issues and implement sustainable corrective actions.

This is an execution-oriented role requiring a proactive, organized professional who can identify risks, take ownership of issues through closure, and maintain a consistent state of inspection readiness.

What You'll Do:

Site Safety Program Execution

• Own and maintain site safety programs to protect employees, contractors, visitors, and facility operations.

• Own, report, and monitor EH&S KPIs, take corrective actions as needed

• Conduct periodic mock safety inspections and quarterly safety inspections, including consultant-supported assessments where appropriate

• Maintain centralized tracking of inspections, safety tickets, incidents, audit findings, regulatory commitments, and corrective actions using designated company systems.

• Own, maintain, and improve all safety procedures

• Assist in managing Synthego’s Emergency Response Team, coordinate training, evaluations, and maintain relevant equipment.

• Work hand in hand with the Service Engineering and facility teams to identify, prioritize, and remediate any issues.

• Perform safety assessment for new procedures, new materials, new products, new equipment purchases/installations, etc... to ensure compliance with safety standards

• HepB vaccination tracking (w/ HR)

• Work with industrial hygienist on routine monitoring

• Improve program for ergonomic assessments working with third party resources

• Own prescription safety glasses, respiratory protection program, and safety footwear program

• Improve a program for Job Hazard Analysis and roll out across all sites.

• Advocate for Environmental Health and Safety, driving a strong and committed safety culture throughout the organization.

• Investigate, compile, and develop reports on any incident/accident that may occur; and ensure action items are adequately complete. Conduct root cause analyses and proposed corrective actions.

• Own the safety ticketing system, ensure investigations are done, and Corrective and Preventive Actions are tracked

• Evaluate site-level execution of employee safety and injury prevention programs; implement and monitor site level safety metrics.

Compliance

• Ensure compliance with applicable Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) requirements, California hazardous waste regulations, and San Mateo County Certified Unified Program Agency (CUPA) requirements.

• Ensure permits, plans, and submittals remain current

• Maintain effective working relationships with regulatory agencies, waste vendors, engineering firms, environmental consultants, and other service providers.

• Maintain hazardous waste manifests, waste profiles, accumulation records, inspection logs, container labels, training records, and other required documentation.

• Verify proper waste segregation, container compatibility, labeling, closure, accumulation time limits, and management of hazardous waste containers and secondary containment. Coordinate hazardous waste pickups, waste vendor activities, waste characterization, and disposal documentation.

• Maintain and improve the Chemical Hygiene Plan and related safety procedures, forms, and inspection checklists.

• Investigate environmental compliance deficiencies, identify root causes, and implement corrective and preventive actions to prevent recurrence.

• Maintain accurate, readily retrievable records and ensure chemical hazardous and environmental compliance documentation is inspection-ready.

• Maintain an up-to-date compliance tracker identifying applicable requirements, owners, due dates, status, supporting records, and outstanding actions.

• Proactively identify potential noncompliance and escalate technical, operational, or regulatory risks before deadlines are missed.

Training and Safety Culture

• Own EH&S Training Programs

• Provide practical EHS guidance and training to employees working with chemicals, hazardous waste, laboratory equipment, and manufacturing processes.

• Help employees understand their EHS responsibilities and implement safe, compliant work practices.

• Coordinate external training, inspections, technical assessments, and consulting support as needed.

• Promote a proactive safety culture in which employees identify hazards, report concerns, and follow through on corrective actions.

About You:

• Bachelor 's degree required

• Occupational Safety or Industrial Hygiene preferred

• Minimum of 3+ years related work experience

• Prior EHS work experience with research & development, and manufacturing operations

• Knowledge of safety and environmental regulations - local, state, and federal

• Practical experience managing hazardous waste compliance and environmental documentation.

• Working knowledge of RCRA, California hazardous waste regulations, and applicable local CUPA requirements.

• Able to understand complex regulations and be able to communicate requirements to groups with diverse interests and backgrounds

• Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, and demonstrated ability to manage compliance deadlines and corrective actions independently.

• Familiarity with data and root cause analysis techniques

• Understanding of injury and illness prevention programs

• Experience implementing, training and maintaining safety programs

• Ability to work varied hours and be on-call as needed

• Must be self-motivated with good communication skills

• Must be organized and have knowledge of regulatory record keeping requirements

• Experience in an Emergency Response field, Fire, Rescue, EMS, or Military preferred

• Ability to work in a fast paced, multi-cultural, team-oriented environment

• Proficient skills in Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint

• HAZWOPER, or Dangerous Goods, certification is preferred

• DOT Hazardous Materials certification is preferred

• OSHA 40-Hour General Industry certification is preferred

Company Perks & Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision benefits

• 401k Program

• Catered meals on Tuesday and Thursday

• Paid parental leave

• Flexible paid time off

• Education Reimbursement Program

Our Mission

Synthego is a pioneering force in the biotechnology industry, dedicated to advancing the frontiers of CRISPR cell and gene therapies through cutting-edge CRISPR technology and expertise. Our mission is to provide unparalleled access to best-in-class CRISPR solutions at scale, empowering agility in life science research and development from discovery through clinical trials. From streamlined approaches to licensing through full technical and regulatory support from our industry-leading experts, Synthego is enabling greater access to CRISPR technology driving to improved outcomes in patient therapeutic treatments.