Fire & Life Safety Principal Engineer

Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising; Purchase (NY); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

HDR is seeking a Fire & Life Safety Principal Engineer to lead cross-disciplinary teams in delivering high-quality safety design for complex facilities. You will drive scope, schedule, and budget discussions while mentoring engineers and fostering client relationships.

This role emphasizes technical leadership, collaboration, and design excellence in a dynamic environment. Based in Purchase, NY, the position requires extensive experience, licensing, and a track record of delivering critical

Qualifications

• Minimum 20 years of engineering experience.
• Professional engineering license (PE or P.Eng) required.
• Extensive experience in project execution.
• Proficient with Microsoft Office and standard design software.
• Able to lead and mentor engineering teams.

Responsibilities

• Develop scope, schedule, and fee for projects.
• Lead and mentor BES engineering teams to deliver high-quality designs.
• Coordinate across cross-disciplinary teams to ensure integrated designs.
• Communicate with clients and internal leadership to address staffing and business needs.
• Represent HDR in professional and community engagements.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Project management

Mentoring

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering

Master's degree in Engineering

Tools

Microsoft Office

Engineering design software

Job description

Fire & Life Safety Principal Engineer - ( 195469 )

At HDR, our employee-owners are fully engaged in creating a welcoming environment where each of us is valued and respected, a place where everyone is empowered to bring their authentic selves and novel ideas to work every day. As we foster a culture of inclusion throughout our company and within our communities, we constantly ask ourselves: What is our impact on the world? Watch Our Story:' https://www.hdrinc.com/our-story' Each and every role throughout our organization makes a difference in our ability to change the world for the better. Read further to learn how you could help make great things possible not only in your community, but around the world. We believe building engineering is more than systems and structures, it's about powering progress and enabling innovation. As part of HDR’s Building Engineering Services Group, you'll help design the critical infrastructure that supports the digital age and shapes the spaces where people work, connect, and thrive. From high-performance data centers driving the future of AI to dynamic commercial environments, your work will directly support technological advancement, sustainability, and human experience. We bring together mechanical, electrical, structural, and civil engineering experts to solve complex design challenges with precision, creativity, and collaboration. Whether you're optimizing energy efficiency, integrating resilient systems, or engineering the backbone of next-generation facilities, your contributions will help define the future of the built environment. This isn't just a job, it's a chance to lead innovation, engineer impact, and build a legacy of excellence.

Fire & Life Safety Engineering Principal

Principal Engineers are leaders in the practice who influence culture, morale, and recruiting as well as provide leadership in the pursuit and delivery of work. A Principal Engineer not only has deep engineering expertise in their discipline, but they understand how cross discipline teams' function. They couple that understanding with leadership and communication abilities to positively impact the success of the business. The behaviors represented by Engineering Principals are indicative to our staff, clients, and recruits of the behaviors and characteristics HDR rewards.

Principal Engineers have a significant impact on winning work for HDR – both for the BES BG and partner BGs. They have business development skills to identify opportunities and take the initiative to be responsive and establish relationships to win work. They promote and represent BES to our internal and external clients – they foster relationships that make people want to work with us.

Principal Engineers are expected to help develop scope, schedule, and fee for projects. They must communicate regarding the pursuits they are leading with operational leadership to address staffing, expertise requirements, and business needs. Principal Engineers help us identify how to engage the right people in the right work in alignment with our strategic goals: "differentiating ourselves in our markets by amplifying our collective talent and knowledge".

Project Success

Principal Engineers understand the building design process in the market sectors in which they practice. They facilitate clear communication and provide leadership for the entire design team. A Principal Engineer needs to be a conceptual thinker who can engage and challenge our architectural designers and engineering team during the early stages of projects to inform design. They should leverage our integrated practice to add value to our project delivery process and lead engineering teams to deliver well-coordinated, high-quality designs to our clients. Principal Engineers are expected to not only provide leadership for their discipline but act more broadly as leaders in our practice. The role requires a passion for maximizing high-performance design within the project constraints. They are the team members who proactively look out for all BES disciplines on project teams to elevate design while ensuring that scope, schedule, and budget are understood and respected by the team and concerns are communicated to project management in a clear and timely manner.

Principal Engineers are leaders in the company that exemplify the company culture. They demonstrate expectations of how project teams' function and emphasize collaboration and design excellence. These individuals are responsible for mentoring and building the next generation of leadership at HDR by developing technical, client and business acumen in others.

Principals recognize gaps in our expertise and project teams. They identify ways to fill those gaps by mentoring junior staff, identifying where we can shift or train staff, or identifying where we need to hire additional expertise. Principals network in the local community – leveraging their relationships to identify talent and recruit for HDR. Engineers in this role are contributing to BES’s strategy to develop expertise and strategy required to build a successful engineering practice.

Principal Engineers represent HDR through their participation in the professional and local community. They are expected to represent HDR in the engineering community, participate in speaking engagements, author white papers and technical publications and participate on industry and community boards.

Preferred Qualifications

Bachelors or Masters Degree in Engineering.

Advanced Levels of NFPA, ICC Certifications or other specialized credentials related to the field of Fire & Life Safety

Design experience large complex buildings.

Local and national industry relationships.

Excellent leadership, communication, and organizational skills.

Additional accreditations and certifications beyond professional licensure is highly desirable.

Preference is given to local candidates

Previous experience with an engineering consulting firm

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering
• A minimum of 20 years of experience

Requires professional engineering license recognized by the licensing board for the location of the position offered. Example: Professional Engineer (PE or P.Eng) license.

• Extensive experience in project execution
• Proficient computer skills in Microsoft Office as well as standard design software.
• Must be comfortable being viewed as a technical expert in engineering analysis and design and have proven background of technical leadership on these types of projects
• An attitude and commitment to being an active participant of our employee-owned culture

What We Believe

HDR is our company. Together, we build on each other's life experiences and perspectives to make great things possible every day. This shapes our collaborative culture, encourages organizational trust and connects us closer to the clients and communities we serve.

Our Commitment

As employee owners, we all have a role in creating an inclusive environment where each of us is welcomed, valued, respected and empowered to bring our authentic selves to work every day.

Our eight Employee Network Groups (Asian Pacific, Black, Hispanic/Latino(a), LGBTQ+, People with Disabilities, Veterans, Women, Young Professionals) help create a sense of belonging and foster a supportive environment where everyone is empowered to engage and contribute. Each group has an executive sponsor and is open to all employees.

Primary Location

United States-New York-Purchase

Other Locations

United States-New York-White Plains

Schedule

Full-time

Employee Status

Regular

BusinessClass : Fire and Life Safety

Job Posting

Aug 27, 2026

At HDR, we are committed to the principles of employment equity.

We are an affirmative action and equal opportunity Employe r. We consider all qualified applicants, regardless of criminal histories, arrest and conviction records.