Forensic Engineer (Fire) — Career Move for Fire Engineers

📍 UK & Ireland (hybrid / remote options available)   💷 £40,000–£90,000 DOE + 10% employer pension, private medical and employee shareholding

JustEng is recruiting Forensic Engineers (Fire) for a long-established, employee-owned forensic investigation and expert witness consultancy with offices across the UK and Ireland and an international network spanning Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. The firm has investigated fires, explosions, failures and disputes for insurers, loss adjusters, solicitors and major corporates for over four decades, and its 150-plus specialists cover more than 70 technical fields.

This is a genuine career move for a fire engineer, not a sideways step. Fire engineers transition into forensic and expert witness work more successfully than almost any other discipline — your understanding of fire behaviour, regulations and system performance is exactly what the work runs on. Full structured training is provided. What matters is the individual: the calibre of the mind, not the number of years on the CV.

Who this is for

The brief is deliberately broad. The client will consider outstanding graduates at the start of their careers through to newly chartered, senior and Associate Director-level fire engineers. Two people could sit at opposite ends of the £40,000–£90,000 band and both be exactly right. The band is wide because the seat is built around the person.

A strong academic record is a major requirement and is not negotiable. This is an evidence-based discipline in which your conclusions are tested by opposing experts and, occasionally, by a judge — the client hires for demonstrable analytical rigour.

About the sector

Forensic engineering and expert witness work is a highly respected and intellectually rigorous field involving the investigation of fire incidents, system failures, regulatory non-compliance and construction-related disputes. The output is evidence: a report relied upon in an insurance claim, an adjudication, an arbitration or a court case.

The work sits at the intersection of engineering, investigation and law, providing technical insight for insurers, solicitors, developers, contractors and major commercial clients. For a fire specialist, casework typically includes:

• Fire origin and cause investigation across residential, commercial and industrial buildings
• Fire spread and compartmentation failures — compartment walls and floors, cavity barriers in external wall systems, service shafts and penetrations
• Performance of active and passive fire protection: detection and alarm, suppression, smoke control, fire-stopping, structural fire protection
• Compliance with fire safety legislation and guidance, and the consequences when a building does not meet it
• External wall systems and high-rise residential fire safety, including the post-Grenfell regulatory landscape and the Building Safety Act regime
• Fire strategy and design review — was the strategy sound, was it built as designed, and did it perform
• Vehicle, plant and machinery fires, including engine, hydraulic and electronic control system origins
• White goods and appliance fires, and lithium-ion battery fires in devices and storage
• Marine fires, from accommodation fires through to engine room and cargo incidents
• Explosions — industrial and structural, frequently with serious injury in issue
• Post-incident damage assessment, salvage and remediation scope

What the role involves

• Investigating fire-related failures, defects and incidents from first notification through to conclusion
• Attending scenes at short notice — securing, recording and recovering evidence before it is lost, including photogrammetric documentation
• Obtaining and weighing witness evidence to establish a narrative of events, then testing it against the physical evidence
• Interpreting damage and burn patterns to establish area of origin, and laboratory examination of recovered components
• Fire modelling and computational analysis where the spread mechanism is in dispute
• Reviewing designs, fire strategies, specifications and technical documentation for compliance and buildability
• Conducting site inspections and post-incident assessments, and identifying defects in means of escape, detection, compartmentation and fire service access
• Preparing clear, robust technical reports — a preliminary report typically within three days of the site visit, followed by a full investigation report
• Supporting legal teams in claims, arbitrations, adjudications and dispute resolution, and writing CPR Part 35-compliant expert reports
• Progressing into expert witness work with structured training and mentorship
• Working closely with solicitors, insurers, loss adjusters, surveyors and other technical specialists
• Taking part in the firm’s peer-review process — your work is checked, and you will check others’

Full training is provided for those new to forensic and expert witness work. Nobody is put in front of a court unprepared.

Why fire engineers excel in forensic engineering

Fire engineers bring expertise that is fundamental to forensic investigation — in many cases the transition is less a change of discipline than a change of direction, from predicting fire behaviour to reconstructing it.

• Deep understanding of fire dynamics, heat transfer and smoke movement — the physical basis of every origin-and-cause opinion
• Working knowledge of active and passive fire protection systems, and of how each one fails
• A strong grasp of Building Regulations Part B, Approved Document B, BS 9999 and BS 9991, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order and the Building Safety Act regime — compliance is frequently the pivot of a dispute
• Experience interpreting fire strategies and compliance documentation, which is exactly what you will be asked to test
• Familiarity with external wall systems, cavity barriers and compartmentation detailing — the subject of a large and growing share of current casework
• Analytical thinking and structured technical reporting skills, which is most of what a forensic engineer produces
• Prior experience of inspections, audits or incident investigation is a bonus, but it is not required

About you

• A strong academic background is essential — a first-class or upper-second Master’s-level degree in fire engineering, or in a closely related engineering or physical science discipline, from a well-regarded university
• A second degree (PhD or EngD) is viewed very favourably but is not required
• Chartered status, or a clear intention to work towards it, is welcomed at experienced level; graduates will be supported through chartership. IFE membership is a plus
• Genuine technical grounding in fire safety design and compliance — consultancy, contracting, approved inspector, fire and rescue service or building control backgrounds all translate
• Excellent written and verbal communication. Your reports are the product, and they will be scrutinised line by line
• A methodical, curious, evidence-led mind, and the honesty to report what the evidence shows rather than what the client hoped
• Willingness to travel to sites at short notice, and comfort with fieldwork that can be dirty, cold and physically awkward — forensic work is not for the fainthearted
• A full driving licence and the right to work in the UK or Ireland
• No prior forensic or expert witness experience is required — this is trained

What’s on offer

• £40,000–£90,000 basic depending on experience, from graduate entry through newly chartered to senior and Associate Director level
• Travel allowance, and London weighting for London-based roles, on top of basic
• 10% of basic salary employer pension contribution
• Private medical insurance, permanent health insurance, life assurance and company sick pay
• 25 days’ holiday plus bank holidays, rising to 30 days with continued service
• Employee shareholding — the business is employee-owned, and every employee is entitled to become a shareholder, so growth benefits the people who created it
• Corporate bonus scheme
• All equipment for the role provided
• Hybrid and remote working options, with more predictable workloads than consultancy design roles
• Comprehensive training in forensic investigation and expert witness procedure, plus support towards chartership and further study

The long-term case for a move into forensic engineering

• Recession-resistant career stability. Claims, fires and disputes do not stop when construction slows — they often increase
• Strong and consistent demand for forensic fire expertise, sharpened further by building safety reform, external wall system claims and lithium-ion losses
• Globally portable. Fire investigation method and expert witness credibility travel; this employer has offices on four continents
• Excellent long-term earning potential, with established experts in this sector commonly reaching six figures
• Your name goes on the report. In forensics you build a personal professional reputation, not just a project record
• Ownership, not just employment — the employee-ownership structure means long-term value accrues to staff rather than external investors

How to apply

To register your interest or arrange a confidential conversation, submit your CV here or contact JustEng directly. All approaches are handled in strict confidence.