Senior Project Urban Designer

ROLE

The Senior Project Urban Designer leads the creative vision, physical character, sustainability strategy, and overall delivery of complex master planning and urban design projects. The role requires strong conceptual thinking, design leadership, and the ability to guide clients and multidisciplinary internal studios through high-level decisions that shape place, experience, and long-term value.

Operating across diverse geographies and cultural contexts, the Senior Project Urban Designer develops place-making frameworks, spatial composition, massing strategies, and narrative direction. The role oversees project scopes, schedules, budgets, and resources, contributes to business development and client cultivation, and mentors designers while elevating the studio’s capability in sustainable, context-driven, and future-ready urban design.

This position reports to the Studio Director or Managing Principal.

RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Lead the creative strategy, concept development, and place-making direction for master planning and urban design projects.
2. Define the project’s physical character, including massing, public realm articulation, and experiential sequencing.
3. Serve as primary client liaison and strategic advisor throughout the project lifecycle.
4. Oversee project delivery—including scopes, schedules, budgets, fee structures, risks, and resource planning.
5. Direct and mentor internal design teams, ensuring strong conceptual output and coordinated execution.
6. Lead presentations, design reviews, and stakeholder workshops with clarity and professional authority.
7. Guide and critique design communication (diagrams, 3D massing, sketches, narratives) to maintain vision alignment and quality.
8. Develop design guidelines, vision books, and character frameworks that articulate project identity and design intent.
9. Ensure seamless collaboration with internal studios—including Advisory, Landscape, and Architecture—to deliver integrated multidisciplinary outcomes.
10. Drive and support business development efforts, including proposal writing, fee development, pursuit strategy, and client relationship cultivation.

EXPECTATIONS OF THE ROLE

1. Provide confident, future-focused design leadership for teams and clients.
2. Communicate clearly and persuasively across visual, verbal, and written formats.
3. Demonstrate strong judgment, accountability, and proactive problem-solving.
4. Foster a collaborative, inclusive studio culture grounded in design excellence.
5. Build trust with clients through reliability, insight, and thoughtful guidance.
6. Maintain composure and adaptability in the face of ambiguity, deadlines, or complex project conditions.
7. Balance visionary thinking with practical feasibility, sustainability, and market context.
8. Represent the studio professionally in presentations, workshops, interviews, and external engagements.
9. Embrace continuous learning, particularly in sustainability, digital workflows, and AI-enabled design.
10. Model seamless cross-studio collaboration, ensuring constructive and efficient engagement with Advisory, Landscape, and Architecture studios.

REQUIREMENTS / QUALIFICATIONS

1. Bachelor’s degree in Urban Design, Urban Planning, Architecture, or Landscape Architecture; Master’s degree preferred.
2. 15+ years of relevant professional experience leading complex master planning or urban design projects.
3. Exceptional conceptual design, place-making, and narrative development capabilities.
4. Advanced ability to direct and critique drawings, diagrams, models, and visual communication.
5. Proven leadership in managing clients, multidisciplinary teams, scopes, budgets, and project schedules.
6. Proficient in core design and analytical tools (Rhino, Adobe Creative Suite, AutoCAD, SketchUp, Enscape/D5, Grasshopper, Ladybug, GIS/ArcGIS), with the ability to guide teams in applying them effectively.
7. Experience with AI-supported visualization and ideation tools (e.g., Midjourney or WATG-approved equivalents).
8. Strong written and verbal communication skills for design narratives, guidelines, and client presentations.
9. Demonstrated mentorship ability and experience developing team capability.
10. Commitment to sustainable, climate-responsive, and context-driven design, with willingness to travel for site visits, presentations, and workshops.