Fire Protection Engineer

What You Will Do

This position will be filled at either the Fire Protection Engineer 1 or Fire Protection Engineer 2 level, depending on the skills of the selected candidate. Additional job responsibilities will be assigned if the candidate is hired at the higher level.

At Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), the Fire Protection (FP) Office serves not only the Laboratory but the Department of Energy (DOE)/National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the surrounding community by providing fire protection engineering and program services to minimize fire‑related risks. The mission of the FP Office is to manage and ensure implementation of the LANL Fire Protection Program.

The FP Office is the Laboratory's central fire protection engineering and program support entity responsible for providing institutional technical direction and support for the Laboratory's nuclear and non‑nuclear facilities and programs. There are four primary functional areas: fire protection engineering, fire prevention inspection, fire alarm site‑wide operations, and fire department program management. The FP Office serves as LANL's Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) for fire protection‑related codes, standards, and recommended practices (e.g., National Fire Protection Association).

• Support the development, review, and maintenance of FHEs for glove boxes, fume hoods, and other process enclosures.
• Perform hazard identification and qualitative fire hazard analyses to document materials, fire scenarios, potential failure mechanisms, and appropriate controls.
• Collect and analyze enclosure information including process descriptions, equipment configurations, combustible inventories, and fire protection features.
• Assist in planning and tracking FHE development efforts by coordinating with facility operations, fire protection engineers, subcontractors, document control, and other stakeholders.
• Support the integration of FHE requirements into facility procedures, authorization basis documents, and operational planning.
• Participate in walkdowns of enclosures to verify configuration, document hazards, validate technical assumptions, and provide oversight to subcontractor personnel performing data gathering, mapping, or related FHE support activities.

• Review fire protection engineering evaluations and related documents to support FHE conclusions.
• Perform analyses of existing fire protection features to determine adequacy, identify gaps, and propose corrective actions.
• Interface with operations, project teams, and other engineering disciplines to ensure FHEs meet technical expectations and program needs.

• Review fire protection system designs and calculations.
• Support life safety analyses.
• Participate in fire protection system testing and inspections.
• Perform code compliance evaluations.
• Contribute to fire hazards analyses and engineering evaluations as needed.

• Lead complex FHE development efforts.
• Oversee programmatic strategies for maintaining FHE quality and consistency across facilities.
• Serve as a subject matter expert on fire hazards associated with glove boxes, process enclosures, pyrophoric materials, combustible inventories, and enclosure fire protection features.
• Evaluate fire scenarios, determine appropriate controls, and ensure FHEs meet DOE, NFPA, and LANL fire protection expectations.

• Lead coordination with facility operations, nuclear safety, engineering disciplines, subcontractors, and document control to support program execution, resolve technical issues, and ensure timely completion of FHEs.
• Prepare and review fire protection engineering evaluations, equivalencies, and exemptions relevant to FHE conclusions.

• Conduct advanced fire hazard analyses in nuclear and high‑hazard facilities.
• Develop technical guidance for the FHE Program, improve program processes, and…