Lead Sprinkler Inspector

Description

Lead Sprinkler Inspector

Senior ITM Technician & Field Mentor — Water-Based   Systems

Hard Fire Suppression Systems | Worthington, OH | Full-time

About Us

Hard Fire Suppression Systems is a third-generation, family-owned Ohio fire and life safety company with 80 years of reputation built on doing the work right. We specialize in special hazard systems — clean agent, fire alarm, and special sprinkler systems — for the customers who can’t afford failure: data centers, critical infrastructure, industrial facilities, hospitals, and commercial buildings across Ohio.

We’re an authorized distributor for Gamewell-FCI, Fike, and Kidde. Other life safety companies subcontract us for specialty work they can’t handle in-house. Our team includes some of the most experienced technicians in the state.

We’re not the biggest. We’re the company customers call when good enough doesn’t cut it.

The Role

We’re hiring a Lead Sprinkler Inspector — our most capable water-based technician in the field, and the person our other inspectors learn from. You’ll take the inspections nobody else wants, the service calls nobody else can solve, and the responsibility of making sure every technician who carries our name into a building knows what they’re doing.

This is still a field role. You’ll be on job sites, not behind a desk. But roughly a quarter of your time goes to developing the people around you: ride-alongs, hands-on instruction, reviewing reports, and deciding when a technician is ready to run inspections on their own. That last part matters — in this trade, signing off on someone who isn’t ready is how buildings get hurt.

You’ll report to the division manager and work directly with the owner and the ITM sales side. You’ll have real input on how we inspect, what we carry, and who we hire.

What You’ll Do

Technical leadership in the field:

• Perform inspection, testing, and maintenance on our most complex water-based systems — pre-action, deluge, fire pumps, large standpipe systems, and five-year internal inspections

• Serve as the technical authority on NFPA 25 questions — from our own technicians, our customers, and AHJs

• Take escalated service calls, impairments, and the troubleshooting other technicians can’t resolve

• Support acceptance testing and witnessed tests with Authorities Having Jurisdiction

• Investigate recurring problems — obstruction, corrosion, MIC, freeze damage — and recommend real fixes rather than repeat repairs

Training and mentorship:

• Train inspectors and apprentices in the field through ride-alongs and hands-on instruction

• Give structured feedback — what was done well, what was missed, and what to do differently next time

• Verify competency and sign off when a technician is ready to run inspections solo

• Review inspection reports for accuracy and completeness before they reach customers and AHJs

• Spot-check completed inspections in the field and correct what needs correcting

• Keep the team current on code changes, manufacturer bulletins, and lessons learned from our own jobs

• Help newer technicians prepare for Ohio certification and NICET testing

Operational contribution:

• Work with the ITM sales side so deficiencies you and your team identify become quoted, scheduled, and completed work

• Provide input on inspection procedure, truck stock, test equipment, and hiring

• Serve as on-call escalation for after-hours emergencies

• Represent the company professionally with customers, AHJs, and partner organizations

Compensation & Benefits

• Lead-level pay above our standard technician scale, commensurate with experience and certification

• Overtime, plus on-call and emergency callout pay

• Pay increases tied to certifications and licenses you earn

• Company vehicle, fuel card, tools, and test equipment

• Health insurance

• Paid time off

• 401(k) with company match

• Company-paid training and testing — NICET, Ohio fire protection certification (sprinkler, special hazard, fire alarm, fire extinguisher), and backflow certification

• Uniforms and PPE provided

• A real voice in how the ITM division operates and who joins it

Why This Job, Specifically

At most companies, the best inspector just gets handed the worst route. Here, the best inspector gets handed the next generation. We’re a small, specialized team doing water-based work other life safety companies subcontract to us — and the only way that holds up over the next 80 years is if the people who know it teach the people who don’t.

If you’ve spent years building real expertise in this trade and you’re tired of watching it stay locked in your own head, this is the job where it gets passed on. The technicians you train will be in Ohio buildings for decades, doing it the way you taught them.

Hard Fire Suppression Systems is an equal opportunity employer.

We hire on merit, character, and fit — nothing else.

Requirements

What We’re Looking For

Required:

• 5+ years of hands-on fire sprinkler inspection and service experience

• Deep working knowledge of NFPA 25, plus solid command of NFPA 13, 14, 20, and 24 and the Ohio Fire Code

• Demonstrated ability to teach — you’ve trained someone, and they got better because of it

• The patience to explain the same thing twice and the judgment to know when someone isn’t ready

• Ability to document and defend a finding in writing to an owner, an insurer, or an AHJ

• Sound field judgment — knowing when a system can be returned to service and when it can’t, and holding that line

• Current Ohio fire protection certification in Automatic Sprinkler and Standpipe, or the experience to obtain it within your first year (we sponsor, schedule, and pay)

• Valid Ohio driver’s license and clean driving record

• Able to work from ladders and lifts, above ceilings, in mechanical rooms and attics; able to lift 50 lbs and handle pipe overhead

• Willing to serve as on-call escalation for after-hours service

• Able to pass a background check and drug screen — many of our customer sites require it

Strongly preferred:

• NICET Level III or higher in Inspection and Testing of Water-Based Systems

• Ohio backflow tester certification

• Fire pump experience — electric and diesel — including annual flow testing

• Experience with pre-action and deluge systems, including releasing panel interface and detection

• Prior lead, foreman, or training role in fire protection or a related trade

• Experience in data centers, hospitals, or industrial facilities where work is coordinated around live operations

• Ohio certification in additional categories — Fire Service Mains, Fire Pumps, or Portable Fire Extinguishers

• OSHA 30, aerial and scissor lift certification, or confined space training

We’ll consider a strong technician who hasn’t formally led before but has the knowledge and the temperament for it. We can teach you how to run a ride-along. We can’t teach work ethic, integrity, or how to think clearly under pressure.

What You Won’t Need

• A management background — this is a working lead role, not a desk job

• A complete set of certifications on day one — we sponsor, schedule, and pay for Ohio certification, backflow, and NICET

• A willingness to pass a technician who isn’t ready, or to return a system to service when it isn’t right — we don’t operate that way and never have