Studio Director

About the Role

This is an opportunity to join one of the country’s largest privately-held mixed-use developers in a senior design leadership role with broad scope and real creative authority. The Studio is WS Development’s in-house team of architects and designers—responsible for shaping the design ethos, built environment, and tenant and customer experience across a portfolio of over 100 properties nationwide.

We’re looking for a Director who brings a strong design instinct—someone with genuine taste, an eye for detail, and the authority to raise the bar on design quality across a complex, high-velocity portfolio. The ideal candidate has deep experience in retail, hospitality, or mixed-use environments, and brings both the design vision to set standards and the technical fluency to see them through execution. This person will shape design across the portfolio, own key cross-functional relationships, and play a meaningful role in Studio operations.

WS is fast-paced and committed to best-in-class outcomes. We’re looking for someone who finds real satisfaction in results -- and who wants to do some of the best work of their career in a design-forward, entrepreneurial environment.

Key Responsibilities

Design Leadership

• Serve as a senior design voice within the Studio, with meaningful authority to define quality standards and push the aesthetic bar across tenant fit-outs, new development, and the public realm.
• Develop and apply clear design standards, guidelines, and documentation for internal and external stakeholders—including property-specific criteria and Tenant Design Manuals—that reflect WS’s aspirations for each asset.
• Act as a creative resource and design ambassador in work with tenants, consultants, and internal partners—able to make the case for design with both authority and diplomacy.
• Contribute to the design of the broader built environment, including architecture, landscape, signage and wayfinding, and the public realm.

Project Oversight & Delivery

• Provide design leadership across the full project lifecycle—from Feasibility and Planning through Design, Construction, and Opening—for a portfolio of new and existing mixed-use developments.
• Review tenant fit-out documentation, storefront and interior design submittals, and lease design and construction terms, ensuring quality and accuracy.
• Lead detailed design reviews for technical and aesthetic content and manage internal approval processes.
• Provide critical design collateral—plans, renderings, criteria documents—to Leasing in support of dealflow and tenant negotiations.
• Collaborate with Development, Construction, Leasing, and Marketing to align design goals with schedule, budget, and strategic objectives.

Team & Cross-Functional Partnership

• Work closely with Studio colleagues and leadership to maintain design consistency and elevate the overall quality of the team’s output.
• Mentor junior and intermediate team members, providing feedback on design, process, technical acuity, and professional development.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with tenants, consultants, Leasing, Development, Construction, and Field teams—elevating design quality while serving as a trusted partner, both internally and externally, who understands commercial realities and can navigate complex stakeholder dynamics as a senior Studio representative.
• Contribute to Studio initiatives around workflow, process improvement, design standards, and AI tool implementation.

The Studio

The Studio is the design backbone of WS Development. Comprised of in-house architects and designers, the Studio sets the design ethos of the firm and delivers planning and design solutions across the full portfolio—serving as a critical partner to Tenant Construction, Development, Construction, Leasing, Field, and Marketing. We work at the intersection of creativity, strategy, and execution, and we’re in the process of building something meaningfully better.

Qualifications

• Degree in Architecture, Interior Architecture, or a related design discipline.
• 10–15+ years of progressive design experience, with a background in retail, hospitality, or mixed-use commercial environments.
• Demonstrated strong design judgment and a clear design point of view—a portfolio that reflects genuine design leadership, not just execution.
• Experience across a range of project types and phases, including tenant coordination, new development, and the public realm.
• Technical fluency in architectural documentation and drawing review—able to engage substantively with consultant and tenant submittals.
• Strong project management skills: organizational rigor, schedule and budget awareness, and the ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to make the case for design to development, leasing, and executive audiences.
• Proven ability to build strong cross-functional relationships and manage complex stakeholder dynamics.
• Experience with project and/or team management

Technical Skills

• Proficiency with AutoCAD, Adobe Creative Suite, and 3D modeling tools (SketchUp or Revit).

• Ability to review drawings for design intent, technical coordination, accessibility, constructability, and cost implications.

• Knowledge of materials and product specifications.

• Familiarity with design criteria development, Tenant Design Manuals, and consultant contract administration.

Application

• Work samples and/or portfolio are required as part of the application process.

The expected salary range for this position is $150,000-$165,000 per year. Actual compensation will be based on factors such as skills, qualifications, experience, and location. This role is also eligible to participate in our annual bonus program.

About WS Development

Massachusetts-based WS Development is a mixed-use developer with a singular mission: creating places people want to be. With an approach that values art, science, innovation and, above all else, people, WS strives to engage each community it serves with best-in-class experiences. Established in 1990, WS is a vertically-integrated company that conceptualizes, owns, operates, and leases more than 100 properties—from cutting-edge urban spaces to lifestyle and community centers—across 10 states. With over 22 million square feet of existing space and an additional nine million square feet under development, it is one of the largest privately-owned development firms in the country.

WS is where great ideas and great people come together to design, build, and operate some of the best-loved real estate projects in the country. We live at the intersection of entrepreneurship and establishment. We have the infrastructure of decades supporting a culture of free-thinking excellence.

We expect every WS employee to feel welcomed and valued irrespective of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, veteran status, marital status, parental status, cultural background and life experiences. Or for any other reason.