Principal Architect - Post-Secondary Education

Your Opportunity

We have an immediate need for a Principal-level Project Architect with Post-Secondary experience. The successful candidate should be passionate about Post-Secondary Architecture and endeavor to bring collaborative, curious, and creative solutions to all projects. This is an exciting opportunity for those looking for a leadership opportunity and career advancement within our Education studio.

Your role as a Principal Architect on our professional Architecture team is to work independently to assist clients through the planning and creation of projects that are rooted in a deep understanding of our client’s needs, are fiscally responsible, and represent design excellence. Your experience ensures that you are quite familiar with the design process from inception through close-out, code and regulatory requirements, contract documentation, estimates and building codes. You will participate in diverse project teams successfully throughout the design process, managing workflow and production activities, while ensuring client satisfaction with the process and product. You will assist in business development activities, nurturing existing client accounts and seeking to grow our client base through building new relationships and project pursuits.  

As a leader on our design team, you will be expected to help reinforce a collaborative and engaging environment for the teams that you lead while also ensuring design excellence, exceptional project delivery, and the highest levels of client satisfaction across Alberta. You will be expected to have a strong foundation of project management skills, but also an understanding that management of the design process requires hands on problem solving, a growth mindset, a willingness to be inclusive of all perspectives, and the ability to see challenges as opportunities, not problems. As a professional, you are expected to display the highest moral conduct and ethical standards. 

Your Key Responsibilities

• Advocate and inspire creativity, critical thought and design excellence both internally and externally.
• Ensure that the overall design intent of the project established by the Project Designer is incorporated into the detailed documentation.
• Monitor the design process from conceptual phase through construction administration, ensuring the design idea is consistent and properly executed.
• Lead communication with other disciplines, vendors, and contractors to ensure incorporation of all information into project requirements and provides support as necessary.
• Take an active role in the production of project deliverables.
• Meet with clients and conduct presentations.
• Support Business Development activities, including marketing proposals, interview, conference attendance, etc.
• Assist in identification and recruiting of design staff at all levels.
• Foster collaboration between Stantec offices while promoting design culture.
• Act as a mentor, teacher and coach to junior design staff and interns with the goal of growing and guiding them through their careers.
• Evaluate the quality of design and design activities and assure a high level of design quality throughout the firm.
• Develop and implement the firm’s brand, image, marketing collateral and business collateral.
• Participate in performance reviews including setting of career goals.
• Oversee and participate in the production of design award submissions.
• Engage staff in dialog on design, ensure design process is followed and influence usage of technological tools.
• Act as a vehicle for the delivery of the firm’s message on design.
• Express both the design philosophy of the work and technical requirements of the projects with appropriate vocabulary.
• Identify and direct project photography, written descriptions, and other media in support of building the firm’s portfolio.
• Be an ambassador and steward of the firm’s portfolio of work with ability to guide and educate others.

Your Capabilities and Credentials

• Ability to engage in creative and critical thought.
• Be inspiring for those around you.
• Produce design at a level that would be perceived externally as excellent.
• Effectively communicate abstract ideas through strong graphic and verbal communication to the client, their representatives, and the project team.
• Strong presentation and interview skills.
• Ability to produce/assemble drawing presentation packages.
• Ability to produce drawings appropriate to the stage of a project (eg: Sketchup or Rhino, Illustrator, Revit, Enscape or equivalent).
• Participate in a project team setting and bring out the highest value from all team members through strong engagement and leadership skills.
• Actively lead several teams simultaneously on large complex projects from the development of a design concept through construction.
• Welcome design critiques and respond appropriately and professionally.
• Inspire confidence and garner trust and respect with the project team and with clients.
• Provide a balanced approach to workloads and staffing demands with good judgement.
• Check work of others for accuracy and completeness and manage teams to meet project budget and schedule.
• Scale process, design and effort to various roles on the project, the needs of the project, and other conditions.
• Interpret sketches, drawings, codes, building program and other similar material.
• Empathize strongly with clients and comprehend problems from their point of view in order to develop solutions that best serve their needs.
• Exhibit maturity and cultural awareness internally and externally.
• Demonstrate general knowledge of building construction systems, constructability, materials, and industry associated standards.

Education and Experience

• This position requires candidates to possess a professional degree in Architecture (Bachelor’s or Masters).
• Registered Architect (or ability to achieve this through interprovincial reciprocity) in the Province of Alberta is required. 
• The position requires a minimum of 15 years of professional experience, demonstrating experience leading projects and developing business.
•  Experience in providing consulting services to Higher Education / Post-Secondary clients will be an asset.
• This position requires proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and Adobe Creative Suite and an understanding of production processes in Revit, AutoCAD, SketchUp, Newforma, Sefaira, Recent modeling software (eg: Rhino, Lumion, Enscape, 3d-Studio-max).

Hybrid office environment working with computers and remaining sedentary for long periods of time. Field work may include exposure to the elements including inclement weather.  Field work may include exposure to active construction sites. 

This description is not a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that may be required of the employee and other duties, responsibilities and activities may be assigned or may be changed at any time with or without notice.

About Stantec

Stantec is a global leader in sustainable engineering, architecture, and environmental consulting. The diverse perspectives of our partners and interested parties drive us to think beyond what’s previously been done on critical issues like climate change, digital transformation, and future-proofing our cities and infrastructure. We innovate at the intersection of community, creativity, and client relationships to advance communities everywhere, so that together we can redefine what’s possible.