Kaeppel Consulting is in immediate need of a Fire and Life Safety Engineer. This is a one-year position with one of our preferred clients on site in Erie, PA.
Supporting Department: ATSS
Contract Term: Initial one-year term
Location: Erie, PA
Onsite Availability: Minimum onsite availability required, with the schedule established in the contract
Coverage: After-hours support and escalation coverage required
Position Summary
The Fire and Life Safety Engineer will serve as ATSS’s principal technical subject-matter expert and engineering authority for fire detection, emergency communications, and associated life-safety systems across client's campus.
This contractor will provide technical leadership throughout the system lifecycle, ensuring systems are appropriately designed, integrated, commissioned, documented, maintained, modernized, and operationally ready. The role requires expertise in multi-manufacturer fire-alarm platforms, integrated building systems, complex troubleshooting, and campus infrastructure planning.
The contractor will work closely with internal stakeholders, licensed design professionals, manufacturers, service providers, and Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJs). Final code authority rests with the applicable AHJ.
Responsibilities
Technical Leadership and System Architecture
Own the technical architecture of campus fire-alarm and associated life-safety systems, including system standards, design criteria, and overall technical direction.
Provide expertise across multi-manufacturer fire-alarm platforms, including panel interoperability, configuration, migration, platform consolidation, and standardization strategy.
Establish and maintain technical standards that support system reliability, maintainability, integration, and operational readiness.
Provide technical governance of vendors, manufacturers, and service providers, including escalation and resolution of complex technical or performance issues.
Engineering Review and Coordination
Develop and review design criteria, specifications, drawings, technical submittals, sequences of operation, and other technical documentation.
Conduct technical reviews of renovations, new construction, system modifications, device changes, and system-interface changes.
Coordinate with architects, electrical engineers, consultants, contractors, Facilities, IT, Emergency Management, Security Operations, licensed design professionals, and AHJs.
Research and interpret applicable codes, standards, and technical requirements, recognizing the applicable AHJ’s final code authority.
Coordinate and provide technical oversight of interfaces among fire alarms, access control, elevators, smoke control, door release, suppression systems, emergency communications, monitoring, and other connected life-safety or building systems.
Commissioning and Operational Readiness
Support commissioning, acceptance testing, deficiency resolution, and operational readiness for new, modified, or migrated systems.
Establish and document commissioning and acceptance criteria.
Plan and coordinate system impairments, outages, migrations, contingency operations, and major system replacements.
Provide after-hours technical support and escalation coverage in accordance with contractual requirements.
Troubleshooting and Deficiency Management
Perform troubleshooting and root-cause analysis of significant system failures, recurring deficiencies, interoperability issues, and other complex technical problems.
Manage and technically evaluate inspection, testing, and maintenance deficiencies.
Recommend corrective actions and maintain formal deficiency tracking through resolution.
Provide monthly reporting on system health, lifecycle status, deficiencies, corrective actions, and modernization needs.
Meet defined service-level agreement (SLA) and key performance indicator (KPI) requirements.
Documentation and Change Control
Own and maintain the accuracy and completeness of system documentation, as-built drawings,…