Fire Alarm Design Manager

J. F. Ahern Co.•Chicago, IL

12d•$106,000 - $142,000•Remote

About The Position

This role will be supporting our Chicago market but open to a fully remote candidate. This is a great opportunity for a strategic leader to drive the growth and expansion of our design team while demonstrating strong organizational and communication skills. You will provide leadership and direction for the Fire Alarm Design team, ensuring the team is positioned to scale effectively, meet business objectives, and deliver high-quality results. While you will oversee project design progression from inception to completion—including design, permits, as-builts, and operations and maintenance manuals—your primary focus will be leading and developing a high-performing team. In this role, you will establish and execute a vision for the design group, aligning resources, processes, and talent to meet schedules, budgets, and growth goals. You will participate in team and on-site progress meetings while ensuring codes, standards, project specifications, and AHJ requirements are followed. Your ability to prioritize, delegate, and create structure in a fast-paced environment will be key to success. You will develop and maintain engineering and design standards, policies, and procedures, while providing leadership over tools and processes such as Revit and CAD, file management, and training. You will also drive continuous improvement by gathering feedback from field staff, the sales team, and external customers, and by collaborating with other Design Managers to share best practices and strengthen overall performance. A core component of this role is people leadership, including attracting, hiring, coaching, and developing talent while fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, and growth. Success in this position will come from your ability to lead people, scale a team, and strategically grow the design function; a construction background is a plus, and fire alarm design experience is beneficial but not required.

Requirements

Leadership experience, ideally within construction, engineering, or a related industry.
Proven ability to lead, develop, and scale high-performing teams.
Strong organizational skills.
Strong communication skills.
Strong decision-making skills.
Ability to manage priorities.
Ability to drive results in a fast-paced environment.
Commitment to exceptional customer service.
Commitment to continuous improvement.
Ability to build strong relationships.
Attention to detail.
Construction background and understanding of project lifecycles, codes, and field coordination is beneficial.

Nice To Haves

Experience in fire alarm or special hazard system design.
Familiarity with Revit or AutoCAD.

Responsibilities

Provide leadership and direction for the Fire Alarm Design team.
Oversee project design progression from inception to completion, including design, permits, as-builts, and operations and maintenance manuals.
Establish and execute a vision for the design group, aligning resources, processes, and talent to meet schedules, budgets, and growth goals.
Participate in team and on-site progress meetings.
Ensure codes, standards, project specifications, and AHJ requirements are followed.
Develop and maintain engineering and design standards, policies, and procedures.
Provide leadership over tools and processes such as Revit and CAD, file management, and training.
Drive continuous improvement by gathering feedback from field staff, the sales team, and external customers.
Collaborate with other Design Managers to share best practices and strengthen overall performance.
Attract, hire, coach, and develop talent.
Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, and growth.