Fire Protection Planner / Technical Lead

Overview

Location(s): CaliforniaPractice/Department: Urban Forestry/FireWork Environment: Hybrid/RemoteCompensation: $110,000-140,000/annually*

Dudek’s journey began in 1980 with a vision to serve Southern California’s water and wastewater agencies.

Today, we are a 100% employee-owned firm supporting clients nationwide and delivering projects that improve and protect the built and natural environments of communities throughout the United States. Our work has been recognized by leading industry organizations, and we’ve been honored with multiple national Top Workplace Awards.

Our employee-owners are unified by a singular commitment to supporting projects that address key societal issues, such as the transition to renewable energy, infrastructure hardening and repair, environmental protection, and community resilience.

Learn more about our award-winning culture, the benefits and perks of being a Dudekian, and the projects you will have the opportunity to shape.

Position Overview

Who You Are

As an employee-owner, you embrace accountability, working safely, and collaboration while thinking resourcefully and independently.

Like all Dudekians, you are curious and solution-oriented, with the ability to adapt quickly to changes and approach challenges with a spirit of innovation.

How You’ll Make an Impact

We are seeking an experienced, technically skilled, and highly motivated Fire Protection Planner to serve as the technical lead for spatial wildfire analysis and quality assurance within Dudek’s fire protection planning team. For nearly 25 years, Dudek has partnered with landowners, developers, public agencies, and land management organizations to evaluate wildfire hazards and develop practical, defensible strategies that reduce wildfire risk. The successful candidate will lead the development, execution, interpretation, and review of spatial wildfire analyses; establish consistent modeling and data standards; and support integration of modeling results into community wildfire protection plans, wildfire risk assessments, evacuation corridor assessments, utility wildfire mitigation plans, fire protection plans, wildfire technical studies, environmental review documents, presentations, and client recommendations. This role requires strong geospatial and fire-science expertise, sound technical judgment, attention to detail, and the ability to communicate complex methods and limitations to technical and nontechnical audiences. The position will be either remote or hybrid depending upon applicant proximity to one of Dudek’s offices, with travel to project sites and client or agency offices throughout California as needed.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Serve as the team’s technical lead for spatial fire behavior modeling, providing direction on model selection, scenario design, assumptions, inputs, calibration, validation, and appropriate application of results.
• Design, parameterize, execute, and interpret landscape-scale wildfire modeling using tools such as FlamMap, FARSITE, FSPro, IFTDSS, or equivalent systems.
• Perform spatial analyses of vector and raster datasets across project sites and large landscapes, including fire spread, flame length, fireline intensity, rate of spread, arrival time, burn probability, ember exposure, and related outputs.
• Develop customized community wildfire risk assessment model approaches utilizing spatial datasets related to community wildfire risk
• Develop, evaluate, and document model inputs, including fuels, topography, weather, wind, ignition locations, and project-specific conditions.
• Establish and maintain modeling protocols, data standards, file-management practices, reproducible workflows, and technical guidance for the team.
• Lead quality assurance and quality control reviews of modeling inputs, methods, scripts, maps, calculations, outputs, and technical conclusions; verify that work products are accurate, reproducible, internally consistent, and suitable for client and agency review.
• Prepare clear methodology documentation and translate modeling results, assumptions, uncertainty, and limitations into defensible reports, fire protection plans, environmental technical studies, figures, presentations, and responses to agency or public comments.
• Coordinate with fire protection planners, GIS specialists, environmental planners, engineers, biologists, project managers, clients, and fire agencies to align modeling with project objectives and regulatory needs.
• Mentor and train staff in fire modeling methods, geospatial analysis, documentation, and QA/QC expectations; review technical work and provide actionable guidance.
• Support project scoping, level-of-effort estimates, schedules, proposal development, and client presentations for modeling and wildfire-risk assignments.
• Monitor advances in wildfire science, modeling platforms, fuels and remote-sensing datasets, and decision-support tools, and recommend appropriate improvements to team practices.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in fire science, forestry, fire ecology, natural resources, geography, geographic information systems, environmental science, engineering, data science, or a related field; an advanced degree may substitute for a portion of professional experience.
• At least 5 years of relevant professional experience in wildfire science, fire behavior analysis, spatial modeling, geospatial analytics, forestry, land management, environmental consulting, or a related discipline.
• Strong understanding of fire behavior and wildfire dynamics, including the interactions among fuels, weather, and topography that influence wildfire ignition, intensity, rate of spread, ember production, and suppression effectiveness. Demonstrated ability to evaluate wildfire behavior across diverse landscapes and assess community wildfire exposure
• Understanding of fire ecology and vegetation dynamics in dry-forest, shrubland, and Mediterranean environments.
• Demonstrated experience designing and performing custom analyses of vector and raster inputs and outputs from wildfire behavior or fire progression modeling systems.
• Demonstrated experience parameterizing, operating, interpreting, and documenting wildfire modeling systems such as FlamMap, FARSITE, FSPro, IFTDSS, or equivalent tools.
• Advanced proficiency with GIS software, such as ArcGIS Pro or QGIS, including spatial analysis, geoprocessing, cartography, and management of large vector and raster datasets.
• Experience developing or applying technical QA/QC procedures, reviewing analytical work performed by others, resolving discrepancies, and documenting review findings.
• Ability to independently plan and execute complex technical assignments, exercise sound judgment, manage priorities, and meet project schedules and budgets.
• Ability to work effectively as part of a multidisciplinary team and provide technical leadership, mentoring, and constructive review.
• Excellent attention to detail and strong oral, written, and visual communication skills, including the ability to explain scientific concepts, assumptions, uncertainty, and limitations to technical and nontechnical audiences.

