Safety & Sustainability Intern: VPC & Emissions Optimization

Vopak helps the world flow forward. We store the energy of today and tomorrow. But behind our impressive terminals and tanks, it is our people who make the difference. To strengthen our leading position in the energy transition and global trade, we are looking for your talent. As a Safety & Sustainability Intern, you will play a key role in realizing our ambitions while building both the future of Vopak and your own.

Your Mission

Ready to bridge the gap between chemical engineering and enterprise software development? Join Royal Vopak’s Safety & Sustainability team and lead an investigative project leveraging core chemical engineering principles and rigorous data analytics.

At Royal Vopak, our worldwide network handles thousands of vital products. Every product is logged in our Vopak Product Catalogue (VPC)—a centralized system linking regional names to a parent "Global Product List" to manage safety parameters. Currently, our sustainability team calculates Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) emissions using an in-house calculator that relies on an isolated, terminal-specific database of chemical properties.

To ensure rigorous, standardized environmental reporting worldwide, we need to create a single source of truth. Your mission is to architect a robust integration strategy and execute the required technical groundwork to integrate critical thermodynamic properties directly into the VPC so the VOC calculator can dynamically read this data.

What will you be doing?

• Analyze the Global Product List, terminal child lists, and the VOC calculator's product list to find correlations and determine the best matching strategy (whether exclusive to Global Products or requiring terminal-level mapping).
• Utilize the NIST database to create a comprehensive inventory of A, B, and C Antoine constants and molar masses for our stored products.
• Research and apply the best possible methodologies to calculate and accurately represent the chemical properties of complex chemical compounds and mixtures.
• Recommend a structured implementation procedure for the VPC DevOps team to seamlessly add these chemical property fields to the existing system.
• Recommend the necessary steps to adjust the in-house VOC calculator so it can successfully pull from the updated VPC API.
• Rigorously validate the newly compiled database of chemical properties against the existing VOC and VPC lists to ensure 100% accuracy before deployment.

Why you’ll love working with us:

• Gain hands-on experience bridging the gap between chemical engineering and software development—a highly valuable skill in modern industry.
• Learn how a major global company manages massive data structures and standardizes environmental reporting to hit sustainability goals.
• A healthy hybrid work model (32-40 hours) split between your home setup and our vibrant head office in Rotterdam.
• A competitive internship allowance of €575/month (based on full-time).
• An inclusive, international, and supportive environment where your ideas genuinely matter.

Does this sound like you?

• You are currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering at a Dutch applied sciences college (HBO). 
• Strong foundational understanding of physical chemistry (specifically thermodynamics and vapor pressure) and chemical mixtures.
• Strong verbal and written English communication skills (you'll be working with global teams).
• Analytical mindset with an interest in data structures, databases, and enterprise IT systems.
• Independent problem-solver who is comfortable navigating databases like NIST.
• Ready to make an impact for 4–6 months starting in January 2027.

Don’t meet all our criteria? No problem! If this role energizes you and our culture feels like a good fit, we warmly invite you to apply anyway.

Is this your next step? We’d love to meet you!

Together, we help the world flow forward. Apply directly via our website.

At Vopak we are committed to building a workplace where everyone feels they belong. To support this, we host several active Employee Resource Groups, including our International, Pride, Women’s and Young Professionals networks.

Vopak is an equal opportunity employer. Everyone is different, and the differences in people allow us to match our ambitions and drive inclusion across the business. That's why we are curious about who you are!