MO​/KS Fire​/Safety Business Class Leader

FLS Business Class Lead

At HDR, we foster an inclusive, employee‑owned culture where each person is valued and empowered to bring authentic ideas to work. As part of HDR’s Building Engineering Services Group (BES), you will lead the Fire & Life Safety (FLS) Business Class in the Kansas City office, collaborating with BES leadership to grow the team, drive technical excellence, and support business development across multiple market sectors.

Come join the fast‑growing Building Engineering Services Group  provides industry‑leading mechanical, electrical, plumbing, site civil, structural, and specialty design services for a wide variety of buildings, including public, municipal, private, and government projects. Projects range from local to global, and we specialize in Healthcare, Datacenters, Science & Technology, Commercial Real Estate, Finance, Hospitality, Industrial, Manufacturing, Transportation, and Federal facilities.

• Work with BES leadership and the FLS team to recruit and grow the FLS business class in the Kansas City office, leveraging an established local and regional fire protection network.
• Serve as the direct supervisor and manager for the Kansas City FLS team, including fire protection engineers, EITs, and ICC, NFPA, or NICET certified designers, and drive hiring, performance management, professional development, mentoring, and team culture.
• Collaborate with area FLS business class leads for work staffing, staff forecasting, and project proposals.
• Participate in business class strategic planning, budgeting, and plan implementation.
• Identify and collaborate with market sector leadership to ensure FLS technical excellence in key markets including commercial, civic, industrial, federal, water, transportation, healthcare, education and laboratories, and mission‑critical facilities.
• Engage with clients and community stakeholders.
• Be involved in marketing, planning, proposals, and interviews in key markets.
• Promote HDR, BES, and our FLS business class within the engineering and architecture community, including participation in conferences and client engagement.
• Function as design lead or engineering project manager for key projects.
• Assist in the responsibility for operations of the FLS work group, including staff development, profitability, morale, and quality control.
• Ensure all work is planned, organized, controlled, checked, and evaluated through proactive management and quality assurance/quality control practices.
• Implement, monitor, and support company policy.
• Work cooperatively with other business class directors, business class leads, operations managers, technical directors, marketing managers, and project management on business class efforts.
• Actively participate in work‑sharing and fire protection practice development with HDR’s nationwide network of FLS engineers, EITs, and ICC, NFPA, or NICET certified designers.
• Take responsibility for area coordination, monitoring, and improvement of technical competencies of business class staff and products to meet client needs and market drivers within the direction and goals of the business class plans.
• Participate in delivery of project services to meet client expectations.
• Participate in business class practice and professional discipline groups, project teams and activities to continually improve standards and best practices, and implement effective quality assurance and quality control reviews.
• Perform other duties as needed.
• Travel (domestic and international) may be required at various times and is estimated to be 15% or less.

• Actively engaged in professional or industry associations to enhance HDR technical expertise and brand.
• Master’s degree in Fire Protection Engineering, Architectural Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or Mechanical Engineering with a fire protection emphasis.
• Maintains NFPA, ICC and/or NICET certification.
• Experienced in development and management of diverse teams.
• Preference given to local candidates.

• Bachelor’s degree in a professional, architectural, engineering or closely related field.
• 10 years of experience.
• Committed to quality, improvement and HDR values.
• Maintains a professional or engineering registration and has related technical experience.
• Experienced in development and management of diverse teams.
• Works cooperatively with other area business class leaders, operations managers, technical directors and marketing managers on business class efforts.
• An attitude and commitment to being an active participant in our employee‑owned culture is a must.