Principal Fire & Hydraulic Engineer

Want to be a part of Asia Pacific & Middle East's (APME) largest, most innovative, and rapidly growing data centre company?
AirTrunk is a hyperscale data centre company with a powerful purpose - to scale and sustain the relentless growth of the region’s digital future. We do this by continuously redefining and delivering the digital infrastructure that meet the needs of our customers - the world’s most transformational companies. And we’re doing so sustainably, for today and tomorrow.
Having opened Australia’s first and largest hyperscale data centres in 2017, we set our eyes on rapid expansion and now operate a platform of hyperscale data centres across the APME region. With backing from our investors, including Blackstone, this is just the beginning…
Come join the A-Team at AirTrunk, where the cloud meets the ground.
A Snapshot
As Principal Fire and Hydraulics Engineer, you will report to the Senior Director, Engineering and be based at our North Sydney headquarters. This newly created role will establish and lead AirTrunk's global fire protection and hydraulic engineering disciplines, supported by a lean team of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) scaled to business need and portfolio growth.
You will work across Design and Engineering, Design and Innovation, Development, Procurement, Construction, Commissioning and Operations. You will make an impact in an number of ways:
Act as AirTrunk's senior fire and hydraulics technical authority, escalation point and delegated decision maker for material risks, deviations and design decisions.
Own the fire and hydraulics requirements within the Global Minimum Standards - Engineering (GMS-E) and Global Minimum Standards - Construction (GMS-C), together with relevant Owner-Supplied Equipment (OSE) specifications.
Prioritise and allocate fire and hydraulics capability across the global project pipeline according to project risk, design maturity and business need.
Provide risk-based technical direction and independent design assurance from concept through IFC, confirming compliance with AirTrunk standards without owning day-to-day project design coordination or driving the general contractor's design development.
Be accountable for discipline cost, technical compliance and engineering suitability, including life safety, reliability, operability, maintainability and lifecycle value.
Drive global consistency and value engineering while protecting life safety, regulatory or FM Global compliance, customer commitments and operational performance.
Use delivery, commissioning, incident and operational learning to improve standards, specifications, assurance practices and team capability.
Your Day to Day
Own and maintain fire and hydraulics requirements within GMS-E and GMS-C, covering design criteria, performance, calculations, installation quality, inspection and testing, pre-commissioning readiness and handover; also govern relevant OSE specifications, change control and implementation guidance.
Set the fire systems campus approach and technical direction for fire engineering and certifying authority requirements; pre-action and wet sprinkler systems; gas suppression; dry fire detection, smoke detection and alarm systems; occupant warning systems; fire indicator panels; nitrogen generation systems; sprinkler and hydrant pumps; fire-suppression water storage; and associated controls.
Interpret and govern compliance with applicable fire codes, regulations, Authority Having Jurisdiction requirements, insurer requirements and FM Global standards across AirTrunk's regions.
Own the technical requirements for fire cause-and-effect matrices and ensure coordinated interfaces with mechanical systems, smoke control, dampers, electrical systems, BMS, controls and automation, security, access control and emergency response functions.
Set technical direction and design criteria for hydraulic equipment and systems, including domestic cold water, potable and non-potable water, water storage, piping and pumping, filtration and incoming water treatment, sanitary drainage, stormwater and siphonic drainage, leak detection, cross-connection control and associated water-quality requirements.
Define and assure hydraulic analyses and calculations, including utility water flow data and supply analysis, used-water discharge quality, water storage, pump head, stormwater and sanitary pipework sizing, rainwater storage tank sizing and system
Set the scope and depth of risk-based reviews from concept through IFC and review designs, calculations, cause-and-effect matrices and technical submissions for .
Act as the senior escalation point and delegated decision maker for material risks, departures, waivers, substitutions and non-conformances, recording decisions, rationale, conditions and accountable owners.
Maintain discipline cost benchmarks, challenge unnecessary complexity and assess system and equipment suitability across life safety, compliance, capacity, reliability, resilience, constructability, maintainability, operability, testability and lifecycle value.
Partner with Procurement and Supply Chain to evaluate vendor proposals, technical deviations, equipment substitutions and quality risks, and provide senior technical input to factory acceptance testing and proof-of-concept activities.
Lead discipline peer reviews and resolve interfaces with mechanical, electrical, controls and automation, civil, structural, architectural, security, commissioning and operational teams; champion Safety in Design and clear ownership of residual risks.
Provide senior technical support for significant site, commissioning, integrated systems testing and operational issues, and ensure root causes and lessons learned are reflected in standards, specifications and future project assurance.
Communicate complex fire and hydraulic matters clearly to executives, customers, authorities, insurers,