Who Are We?

At Perkins&Will, we passionately believe that design can transform lives and enhance communities, creating healthy, sustainable places to live, learn, work, play, heal, move, and explore. We’re in it for the greater good; we design to create places with meaning, and we design with purpose. Join the brightest minds in architecture!

Who Are You?

Perkins&Will is seeking a highly motivated individual with a minimum of 15 years of professional experience to fill the role of Design Director for our Denver Studio.

To join us you should have:

Professional degree in architecture or related discipline.
Professional architectural license.
15+ years of professional experience.
Knowledge of industry regulations, health/life safety requirements, and building codes
Knowledge of site analysis, conceptual design, schematic design, design development, contract documents, and construction
Strong design portfolio, ideally broad-based on a range of project types.
Strong project budgeting and contract negotiation skills.
Strong working relationships with clients and consultants.
Experience in hiring, directing, mentoring, and coordinating successful project teams
Strong ideator and conceptual thinker
Working knowledge of Revit. Working knowledge of conceptual modeling tools such as Rhino and Grasshopper
Working knowledge of Microsoft Office / Adobe Suite
Working knowledge of visualization tools such as Enscape and VRay
LEED GA and a Professional Accreditation in one area of Living Design that interests you (LEED AP with Specialty, BREEAM AP, WELL AP, SITES AP, Passive House Institute Certified Passive House Consultant/Designer CPHC/CPHD, or ILFI Living Future Accreditation) upon hire or within six months of hire.

What will you Do?

The Design Director’s overall responsibility is to champion design excellence within the Denver studio, assuring all project designs adhere to the firm’s commitment to creating a better, more beautiful, more equitable world through Living Design. As a key office leader and central member of the Management, Operations, and Design (MOD) studio leadership structure, the Design Director represents the firm’s commitment to design for all practices and disciplines of a studio. The Design Directors will foster a culture of design within our studio and are responsible for the recruitment and mentorship of design talent, ensuring the elevation of diverse talent and skillsets and building a bench of the next generation of design talent within a studio, in collaboration with studio and firmwide leaders. In addition to promoting the firm’s core values internally, the Design Director represents our commitment to design through public, cultural, and academic communities.

Key attributes and responsibilities of the Design Director include:

Partners with the Managing Director and Operations Director to lead the studio by setting strategic goals and ensuring adherence to the goals.
Provides visionary design leadership by setting a clear direction for the studio, guiding teams in the creation of design concepts, and ensuring alignment with project goals and client expectations.
Oversees the quality of the design process, product, and delivery for the studio.
Champions creative excellence and ensures all projects in each practice area of the studio fulfill the firm’s Living Design Framework.
Participates in project scope delineation, work plan creation and implementation, and fee negotiations.
Participates in staffing and team organization and composition by helping to identify team members for project teams in alignment with client goals, team member skillsets, and aspirations.
Leads, mentors, and inspires multidisciplinary design teams to foster a collaborative and creative work environment.
Collaborates with clients, stakeholders, and project teams to understand project requirements and develops innovative design solutions that meet functional, aesthetic, and financial objectives.
Provides guidance to project teams and conducts regular design and quality control reviews to ensure that the firm’s standards and design goals are being met.
Works with firmwide leadership to request, organize, and execute peer workshops at the appropriate point for each project.
Establishes and maintains strong relationships with key decision-makers and influencers on client teams.
Partners with local Talent Managers and studio leadership to identify, interview, recruit, and mentor design staff.
Advances the design culture of the firm at the local studio level, focusing on firmwide initiatives like DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), career development, and talent advancement.
Mentors staff to ensure their personal and professional development goals are met.
Actively participates in, represents, and champions the Design Board directives and goals.
Crafts and maintains the studio’s manifesto in partnership with the Managing Director, Operations Director, and other design principals.
Facilitates the professional development of all architectural design staff through sponsorship of educational seminars, conferences, and internal design discussions.
Builds relationships with professional organizations and academic institutions.
Keeps abreast of current developments, trends, and practices within the design industry.
Participates in studio marketing activities, to include all go/no-go decisions, and has a leadership role at interviews.
Participates in marketing, helping to strategize and win work for the studio. Monitors, advises, reviews, and participates in the approval of marketing.

We foster a culture that is diverse and inclusive and strive for pay practices that are fair, competitive and reflect our commitment to pay equity. Our compensation decisions include but are not limited to a candidate’s qualifications, including skill sets, education, experience and training, licensure and certifications credentials if applicable, and business-related factors. This practice extends to all employees, including performance considerations for merit increases, job promotions, and transfer opportunities. We additionally review our pay practices, conduct pay equity audits, and ensure our managers are trained in our pay practices on an annual basis. At the time of posting this job advertisement, the annual pay salary range for this position, if located in Colorado, is between $158,800 and $233,400 commensurate with qualifications

Benefits: medical, dental, vision, wellness, LTD, Life Insurance, 401k, PTO

This job posting will expire on Friday, January 3rd, 2025. Qualified and interested candidates should submit a resume and work samples. Include your resume and a compact, representative sample of your work (no larger than 4MB).

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Perkins&Will has established and adopted an Equal Employment Opportunity policy (“EEO”), which is part of the Company’s Human Resources Policy. The purpose of this EEO policy is to ensure that all employment decisions are made on a non-discriminatory basis, and without regard to sex, race, color, age, national origin, religion, disability, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, gender reassignment, citizenship, pregnancy or maternity, veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable national, federal, state, or local law. In some cases, local laws and regulations may provide greater protections than those outlined here and employees will be covered by the laws of their local jurisdiction.

Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination Provision

Perkins&Will will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information.

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Design Director