Associate Director, Fire & Life Safety — Dubai Projects

WSP; Dubai; On-site; AED 550,000 - 950,000; Full time

Job summary

WSP in the Middle East seeks an experienced Associate Director - Fire & Life Safety in Dubai to lead and grow our specialist team. You will drive complex FLS strategies for major infrastructure and building projects, ensuring compliance with local and international standards.

You will oversee design efforts, conduct site inspections, coordinate with authorities, and mentor junior staff while delivering high-quality, performance-based fire safety solutions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s in Fire Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related discipline.
• Minimum 15 years’ experience in fire & life safety, with at least 5 years in leadership.
• Extensive knowledge of regional (SBC/UAE Fire Code) and international (NFPA, IBC, BS/EN) codes.
• Proven track record delivering large-scale buildings or infrastructure projects in the GCC.
• Professional certification (CFPS, CEng, PE) is an advantage.
• Excellent communication and client-facing skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage the Fire & Life Safety team on multidisciplinary projects.
• Lead design efforts to ensure compliance with relevant building codes and standards, developing performance-based design solutions where necessary, in collaboration with senior staff.
• Conduct onsite inspections during project construction to ensure adherence to the fire strategy throughout the project lifecycle.
• Coordinate and present projects to approving authorities, demonstrating compliance with established standards.
• Review material submittals and shop drawings, ensuring fire protection requirements are communicated clearly to the project team.
• Lead multidisciplinary design teams, integrating fire and life safety requirements with other disciplines.
• Interpret and analyze CFD modeling results (1D/3D) to assess proposed engineering solutions.
• Develop comprehensive fire strategy reports, ensuring exceptional quality and documenting performance-based design solutions in line with standards such as the International Fire Engineering Guidelines (IFEG) and the Society of Fire Protection Engineering Guide (SFPE).
• Review designs in BIM (Autodesk Construction Cloud, Revit) to ensure integration of fire safety principles into the design.
• Mentor, support and manage junior staff, fostering a collaborative and growth-oriented team environment.
• Communicate design requirements effectively and in a timely manner with multidisciplinary teams.
• Manage multiple projects simultaneously while ensuring compliance with Quality Management System (QMS) policies and procedures.
• Demonstrate strong leadership and effective collaboration across all levels of the organization and with external partners.

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s in Fire Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related discipline

Job description

WSP in the Middle East seeks an experienced Associate Director - Fire & Life Safety in Dubai to lead and grow our specialist team. You will drive complex FLS strategies for major infrastructure and building projects, ensuring compliance with local and international standards.

You will oversee design efforts, conduct site inspections, coordinate with authorities, and mentor junior staff while delivering high-quality, performance-based fire safety solutions.