Lead Mechanical Engineer - Tunnel Ventilation & Fire-Life Safety

WSP • New York, NY

9d • $122,000 - $182,000

About The Position

WSP is seeking a Lead Mechanical Engineer to join its Tunnel Systems Team in New York City. The role combines engineering analysis and practical design of tunnel ventilation and fire-life safety systems for road, rail, transit, and other underground infrastructure projects. The engineer will contribute throughout project phases, from planning and concept studies to detailed design, construction support, testing, and commissioning. The position also involves leading technical work, guiding developing engineers, and collaborating with multidisciplinary teams on complex infrastructure projects in the New York region and across the United States.

The position is based at WSP’s One Penn Plaza office in New York City. Project needs may require occasional travel within the United States. The final working arrangement is subject to applicable WSP business-line and office policy.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering or a closely related engineering discipline.
• At least 7–10 years of relevant engineering experience, including substantive experience in tunnel ventilation analysis and design.
• Professional Engineer license in New York, or the ability and commitment to obtain U.S. professional licensure.
• Demonstrated experience with ventilation systems for road tunnels, rail tunnels, transit facilities, or comparable underground infrastructure.
• Proficiency with at least one tunnel airflow or CFD platform, such as SES, IDA Tunnel, ANSYS Fluent, or FDS, and the ability to review models and explain results clearly.
• Experience developing engineering calculations, technical reports, design criteria, drawings, and specifications.
• Ability to lead technical tasks, coordinate across disciplines, and deliver high-quality work within agreed scope, schedule, and budget.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to present technical findings to clients and multidisciplinary teams.
• Ability to travel occasionally for meetings, site visits, field measurements, inspections, testing, or commissioning.
• Legal authorization to work in the United States at the time of employment.
• Employment is contingent upon meeting WSP’s applicable pre-employment requirements and project-specific client requirements.
• A valid driver’s license and satisfactory motor vehicle record may be required where driving is an essential project duty.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree or PhD in mechanical engineering, fire protection engineering, fire safety engineering, or a related field.
• Experience across both analysis and physical system design, including selection or specification of tunnel ventilation fans, dampers, ductwork, shafts, controls, and related equipment.
• Experience with testing and commissioning tunnel ventilation, station ventilation, or smoke-control systems.
• Programming or data-analysis experience using Python, Visual Basic, C/C++, Fortran, or similar tools.
• Experience mentoring engineers, leading small technical teams, supporting proposals, or working in alternative-delivery environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead and perform analysis and design of tunnel ventilation, smoke-control, and fire-life safety systems for road, rail, and transit projects.
• Develop ventilation concepts, operating modes, and design criteria for normal, congested, emergency, and fire scenarios.
• Perform engineering calculations for airflow, pressure losses, fan duty, equipment sizing, heat and contaminant control, and system performance.
• Build, review, and interpret one-dimensional and computational fluid dynamics models.
• Translate analysis results into coordinated, buildable designs for fan plants, shafts, ductwork, dampers, sound attenuation, controls interfaces, and associated mechanical systems.
• Prepare and review basis-of-design documents, technical memoranda, reports, calculations, specifications, drawings, and design packages.
• Apply relevant project criteria and standards, including NFPA 130 and NFPA 502 where applicable.
• Coordinate ventilation and fire-life safety requirements with civil, structural, architectural, electrical, controls, fire protection, and operations disciplines.
• Support client and authority meetings, technical workshops, field investigations, construction-phase services, system testing, and commissioning.
• Plan discipline work, manage assigned scope, schedule, and budget, and provide technical direction and quality reviews for less-experienced staff.
• Contribute to proposals, scopes of work, level-of-effort estimates, and the continued growth of WSP’s tunnel systems practice.

Benefits

• Medical coverage
• Dental coverage
• Vision coverage
• Disability coverage
• Life coverage
• Retirement savings
• Paid sick leave
• Paid vacation or other personal time
• Paid parental leave
• Paid time off for bereavement, voting, and/or attendance at naturalization proceedings

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior