Fire Protection Engineer
Job Description
SOLV Energy is a leading provider of infrastructure services to the power industry, designing, building and maintaining utility scale solar, battery storage and high voltage substation projects nationwide.
Job Description Summary:
This position will provide technical expertise in the design, review, and implementation of fire protection and life safety systems for large-scale Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) and hybrid renewable energy projects. This role ensures that all fire protection systems meet applicable codes, standards, insurance requirements, and client specifications while supporting safe and cost-effective project delivery from conceptual design through commissioning. This role is fully remote. Specific location details and expectations will be discussed during the interview process.
Job Description:
*This job description reflects management's assignment of essential functions; it does not prescribe or restrict the tasks that may be assigned
Responsibilities
Technical Subject Matter Expertise (SME)
- Act as SOLV Energy’s subject matter expert for all things related to fire protection and life safety for large-scale Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) and hybrid renewable energy projects.
- Stay updated on industry best practices and technical advancements in fire protection for utility-scale BESS design. Stay informed about relevant regulations, codes, and guideline changes that may affect current or future SOLV projects. Develop and lead training to share this information with the appropriate members of the SOLV team.
- Develop and maintain SOLV’s fire project design standards and specifications.
- Develop scopes of work, RFPs, and evaluation criteria for 3rd party fire protection engineers-of-record (EOR) firms and equipment vendors.
- Lead technical bid evaluations and define clear deliverables, milestones, and acceptance criteria.
- Provide SME guidance/consultation to other departments within SOLV, as needed.
Project-level oversight of the BESS fire protection system
- Develop project-specific basis-of-design documents for fire protection systems.
- Evaluate and provide recommendations for which 3rd party EOR firm to hire for each project.
- Daily management and oversight of fire protection EORs, including design deliverable schedules and engineering budgets.
- QA/QC of 3rd party work products (Hazard Mitigation Analysis, Emergency Response Plan, Fire Alarm Design, etc.) to ensure consistency with industry standards, SOLV standards, OEM Requirements, and project requirements.
- Serve as primary technical interface with Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJs), fire marshals, insurers, and independent engineers on fire and life safety topics while leveraging 3rd party EORs as needed. Travel to attend in-person meetings as required.
- Collaborate cross-functionally with other engineering disciplines (primarily electrical and SCADA) to ensure design consistency and project efficiency.
- Coordinate and review fire alarm panel design
- Support the fire protection design optimization for cost, performance, and constructability.
- Provide technical support during commissioning.
Leadership
- Mentor less experienced team members
- Engage with Owners as needed to answer relevant questions around fire protection design
- Provide technical training to the larger Engineering Services Team as needed.
Job Requirements
Minimum Skills or Experience Requirements:
- Minimum 10 years of fire protection engineering experience with at least 2 years of energy infrastructure and BESS design experience.
- Bachelor’s degree in Fire Protection Engineering or a closely related discipline (Mechanical, Electrical, or similar) from an accredited institution.
- A license (P.E.) in Fire Protection Engineering is preferred.
- Advanced understanding of fire protection engineering principles.
- Demonstrated experience managing or reviewing work by external engineering consultants, owner’s engineers, or peer review on complex projects.
- Working knowledge of applicable building codes (NFPA, IBC, UL 9540/9540A, UL855 etc.), engineering principles, and industry best practices
- Strong attention to detail and accuracy.
- Ability to work effectively both independently and within a team environment.
- Proven ability to work across disciplines and time zones, and to manage multiple consultant contracts and deliverables in parallel.
- Commitment to safety
- Strong sense of urgency
- Strong communication and project coordination skills
- Ability to travel up to 25% of the time.
