Design Engineer Senior Lightning Protection

M.C. Dean, Inc.; Tysons (VA); Hybrid; USD 104,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Insurance package

Paid time off

Tuition reimbursement

401k plan

Maternity leave

Military pay offset

Job summary

M.C. Dean, Inc. is seeking a Design Engineer 3 specializing in lightning protection to independently manage design, calculations, and shop drawings for complex facilities.

You will coordinate interfaces across disciplines, develop robust design packages, and support field verification and commissioning activities. Responsibilities include travel to sites, delivering detailed design packages, and ensuring compliance with NFPA 780, UL, and project standards.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or related field; 5+ years of design experience.
• Experience developing lightning protection systems with NFPA 780 knowledge.
• Ability to prepare shop drawings and installation documentation.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain design basis, scope, and requirements for lightning protection systems.
• Produce complete and coordinated deliverables including drawings and calculations.
• Coordinate interfaces across disciplines and with field teams.
• Prepare submittals and respond to RFIs and field issues.
• Travel to project sites for surveys and inspections; document findings.
• Ensure designs meet NFPA 780 and UL/ULC requirements.

Skills

Lightning protection design

Revit

AutoCAD

Electrical engineering

Project coordination

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering

Tools

Revit

AutoCAD

Job description

Overview

About M.C. Dean

M.C. Dean is Building Intelligence. We design, build, operate, and maintain cyber-physical solutions for the nation’s most mission-critical facilities, secure environments, complex infrastructure, and global enterprises. With over 7,000 employees, our capabilities span electrical, electronic security, telecommunications, life safety, automation and controls, audiovisual, and IT systems. Headquarters in Tysons, Virginia, M.C. Dean delivers resilient, secure, and innovative power and technology solutions through engineering expertise and smart systems integration.

Why Join Us?

Our people are passionate about engineering innovation that improves lives and drives impactful change. Guided by our core values—agility, expertise, and trust—we foster a collaborative and forward-thinking work environment. At M.C. Dean, we are committed to building the next generation of technical leaders in electrical, engineering, and cybersecurity industries.

The Design Engineer 3 responsible for independently managing assigned design engineering systems, deliverables, or project scopes. This role develops and maintains design basis information, applies discipline-specific codes and standards, performs moderately complex calculations and evaluations, coordinates system interfaces, produces complete and coordinated deliverables, and resolves routine technical, field, and commissioning issues. The Design Engineer 3 exercises sound engineering judgment, communicates risks and recommendations clearly, and provides informal guidance to less-experienced engineers. This position specializes in lightning protection systems, from existing-condition assessment and risk analysis through detailed design, installation documentation, and field verification.

