Fire & Security Engineer Jobs

A fire and security engineer installs, commissions and maintains the kit that other security workers monitor — fire alarms, intruder alarms, access control, CCTV, fire suppression systems. The job is mobile (most engineers cover a regional patch from a company van) and split between install work on new builds and reactive call-outs to existing systems.

The qualifications matrix is dense. ECS card or CSCS for site access. FIA modules — Foundation through Module 4 — for fire alarms. BAFE SP203 if you want to commission and certify. Skills for Security accreditation for intruder and access control. IPAF or PASMA for working at height. Most engineers stack three or four of these and pick up the rest over a couple of years on the job.

Rates depend heavily on how much certification you've banked. Trainee or apprentice: £24-£28k. Engineer with FIA F1-F4: £35-£42k. Service or commissioning engineer with BAFE: £42-£55k. Senior installer or project lead: £55k+. London and the Home Counties pay £3-£5k above the rest of the country. The work is steady — fire systems need periodic servicing by law, so the maintenance side smooths out the lumpy install pipeline. Most contracts include a van, a fuel card, and a phone.