Senior Fire Protection Engineer-Data Center

Arcadis; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 85,000 - 115,000; Full time

Job summary

Arcadis is seeking a Senior Fire Protection Engineer in San Diego, CA. This role involves leading the design of fire protection systems for critical data center and industrial projects, ensuring compliance with industry standards and reliability requirements.

Ideal candidates will possess a Bachelor's degree in Fire Protection or Mechanical Engineering and hold a Professional Engineer (PE) license. The position also requires strong communication skills and experience with design tools such as Revit and AutoCAD.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience designing fire protection systems for data centers.
• Strong understanding of NFPA codes and fire protection strategies.
• Excellent communication skills for client presentations.

Responsibilities

• Lead fire protection design for data center projects.
• Develop construction-ready design packages with drawings and specifications.
• Provide mentorship to junior engineers.

Skills

Fire protection system design

Team collaboration

Technical leadership

Client relationship management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Fire Protection Engineering or Mechanical Engineering

Professional Engineer (PE) license in Fire Protection

Tools

Revit

AutoCAD

BIM platforms

HydraCAD

Sprink Cad FDT

Job description

Overview

Arcadis is the world's leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets. We are 34,000+ people in over 30 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life.

Role description

We’re looking for an experienced Senior Fire Protection Engineer with a strong background in data center and industrial environments to support our U.S. Places Design & Engineering business. In this role, you will partner closely with multi-disciplinary teams—including Mechanical, Electrical Engineers, Architects, and clients—to deliver fire protection design solutions for mission-critical facilities, with a primary focus on data centers and industrial projects. You will lead the fire protection discipline across multiple concurrent projects, guiding efforts from early pursuit and proposal through detailed design and construction administration. Periodic travel to project sites is expected (approximately 1 week per month) to support client engagement, site assessments, and project delivery.

Role accountabilities

• Lead the fire protection design for data center and mission-critical facility projects, ensuring systems meet reliability, redundancy, and uptime requirements
• Develop construction-ready design packages including drawings, specifications, and coordinated BIM models, ensuring alignment across all disciplines
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to junior engineers and designers
• Collaborate with mechanical, electrical, and architectural teams to integrate fire protection systems within complex, high-density environments
• Support business development efforts, including proposals, cost estimates, schedules, and client engagement
• Perform site assessments, field investigations, and fire protection studies specific to data centers (e.g., suppression strategy, hazard analysis, system retrofits)
• Utilize and support modeling and design through tools such as Revit, BIM platforms, AutoCAD, Navisworks, and fire protection-specific software (e.g., HydraCAD, Sprink Cad FDT, Aspire)
• Maintain strong client relationships and serve as a technical advisor on fire protection strategies for data center projects

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Fire Protection Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related discipline
• Professional Engineer (PE) license in Fire Protection (U.S.) required
• Demonstrated experience designing fire protection systems for data centers, mission-critical facilities, or high-tech industrial environments
• Strong understanding of fire protection system strategies in data centers, including:
• Clean agent systems (e.g., FK-5-12, Sapphire, Inergen, Aragonite)
• Wet, Pre-action, Deluge and dry pipe systems
• Fire Alarm Design including VESDA Type and Beam Detection
• Redundancy and cost-effective design considerations
• Deep knowledge of applicable codes and standards including NFPA (e.g., NFPA 13, 20, 22, 24, 72, 75, 76), IFC, IBC, and FM Global guidelines
• Experience delivering Issued for Construction (IFC) design packages, ideally in complex or regulated environments
• Familiarity with high-availability facility requirements and coordination with MEP systems supporting critical loads
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to present technical solutions to clients and internal teams
• Strong team working skills for a hybrid work environment utilizing Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Zoom

Equal opportunity

Arcadis is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds to apply.