Responsibilities

• Independently develop and maintain design basis, scope definition, requirements traceability, assumptions, decisions, and constraints for assigned systems.
• Apply discipline-specific technical principles, codes, standards, safety requirements, regulatory requirements, client requirements, and company practices to moderately complex designs.
• Perform moderately complex calculations, studies, modeling, technical evaluations, and design alternative assessments for assigned systems.
• Develop system architecture and interface documentation for assigned systems or subsystems; coordinate technical interfaces across disciplines, platforms, equipment, and stakeholders.
• Develop complete and coordinated design deliverables, including drawings, specifications, narratives, calculations, schedules, bills of material, diagrams, and technical packages.
• Evaluate and select equipment, materials, devices, components, platforms, or technologies for assigned systems; validate submittals, bills of material, and product information against design intent.
• Integrate field conditions, constructability requirements, and implementation constraints into designs; develop technically sound responses to RFIs, submittals, and field issues.
• Incorporate testing, commissioning, maintainability, operability, turnover, and operational readiness requirements into assigned system designs and readiness documentation.
• Manage engineering execution for assigned systems, deliverables, or project scopes by identifying risks, coordinating decisions, prioritizing tasks, and communicating status and impacts.
• Provide informal technical guidance to less-experienced engineers and contribute to reviews, lessons learned, template improvements, standards, tools, and technical practices.
• Develop lightning protection system designs and produce complete shop drawings, including detailed wiring, grounding, bonding, interconnection, and installation details coordinated with architectural, structural, and electrical systems.
• Perform and document lightning risk assessments and supporting calculations in accordance with NFPA 780, applicable project requirements, and accepted engineering practice.
• Develop and coordinate lightning protection system models and drawings using Revit and AutoCAD.
• Travel to project sites to survey and document existing conditions, including field measurements, photographs, equipment observations, and interfaces affecting the lightning protection design.
• Travel to project sites to inspect lightning protection installations for compliance with design documents, applicable standards, and approved submittals; document deficiencies and support resolution of field issues.
• Apply lightning protection design criteria to establish strike-termination placement and zones of protection; route main and down conductors; and coordinate bonding, side-flash prevention, grounding electrodes, material compatibility, corrosion protection, and integration with the building grounding electrode system.
• Design and coordinate surge protection for electrical power, communications, fire alarm, controls, antennas, and other applicable services entering or serving the protected structure.
• Coordinate lightning protection requirements with roofing, architectural, structural, electrical, communications, photovoltaic, mechanical, facade, and fall-protection systems to maintain compliance, constructability, and building-envelope integrity.
• Coordinate design reviews, documentation, corrective actions, and third-party inspections required to obtain a UL Master Label Certificate, LPI inspection certification, or other project-required acceptance.
• Develop or review inspection and testing requirements; resolve installation deficiencies; and prepare or validate record drawings, inspection reports, test documentation, certification packages, and operations and maintenance information.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or related technical field with 5+ years of relevant design engineering experience.
• Demonstrated ability to independently develop design basis, scope definition, requirements traceability, assumptions, decisions, and design documentation for assigned systems.
• Strong knowledge of discipline-specific technical principles, codes, standards, specifications, safety requirements, regulatory requirements, client requirements, and company practices.
• Ability to perform moderately complex calculations, studies, technical evaluations, alternative analyses, and design validations using sound engineering judgment.
• Ability to develop complete, coordinated, constructible, reviewable, code-compliant, and technically consistent design deliverables for assigned systems.
• Ability to coordinate technical interfaces across disciplines, vendors, project stakeholders, platforms, equipment, procurement, construction, commissioning, and operations teams.
• Ability to evaluate design alternatives, select equipment and materials, validate submittals and product information, and document selection rationale clearly.
• Ability to resolve routine requirements conflicts, RFIs, submittals, field issues, commissioning issues, comments, and technical coordination items within assigned scope.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, organization, attention to detail, risk awareness, and ability to communicate recommendations in a timely and defensible manner.
• Detailed working knowledge of NFPA 780; UL 96 requirements for listed lightning protection components; and UL 96A installation and inspection requirements.
• Demonstrated ability to prepare lightning protection shop drawings, detailed installation documentation, and risk assessment calculations.
• Proficiency using Revit and AutoCAD to develop and coordinate design and shop drawing deliverables.
• Ability and willingness to travel to project sites and safely perform existing-condition surveys, field documentation, and installation compliance inspections.
• Demonstrated knowledge of strike-termination placement, zones of protection, conductor routing, bonding, side-flash prevention, grounding electrodes, surge protection, material compatibility, and integration with building electrical and structural systems.
• Ability to identify and apply applicable building codes, owner criteria, government criteria, and specialty requirements, including UFC and agency-specific standards where required by the project.
• LPI Designer Inspector, LPI Master Installer/Designer, UL Lightning Protection Professional, or an equivalent industry credential is preferred.

Abilities:

• Exposure to computer screens for an extended period of time.
• Sitting for extended periods of time.
• Reach by extending hands or arms in any direction.
• Have finger dexterity in order to manipulate objects with fingers rather than whole hands or arms, for example, using a keyboard.
• Listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Identify and understand the speech of another person.

We offer an excellent benefits package including:

• A competitive salary
• Medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance
• Paid time off
• Tuition reimbursement
• 401k Retirement Plan
• Military Reserve pay offset
• Paid maternity leave

Pay Range

USD $104,240.00 - USD $130,300.00 /Yr.