The National Fire Protection Association’s mission is to help save lives and reduce loss with information, knowledge, and passion. An international self-funded nonprofit established in 1896, we are dedicated to the elimination of death, injury, property, and economic loss due to fire, electrical, and related hazards. The Association delivers information and knowledge through more than 300 consensus codes and standards, research, training, education, outreach, and advocacy; and by partnering with others who share an interest in furthering the NFPA mission.
The Principal Engineer will develop, curate, review and provide technical direction for a wide range of NFPA content of fire protection engineering and building/life safety topics. This position has an impactful strategic influence for our growing demand for stakeholder driven content and products. This role supports the technical services team and serves as the primary resource of development of content (print, digital, training and certification projects as well as supporting the communications team with developing non-product related content). The most critical aspect of this job is working on internal cross functional consultation teams and taking direction from both technical and non-technical staff members. This includes sharing industry insights, experiential perspectives and applicable contexts. As an individual contributor it is key to support and provide context to “voice-of-customer” activities, provide technical review and support communication efforts.
A little bit about you:
- You’ve earned your bachelor’s degree in engineering (preferred) or related field
- On top of your degree, you have a minimum of 15 years of related experience
- You hold a license or personal certification in area of expertise (i.e., engineering) (PE or similar).
- You may have specialized technical knowledge in one or more aspects of fire protection engineering,(e.g. sprinkler system design, construction safety, egress planning, etc.), however more importantly you have a broad knowledge base that covers a multitude of topics and industry segments.
- Your extensive engineering experience has enabled you to broaden your knowledge of concepts, principles and methods.
- You are comfortable communicating engineering concepts to technical and non-technical internal and external stakeholders As a SME (Subject Matter Expert) you welcome others to tap into your knowledge of technical subject area and/or industry. And vice-versa you seek out ways to share your expertise with others, in a way that is meaningful for them.
- Your senior-level knowledge and application of Codes and Standards enables you to better address complex technical problems/needs and drive toward creative and innovative solutions.
- You actively find ways to create content, training development, blogs, articles and research in order to enable our stakeholder to do a better job.
- Speaking in front of groups large and small is no problem for you. You enjoy connecting with people and are an engaging speaker and influencer. You’re able to understand an audience and ensure that your content helps them to understand and influence safety. From topical presentations to technical training, you’ve done it all, and you’ve had success doing it.
- You have strong organizational skills with a focus on timelines, deadlines and deliverables You have the C’s covered. Confident, you have a diplomatic demeanor. You remain calm under pressure. Collected, you stay completely composed while balancing multiple complex projects, priorities and deadlines
- Solid experience with the use of the Microsoft Office Suite – particularly word, excel, and power point.
- You are confident in your technical knowledge and abilities and can convey information in a thorough and correct fashion – and are able to adjust your delivery depending on your audience.
- You are positively curious and want to understand the mission and goals of NFPA, and how you can make an impact as part of our team.
- You own your role and take responsibility for your output, following through, and understand that mistakes happen and can be learned from.
- You are up for traveling up to 25% of the time.
The Nitty Gritty:
- Host enhanced how-to videos relating to building and life-safety and/or fire protection engineering subject matter;
- Write explanatory content for handbooks, blogs, social media and articles (and other content media).
- Capable of responding to technical questions that relate to multiple building and life-safety and/or fire protection engineering topics through multiple media including phone, email, social media and other externally facing digital media
- Advise and act as a technical resource in the review and development of new and existing products, training materials, marketing materials and outreach efforts.
- Develop and/or revise training, presentations, handbooks or other documentation to explain the code and support adoption of the code by stakeholders.
- Deliver training, presentations, and lead seminars on technical topics at industry events, to customers, Association members and other stakeholders.
- Independently represent the association as a liaison with federal, state and local officials as assigned
- Serves as an Association representative, attends stakeholder meetings, conferences and exhibitions and fosters industry relationships to understand constituent’s needs to aid in product development
- Provide input into budgeting activities Act as the primary technical resource that represents the association within the industry and with related organization.
- As a senior technical expert, answer inquiries, conduct research, and provide interpretations to committee and community members, as well as the media, on Codes and Standards requirements in area of expertise. Provides guidance on the most complex code provisions.
- May lead project or initiatives in areas of broad and strategic impact to organization.
- Serve as expert technical resource and provide industry perspective to develop content in support of multidisciplinary projects or initiatives products and solutions.
- Recognized as the definitive source of knowledge and expertise across multiple technical subject areas within a portfolio and functions as internal and external organizational ambassador in areas of expertise.
- Ensure high quality of technical content and product development activities, provides most complex technical services, review and input in support of internal and external association activities
- Contributes insight on creation of development plans for more junior staff in support of technical proficiency.
- Thought leader in the organization within the strategic function or discipline; address and support strategic-level internal or external technical needs or issues; lead multidisciplinary projects or initiatives.
- Deep understanding of tools and solutions utilized by stakeholders and how they do their job
- Well established network base of customers/stakeholders/NFPA customers
Apply for This Job