Design Manager

Position: Design Manager — Fire Sprinkler

Company: Columbia Fire, LLC

Location: Seattle, WA — in-office, with up to two days per week remote

Reports To: Contract Division Manager

Employment Type: Full-time, salaried, exempt

Bargaining Unit Status: Non-union

Incentive Eligibility: Annual bonus tied to goals and MBOs — see Compensation

Travel: Occasional jobsite visits across Western Washington; occasional travel to affiliated offices

About Columbia Fire

Columbia Fire has been protecting lives and property in the Seattle market since 2005. We design, install, inspect, and service fire sprinkler systems, fire alarm systems, suppression systems, and portable fire extinguishers across Western Washington.

Columbia Fire is a wholly owned subsidiary of Columbia Safety Services, LLC, which also operates Valley Fire Control, LLC in Oregon and Eastern Washington and FFF Protection in Idaho. We are building a formidable fire protection platform rooted in trust, execution, and long-term relationships.

Our core values guide how we operate: Customer First, Grit, Effective Communication, Own the Outcome, Take Pride in the Work, and Do the Right Thing.

Why This Role Exists

Design sets the ceiling on how much work we can build and how profitably we build it. A clean, constructable design saves labor in the field, gets through the AHJ the first time, and keeps a project on schedule. A weak one costs us in change orders, rework, and credibility.

We are also hiring designers at every level, including people with no design experience at all. That only works if someone is genuinely responsible for developing them.

This role owns both: the standard our designs are held to, and the people who produce them.

The Opportunity

You will lead Columbia Fire’s sprinkler design team — setting standards, reviewing and stamping work, managing workload and deadlines, and building the training path that turns entry-level hires into certified designers.

You will still design. This is a working manager role, not a pure oversight seat. You will take on complex projects yourself, and your team should be able to watch you do the work.

If you are a licensed Professional Engineer, this role has a dimension most contractors cannot offer.

A P.E. on staff can supervise and sign off on engineering hours for designers pursuing licensure. That means you would not just be training designers — you would be opening a path to P.E. for people who currently have no way to get there. Very few fire protection contractors our size can say that, and we would build the program around you.

Design Operations

• Review and refine our existing design standards with field superintendents and internal stakeholders within your first 30 days, then keep them current
• Build and maintain a design review checklist that tells designers exactly what they are being reviewed against — no guessing
• Review sprinkler drawings against that checklist, company standards, and project specifications, evaluating code accuracy, hydraulic soundness, efficiency, and constructability
• Stamp and submit compliant design packages to authorities having jurisdiction
• Manage team workload, assignments, prioritization, and deadline performance
• Own the AHJ requirement database so the team is not relearning each jurisdiction every time
• Coordinate with project management, purchasing, and field leadership for clean design-to-install handoffs
• Take on complex design work yourself as workload requires

Building the Team

• Assess each designer’s current capability, identify gaps honestly, and build individual development plans
• Establish a structured training program for new designers, including those hired with no design experience, aimed at NICET certification and real AutoSprink and 3D modeling proficiency
• Use both formal software training and internal expertise — including your own — to raise the team’s technical level
• Run regular learning sessions on codes, systems, hydraulics, and constructability
• Coach designers on the constructability lessons the field is trying to teach them
• Recruit, interview, and hire designers as the department grows
• Evaluate performance regularly and give direct, useful feedback — including the difficult kind
• For a licensed P.E.: supervise and sign off on engineering hours for designers pursuing licensure

Systems & Continuous Improvement

• Improve how design work flows — templates, libraries, standard details, naming conventions, and file management
• Reduce rework by finding its actual causes rather than reviewing harder
• Track and report on design throughput, on-time delivery, AHJ first-pass approval, and rework
• Partner with the field to close the loop between what gets drawn and what gets installed

What Success Looks Like

Within 30 days

• Design standards reviewed, updated, and rolled out to the team with training
• Design review checklist built and in the hands of every designer

Within 90 days

• AHJ requirement database complete and maintained
• Project audits running regularly against the new standards and timelines

Within 6 months

• Every designer assessed, with an individual development plan in place
• Credentials current and design packages being stamped under your own certification

Within 12 months

• Structured training program launched for new hires with no design experience, carrying them toward NICET certification and software proficiency
• Measurable improvement in first-pass AHJ approval and reduction in field-driven rework

Who You Are

• Technically deep — your team should be able to bring you the hard problem and get a real answer
• A coach — you give feedback directly and often, and you know how to correct work without diminishing the person who did it
• A builder of systems — you improve the process rather than absorbing its failures
• A proactive communicator — you tell people what is happening before they have to ask
• Constructability-minded — you have listened to enough foremen to design for the installer
• Standards-driven without being rigid — you know which rules protect quality and which just slow people down
• Aligned with our values: Customer First, Grit, Effective Communication, Own the Outcome, Take Pride in the Work, and Do the Right Thing

Who Should Not Apply

We would rather be direct than waste your time:

• If you cannot give coaching and honest feedback, this role is mostly people development and you will not do it well
• If you need to inherit a finished, well-oiled department, that is not what this is — you are here to develop and improve the systems, not to operate someone else’s
• If you are not a strong, proactive communicator, this seat sits between design, field, project management, and customers, and silence breaks it
• If you would rather only design and never manage people, apply for our Senior Designer opening instead — that is a good career and we mean it
• If you avoid difficult performance conversations, the standard will erode and you will be the reason

Minimum Qualifications

• 7+ years of fire sprinkler design experience, including complex commercial systems
• One of the following credentials: licensed Professional Engineer (fire protection or related discipline), NICET Level IV in Water-Based Systems Layout, or NICET Level III in Water-Based Systems Layout
• Active Washington State Patrol Certificate of Competency at Level III or higher, or the ability to obtain it within 6 months of hire
• Demonstrated experience leading, mentoring, or formally training other designers
• Strong working knowledge of NFPA 13, 13R, 13D, 14, 20, and 24, and of hydraulic calculation
• Proficiency with AutoSprink or comparable sprinkler design software
• Experience preparing and submitting design packages to AHJs
• Ability to walk jobsites, climb ladders and stairs, and navigate active construction environments while wearing required PPE
• Residence in the Greater Seattle area, or willingness to relocate before your start date
• Valid driver’s license
• Fluent in spoken and written English
• Ability to pass a background check and pre-employment drug screen

Preferred Qualifications

• Licensed Professional Engineer — this is our strongest preference, and it is compensated accordingly
• NICET Level IV in Water-Based Systems Layout
• Prior design management or department leadership experience
• Experience building a training or certification program from scratch
• Revit, BIM, and 3D coordination experience
• Experience with multi-jurisdiction submittals across Washington, Oregon, and Idaho
• Experience supporting design across multiple offices or affiliated companies
• Field installation or project management background
• Experience with EOS, scorecards, or comparable performance management frameworks

Compensation

• Base salary: $120,000 – $150,000 annually, depending on credentials and experience
• The upper end of this range is for a licensed Professional Engineer with prior design management experience
• Annual bonus target of approximately $15,000, tied to individual goals and MBOs
• Classification: full-time, salaried, exempt

Bonus earnings depend on performance against agreed goals and are not guaranteed.