Fire and Life Safety Engineer

Kaeppel Consulting is in immediate need of a Fire and Life Safety Engineer. This is a one-year position with one of our preferred clients on site in Erie, PA.

Supporting Department: ATSS

Contract Term: Initial one-year term

Location: Erie, PA

Onsite Availability: Minimum onsite availability required, with the schedule established in the contract

Coverage: After-hours support and escalation coverage required

Position Summary

The Fire and Life Safety Engineer will serve as ATSS’s principal technical subject-matter expert and engineering authority for fire detection, emergency communications, and associated life-safety systems across client's campus.

This contractor will provide technical leadership throughout the system lifecycle, ensuring systems are appropriately designed, integrated, commissioned, documented, maintained, modernized, and operationally ready. The role requires expertise in multi-manufacturer fire-alarm platforms, integrated building systems, complex troubleshooting, and campus infrastructure planning.

The contractor will work closely with internal stakeholders, licensed design professionals, manufacturers, service providers, and Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJs). Final code authority rests with the applicable AHJ.

Responsibilities

Technical Leadership and System Architecture

• Own the technical architecture of campus fire-alarm and associated life-safety systems, including system standards, design criteria, and overall technical direction.
• Provide expertise across multi-manufacturer fire-alarm platforms, including panel interoperability, configuration, migration, platform consolidation, and standardization strategy.
• Establish and maintain technical standards that support system reliability, maintainability, integration, and operational readiness.
• Provide technical governance of vendors, manufacturers, and service providers, including escalation and resolution of complex technical or performance issues.

Engineering Review and Coordination

• Develop and review design criteria, specifications, drawings, technical submittals, sequences of operation, and other technical documentation.
• Conduct technical reviews of renovations, new construction, system modifications, device changes, and system-interface changes.
• Coordinate with architects, electrical engineers, consultants, contractors, Facilities, IT, Emergency Management, Security Operations, licensed design professionals, and AHJs.
• Research and interpret applicable codes, standards, and technical requirements, recognizing the applicable AHJ’s final code authority.
• Coordinate and provide technical oversight of interfaces among fire alarms, access control, elevators, smoke control, door release, suppression systems, emergency communications, monitoring, and other connected life-safety or building systems.

Commissioning and Operational Readiness

• Support commissioning, acceptance testing, deficiency resolution, and operational readiness for new, modified, or migrated systems.
• Establish and document commissioning and acceptance criteria.
• Plan and coordinate system impairments, outages, migrations, contingency operations, and major system replacements.
• Provide after-hours technical support and escalation coverage in accordance with contractual requirements.

Troubleshooting and Deficiency Management

• Perform troubleshooting and root-cause analysis of significant system failures, recurring deficiencies, interoperability issues, and other complex technical problems.
• Manage and technically evaluate inspection, testing, and maintenance deficiencies.
• Recommend corrective actions and maintain formal deficiency tracking through resolution.
• Provide monthly reporting on system health, lifecycle status, deficiencies, corrective actions, and modernization needs.
• Meet defined service-level agreement (SLA) and key performance indicator (KPI) requirements.

Documentation and Change Control

• Own and maintain the accuracy and completeness of system documentation, as-built drawings, configuration baselines, and sequences of operation.
• Establish and maintain technical change-control practices.
• Maintain all system drawings and configurations in client-controlled repositories.
• Ensure documentation is owned by client's, with explicit ownership of intellectual property and configuration documentation where appropriate under the contract.
• Follow client confidentiality and cybersecurity requirements when accessing, maintaining, or transferring system information.

Lifecycle Planning and Modernization

• Lead lifecycle planning, obsolescence management, and capital forecasting for fire-alarm and associated life-safety infrastructure.
• Recommend system replacement, modernization, and platform rationalization strategies.
• Comply with contractual restrictions on unilateral product or vendor recommendations.
• Support independent competitive review for major capital replacements.

Training and Knowledge Transfer

• Train ATSS personnel and support their technical development to strengthen internal fire and life-safety system capabilities.
• Fulfill documented knowledge-transfer obligations.
• Support succession planning, resource replacement, and termination-transition assistance to preserve continuity of service.

Required Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Fire Protection Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a highly related technical field.
• Minimum of 5–7 years of experience managing fire and life-safety infrastructure in a large campus environment, hospital network, or high-density corporate headquarters.
• Demonstrated experience with multi-manufacturer fire-alarm platforms, system integration, commissioning, maintenance, modernization, and complex troubleshooting.
• Experience coordinating with internal operational teams, contractors, manufacturers, licensed design professionals, and AHJs.

Required Professional Certifications

The assigned primary resource must hold, or obtain within six months of assignment, at least one of the following:

• NICET Level III or IV in Fire Alarm Systems, issued by the National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies.
• Professional Engineer (PE) license in Fire Protection Engineering.

Additional certifications and manufacturer-specific training appropriate to client's platforms and applicable jurisdictions will be required as defined in the contract.

Preferred Professional Certifications

• Edwards Systems Technology EST3/EST4 certification: Factory training or programming certification is highly desirable given the campus backbone.
• Certified Fire Protection Specialist (CFPS): Issued by the National Fire Protection Association.
• OSHA 10-Hour or 30-Hour Construction Safety certification: Preferred to support safe work during ongoing renovations.

Required Technical Skills

• Proficiency in reading and interpreting architectural drawings, electrical schematics, and piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs).
• Hands-on experience with fire-alarm network configurations, including Class A, Class B, and Style 7 loops.
• Strong working knowledge of Building Automation Systems (BAS) and their interfaces with fire-alarm and smoke-control systems.
• Expertise in panel interoperability, system configuration, migration, platform consolidation, and standardization.
• Ability to evaluate integrated life-safety sequences and interfaces across connected building systems.
• Strong technical writing, documentation, analytical, troubleshooting, and coordination skills.

Contractor Staffing and Service Requirements

The contractor must provide:

• A dedicated primary resource meeting the required education, experience, certification, and technical qualifications.
• Qualified secondary or backup personnel to maintain continuity of service.
• Defined minimum experience requirements for assigned personnel.
• Required certifications appropriate to client's platforms and applicable jurisdictions.
• Required manufacturer-specific training.
• Continuing education paid for by the contractor.
• Minimum onsite availability as established in the contract.
• After-hours support and escalation coverage.
• Documented succession and replacement procedures.
• Knowledge-transfer services and termination-transition assistance.

Contractor Governance and Contractual Requirements

The contractor must comply with the following requirements, as established in the executed agreement:

• Client ownership of system documentation.
• Maintenance of all system drawings and configurations in client-controlled repositories.
• Explicit ownership provisions for intellectual property and configuration documentation where appropriate.
• Monthly lifecycle and system-health reporting.
• Formal deficiency tracking.
• Defined commissioning and acceptance criteria.
• Defined SLA and KPI performance requirements.
• Professional liability/errors and omissions (E&O) coverage.
• Appropriate insurance coverage and contractual indemnification.
• Confidentiality and cybersecurity requirements.
• Restrictions on unilateral product or vendor recommendations.
• Independent competitive review for major capital replacements.
• Documented transition assistance upon termination or resource replacement.