Fire Fighting Foam Engineer

Buckeye Fire Equipment Company Kings Mountain, North Carolina Full-time | On-site (this is not a remote role)

Buckeye Fire Equipment has been manufacturing fire suppression products for over a century, supplying portable extinguishers, foam concentrates, and pre-engineered systems to distributors and end users across the globe. Our Kings Mountain facility is where our products are engineered, formulated, filled, and tested.

We are hiring a Fire Fighting Foam Engineer to lead the technical work behind our foam concentrate and foam-based suppression product lines. This is a working engineering position—you will spend meaningful time in the lab and on the production floor, not just at a desk. You will own foam formulation, performance testing, listing and approval work, and continuous improvement of the products we ship.

The industry is in the middle of a generational transition away from fluorinated foams toward fluorine-free (F3) chemistries, and our customers are looking to us to lead them through it. This role sits at the center of that work.

• Develop, reformulate, and improve foam concentrates across Class A, Class B, AR-AFFF, and fluorine-free (F3) product lines
• Run bench-scale formulation work and scale promising candidates through pilot and full production
• Design and execute performance testing to UL 162, NFPA 11, NFPA 18, and applicable military and international specifications
• Manage the listing and re-listing process with UL, ULC, FM, and other approval bodies
• Partner with production, quality, and supply chain on raw material qualification, surfactant sourcing, and batch troubleshooting
• Support customer technical inquiries, field issues, and application engineering for distributors and AHJs
• Track regulatory developments (PFAS restrictions, state-level bans, EPA actions, international equivalents) and translate them into product roadmap decisions
• Contribute to capital projects involving foam proportioning, mixing, filling, and discharge testing equipment

• Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Fire Protection Engineering, or a closely related field
• 5 years of hands-on experience with fire fighting foam concentrates, fire suppression chemistry, or surfactant/specialty chemical formulation
• Working knowledge of NFPA 11, NFPA 18, UL 162, and the broader regulatory landscape around PFAS and fluorine-free foam
• Comfort moving between lab bench, production floor, and outdoor fire test pad—this is not a desk job
• Strong experimental discipline: you design tests that answer the question, document properly, and can defend the data
• Direct communicator who works well with operators, technicians, QA, and outside listing agencies

• Experience taking a foam product through UL or FM listing
• Background with mil-spec foam (MIL-PRF-24385 / MIL-PRF-32725) or international equivalents
• Familiarity with foam proportioning hardware (balanced pressure, around-the-pump, bladder tanks)
• Prior work in a regulated manufacturing environment with statistical process control

• Competitive salary commensurate with experience
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage
• 401(k) with company match
• Paid time off and holidays

Send a resume and a short note about your foam or suppression chemistry background to abower@buckeyef.com or apply through our careers page at buckeyef.com.

Buckeye Fire Equipment is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.