Associate Director - Fire Engineering

ABOUT CDC 

Cahill Design Consultants is a privately owned, multidisciplinary engineering consultancy based in Colchester, delivering fire engineering, acoustic design and facade engineering services for over 12 years. We are 15 people and we have been deliberate about that. We are not beholden to external investors and we are not chasing growth for its own sake. The focus is on quality work and building a team that can sustain it. 

We were named Best Place to Work at the 2023 CN Workforce Awards, which means more to us at this size than it would at a much larger firm. We have held Flexa Careers accreditation for three consecutive years, with an 88% employee-led score. We are ISO 9001:2015 registered and in 2025 donated 1% of turnover to charity, with 118 hours of team volunteering. 

WHAT YOU WILL DO 

The role splits across three broad areas: technical leadership, business development and commercial thinking, and the organisation itself. 

• Direct complex fire engineering projects from strategy through delivery, setting the approach and quality bar for multi-disciplinary teams 

• Own significant client relationships and represent CDC in high-stakes settings where fire safety knowledge and judgement drive the decisions 

• Mentor fire engineers at all levels and genuinely influence how they grow, from early career through to senior 

• Contribute to bids and proposals, identify new work and client opportunities, and flag commercial risks on projects early 

• Work with the Directors on pricing, resourcing, and how we position the firm 

• Lead recruitment and team planning, and help shape how we approach quality assurance 

• Help shape CDC’s standards, processes and culture, with a real voice in what kind of place CDC becomes 

We encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. Requirements are split into Essential and Desirable. Apply if you meet the essential criteria, even if some desirable criteria are not yet there. 

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR 

ESSENTIAL 

• Significant fire engineering consultancy experience, typically 12 or more years post-graduate, though we are interested in the depth of it as much as the count 

• A strong track record leading complex fire engineering projects and teams 

• Depth of knowledge across building safety regulations and both performance-based and prescriptive approaches 

• Experience winning and holding client relationships over time 

• Ability to mentor and develop engineers at different stages of their careers 

• Commercial awareness: you understand project economics, resourcing decisions, and why bids win or fail 

• Chartered Engineer status, or genuinely close to it 

• Able to work two days per week in Colchester 

DESIRABLE 

• A track record in business development or winning new work 

• Experience in smaller consultancy environments where people have broader influence 

• Evidence of having helped build or change how a team or organisation operates 

• Involvement in or exposure to building safety regulatory work 

• Multi-sector project experience across residential, commercial, health, care and education 

HOW TO APPLY 

01 Apply - Send your CV with a brief note on why this role appeals. 

02 30-min call - A conversation for both sides to see if this makes sense. 

03 Panel interview - In-person interview at our Colchester office. 

We would rather have an honest conversation early than waste anyone’s time. If the application looks like a good fit, we will be in touch to arrange the call. 

We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds. 

Engineering and construction have a gender problem. That is not a secret. We are aware of it and we have made deliberate choices about how we hire, how we pay, and how we support people at different stages of their careers and lives. 

Our enhanced parental leave policy applies equally regardless of gender or family structure, because we think that is the right thing to do, and because it is one practical way to push back against the imbalance that tends to hit hardest at the point of parenthood. 

If you need any adjustments at any stage of this process, please just ask. We would rather adapt than lose a good person to an avoidable barrier. 

careers@cdc-limited.co.uk  |  www.cdc-limited.co.uk