Senior Mechanical Engineer - Technical Manager - Tunnel Ventilation & Fire-Life Safety
About The Position
WSP is seeking a Senior Mechanical Engineer to join its Tunnel Systems Team. Based in the New York City office at One Penn Plaza, this role combines engineering analysis with practical design of tunnel ventilation and fire-life safety systems for major road, rail, transit, and other underground infrastructure projects. Work spans project phases from planning and concept studies through detailed design, construction support, testing, and commissioning, primarily in the New York region and across the United States. The role leads technical work, guides developing engineers, coordinates with multidisciplinary teams, and supports project delivery. The position also contributes to planning discipline work, managing assigned scope, schedule, and budget, quality reviews, proposals, scopes of work, level-of-effort estimates, and the growth of WSP’s tunnel systems practice. Occasional U.S. travel may be required. The final working arrangement is subject to applicable WSP business-line and office policy. Candidates must have a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering or a closely related engineering discipline, at least 10 years of relevant engineering experience including substantive tunnel ventilation analysis and design, and a New York Professional Engineer license or the ability and commitment to obtain U.S. professional licensure. Legal authorization to work in the United States is required. Employment is contingent on applicable pre-employment and project-specific client requirements.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering or a closely related engineering discipline.
- 10 or more 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 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 applicable WSP pre-employment requirements and project-specific client requirements.
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.
- A valid driver’s license and satisfactory motor vehicle record may be required where driving is an essential project duty.
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 using tools such as Subway Environment Simulation (SES), IDA Tunnel, ANSYS Fluent, and Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS).
- Translate analysis results into coordinated, buildable designs, including 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
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
