Fire Safety Engineering Lead (Saudi Arabia)

About the role

The Fire Safety Engineering Lead acts as a technical subject matter expert leading fire and life safety engineering activities at KAUST. The role provides technical leadership in design reviews, compliance validation, risk assessments, inspections and investigations, and mentors a team of Fire Safety Engineers. It works within the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) framework and ensures compliance with the Saudi Building Code (SBC), NFPA, the International Fire Code (IFC) and KAUST requirements.

Key responsibilities

• Lead and supervise a team of Fire Safety Engineers, and conduct technical reviews and compliance validation.
• Review fire and life safety designs for new construction, renovations, research facilities and high-hazard environments.
• Conduct fire risk assessments and develop risk-based mitigation strategies.
• Oversee inspections, field assessments, system verifications and incident investigations, and provide technical assurance for inspection, testing and maintenance of fire protection systems.
• Escalate overdue or high-risk corrective actions and lead investigations into fire incidents, system failures and unwanted alarms.
• Deliver fire and life safety training and maintain standards, procedures and guidance documents.
• Set and track objectives, metrics and KPIs, and keep audit-ready technical and compliance records.

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in Fire Engineering, Fire Protection Engineering, Mechanical Engineering or a related discipline.
• Minimum 8+ years of experience in fire protection or fire systems engineering.
• Proven experience in design reviews, compliance validation, risk assessments, inspections and mentoring engineers.
• Chartered Engineer (CEng), Professional Engineer (PE) or equivalent, and recognized fire certifications such as NFPA CFPS, CFPE, CFAITMS, CWBSP or NICET are preferred.

Required skills

• Strong practical knowledge of the Saudi Building Code (SBC), NFPA and IFC.
• Knowledge of fire and life safety engineering principles and practices.