Senior Design Architect (Director-Track)

We are looking for a professional, full-time, in-person Senior Design Architect to join and lead project teams in our New Orleans Office. The position offers the opportunity to engage in challenging work within an award-winning, collaborative practice in search of design excellence. The Senior Design Architect will be directly involved in a range of project types, exploring form and function, with a strong focus on materiality. We are searching for someone who is committed to the collective questioning of how our process and work can contribute to the health of our ecologies, cities, and economies with design solutions that are simultaneously timeless and progressive.

Trahan Architects is an international award-winning architecture firm with studios in New Orleans and New York that focuses on cultural, educational, assembly, and mixed-use projects throughout the United States and abroad. Trahan’s globally recognized projects demonstrate a high level of technological sophistication coupled with a quiet sense of beauty. Notable projects include the renovation of the Caesars Superdome, The Performance Pavilion at Luther George Park, The U.S. Pavilion for the Osaka 2025 Expo, The Alliance Theatre at the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Louisiana Museum and Sports Hall of Fame.

Requirements

• Professional degree in architecture.
• At least 10 years of post-graduate experience in a professional office setting.
• License to practice architecture in the United States.
• Exceptional design talent with proven leadership and project management skills.
• Demonstrated competency, experience and leadership in all aspects and phases of architectural design and construction.
• Proven ability to create designs and documentation collaboratively within a project team and with firm leadership.
  
• Responsible for technical design aspects of an assigned project including investigation, evaluation, and recommendation of realizable and effective design solutions.
• Effectively collaborate with Design Principal and Design Director to iterate and advance sophisticated design studies.
• Strong ability to develop and articulate design concepts in a collaborative environment.
• Experience leading a project team, including interpreting and deploying design direction from firm leadership, managing team members of various experience levels, maintaining a project schedule and budget, directing the production of comprehensive drawing sets as well as collateral for internal and/or client-facing meetings and presentations, and leading quality control of document production.
  
• Experience leading external collaborators and consultants, including leading conversations on scope development, reviewing documentation to conform with design intent, and incorporating their work products into a comprehensive drawing set.
• Excellent decision-making and problem-solving skills throughout all design phases.
• Experience in executing tasks requiring the development of new or improved techniques and procedures.
• Proficiency in Rhino, AutoCAD, Revit, Bluebeam, and Adobe Creative Suite. Experience with advanced modeling tools (Grasshopper, Dynamo) is preferred.
• Experience with computer rendering in environments such as Enscape and D5.
• Excellent communication capabilities and interpersonal skills.
• Strong, positive references.
• All applicants must show proof of US citizenship or authorization to work in the United States.

Opportunities

• Producing award winning designs with innovative solutions when faced with challenging and rewarding work for public and private clients alike.
• Deep explorations in form, function, and materiality through a depth of research in the local conditions of a place, environmentally, culturally, and socially.
• Collaboration with a team of common values in search of design excellence.
• Creation of work that is simultaneously timeless and forward-thinking.
• This is a leadership track role with future potential to move to Director level, contingent on performance.

Compensation and Benefits

• We offer a competitive compensation package including SIMPLE IRA plan, health, dental, and vision insurance, paid vacation and sick time, and work from home flexibility.
• Annual salary range will be commensurate to experience.

Trahan Architects is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws.

This policy applies to all employment practices within our organization, including hiring, recruiting, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, leave of absence, compensation, benefits, training, and apprenticeship. Trahan Architects makes hiring decisions based solely on qualifications, merit, and business needs at the time. For more information about Trahan Architects, please visit