Preferred Qualifications

• Working knowledge of Rothermel-based spatial fire behavior systems, including FlamMap, or related platforms.
• Experience producing and evaluating spatial outputs such as burn probability, fire intensity, rate of spread, flame length, and arrival time
• Experience with fuelscape, vegetation, canopy, disturbance, and weather datasets, including LANDFIRE products and project-specific fuels data.
• Experience creating custom fuelscapes utilizing fine-scale vegetation data
• Experience writing, editing, or applying scripts for geospatial analysis, data processing, modeling, or workflow automation.
• Experience processing or interpreting remote-sensing datasets such as LiDAR, NAIP, LANDSAT, or comparable sources.
• Experience preparing or reviewing fire protection plans, wildfire risk assessments, CEQA or NEPA technical studies, or other regulatory and planning documents.
• Experience in wildfire suppression, prevention, fuels management, fire research, prescribed fire, fire investigation, or incident support.
• Experience supporting risk-informed wildfire incident decision-making in a technical specialist role, such as Long-Term Analyst or Fire Behavior Analyst.
• Relevant professional certification or training in GIS, fire behavior, forestry, wildfire mitigation, or incident management.

Compensation: $110,000 - $140,000/annually*

*Final agreed upon compensation will be based on a variety of factors including, but not limited to, an individual’s related experience, education, certifications, skills, and work location. Successful candidates must pass a pre-employment drug test and background check prior to beginning employment.

Working Conditions

• This job operates in a remote or office-based environment and this role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, printers, etc.
• This job requires occasional project site visits, based outdoors which can include excessive noise, uneven walking surfaces, extreme weather, and moving vehicles and equipment.

Physical Requirements

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met to successfully perform the essential functions of the job. This job requires the following:

• Working on a computer, sitting, or standing for long periods of time in an office or remote office setting.
• Employees must be capable of bending, squatting, climbing ladders, and lifting up to 35 lbs. unassisted; 50lbs in a team lift (two or more employees).
• This job requires attending meetings, both in person and virtually as well as speaking on the phone with government agency representatives, members of the public, and others. Speaking, hearing and listening are required.
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus.
• Outdoor activity may involve walking/trekking in uneven terrain over long distances in extreme weather conditions for extended periods of time.

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Dudek is committed to creating a workplace where all employees, regardless of their background, feel valued, respected, and have equal opportunities to succeed. We believe that a diverse and inclusive workforce is essential to our business success, and we are dedicated to fostering a culture where everyone can thrive. We are committed to fair and equitable processes, based on merit, free from any discrimination.

Dudek is genuinely committed to equal employment opportunities within our company and on our project teams. Dudek is also committed to compliance with all applicable laws providing equal employment opportunities. This commitment applies to all persons involved in Dudek’s operations and prohibits unlawful discrimination by any employee of Dudek, including supervisors and coworkers. Equal employment opportunities will be extended to all persons (including those with disability and veteran status) in all aspects of the employment relationship, including recruitment, hiring, training, promotion, transfer, compensation, benefits, discipline, layoff, recall, and termination. Any employee who violates this policy and Dudek’s commitment to equal employment opportunities will be subject to disciplinary action.

Dudek is a U.S.-based employer. All positions are based in the United States and require U.S. work authorization.