Fire Protection Engineer

Knight Federal Solutions is a trusted provider to industry leading prime contractors, the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community.  We have established a company culture that supports our employees, their families and the communities in which they live and work. When you join our team you belong to a group of people that work hard, strive for greatness and care about people.

Our hard work is evident in everything we do.  Whether it be supporting large government programs in the areas of Simulation and Training, Information Technology, Intelligence or Engineering we always strive to be the best.  It is for this reason that we have been recognized as a World Class Team Supplier by Northrop Grumman and were also named one of Florida’s fastest growing companies by Inc. Magazine. 

As Knight Federal Solutions continues to grow, we look forward to hiring the best and the brightest to join us in our success!

The current state and maintenance of Fire Protection, Suppression, Alarm and Reporting systems within its existing shore facilities throughout the NAVFAC Mid-Atlantic area of responsibility is a gap in mission focus that the command seeks to remedy. Knight Federal has been requested to source a Fire Protection Engineer to actively support the pioneering, investigating, diagnosing and implementation of a manageable set of processes to keep existing life safety systems up to date, functioning, safe and maintained. Over time, systems have fallen into disrepair and the gaps in scope/ roles between the Design & Construction SYSCOM and the Public Works Maintenance groups have widened as newer systems, technology and longer terms without proper maintenance have continued to grow the region-wide deficiencies.

Job Duties and Responsibilities:

• Provide independent, timely and professional fire protection engineering support, services and consultation for the NAVFAC Public Works Department (PWD) located at Naval Station Norfolk, VA.
• Support the identification of existing facility systems throughout NAVSTA Norfolk and other local installations toward documentation, issue identification and functionality, maintenance requirements and issue resolution. (Suppression, Alarms, Pumps, Relays & Notifications, Other).
• Support the collection, input and maintenance of Systems Data and Maintenance Reports within the MAXIMO software platform to enable regular & proper required maintenance, issue identification, resolution, tracking and scheduling.
• Work with the NAVFAC Design & Construction(DC46) Fire Protection ‘Technical Discipline Lead’ towards necessary planning, program objectives, desired outcomes, ongoing needs and scope.
• Support the Design of new life safety systems by actively engaging in communication between NAVFAC organizational groups enabling current deficiencies to help inform system selection, design guidance and best practices to avoid current issues in future systems yet to be procured.
• Develop and help provide trainings for field technicians to ensure adequate know-how and skills to perform necessary maintenance on fire protection systems.
• Participate in meetings, trainings and conferences with stakeholders. Collaborate with other technical disciplines to ensure ongoing efforts align with program and system requirements.
• Leverage knowledge of DoD and Navy guide specifications, criteria and policy, industry codes and standards, and standard practices as related to fire protection engineering design to enable and inform work, maintenance trainings & guidance, program decisions, field inspections/ acceptance, procedural items and process creation.
• Critical Knowledge/ Proficiencies include:
  • Life Safety Code/Analysis, Types of construction and Fire Rating Implications
  • Height and Area requirements, Separation distances, Egress Calculations
  • Spray-applied fireproofing & Firestopping
  • Sprinkler systems (Wet-Pipe, Dry-Pipe, Pre-Action, Deluge, etc) as well as Clean agent systems
  • Fire Alarm, Mass Notification and Base-wide fire alarm reporting systems
  • Water distribution systems
  • Fire modeling & Hydraulic analysis
  • Performance-based design experience of government facilities, multi-story office buildings, steam plants, hospitals, housing, manufacturing, training, and similar structures.

Job Qualifications and Skills:

• Registration as Professional Engineer (PE) in the discipline of Fire Protection Engineering is desirable.
• Substantial professional knowledge and practical application of fire protection engineering concepts, theories, principles, practices, and techniques necessary to plan, design, construct and maintain a wide range of shore-based engineering projects.
• Knowledge of DoD and Navy guide specifications, criteria and policy, industry codes and standards, and standard practices as related to fire protection engineering design, including the Unified Facilities Criteria (UFC), National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) codes and standards, International Building Code (IBC), International Mechanical Code (IMC), International Residential Code (IRC), FM Global Loss Prevention Data Sheets, Society of Fire Protection Engineer’s Handbook, and various other industry standards.
• Knowledge of local, state, federal, and foreign country laws, codes, and other statutory requirements affecting fire protection engineering design throughout the NAVFAC Mid-Atlantic AOR.
• Knowledge of related architectural and engineering fields and their associated impacts as related to fire protection engineering design.
• Ability to make oral presentations of proposed designs and results of studies.
• Knowledge and experience with Microsoft Office products and other applicable DoD computer systems and software used by the Command.
• Ability to produce presentable results of data/analysis into writing and evaluate/consolidate findings of others into recommendations and facts.
• Knowledge of budgeting, planning and project management techniques, including the ability to coordinate the work of others and lead teams.
• Knowledge of and full compliance with Safety Policies and use of personal protective equipment.
• Proficiency in Project management skills. Must be able to evaluate minute detail and data within big picture objectives, goals and initiatives. Capable of working in the “weeds” of individual systems and data while maintaining alignment with the ‘big-picture’ and overall program objectives.
• A Project Management Institute Certification such as the Project Management Professional (PMP) or Program Management Professional (PgMP) is an ideal but not required.

Experience:

• A minimum of 5 years of professional fire protection engineering code compliant facilities design experience for new construction, including renovation design experience, is required.

Education:

• Completion of a course of studies accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineers and Technology (ABET) for a fire protection engineering program from a college or university for a bachelor’s or master’s degree in mechanical engineering or fire protection engineering, supplemented by a considerable amount of hands-on facilities design experience, is required. If degree is in mechanical engineering, then a PE registration in the discipline of Fire Protection Engineering is required

Knight Federal Solutions provides equal employment opportunities to all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy, age, national origin, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, genetic information or any other protected classification.