Chief Architect - Design Consultancy

Job description / Role

Effective Leadership of the day-to-day activities of the Architectural Department, including the following major roles:

- Supervision of the teams responsible for development of architectural designs for major building projects, including residential, commercial, corporate, recreational, educational, healthcare and mixed-use developments, from initial concept and preliminary design to final design and tender documentation level.
- Resource planning, distribution and monitoring of a multi-national and mixed gender team of 45 Architectural, interior design, landscape and urban planning staff ranging in seniority from Senior professionals to CAD/Revit technicians.

Reporting to the Head of the Architectural Department, other responsibilities will include:

- Supervising the activities of design teams to ensure the proper interpretation of project briefs and client requirements, technical development of designs and subsequent preparation of construction documentation.
- Ensuring that the Architectural design is properly coordinated with the requirements of other design disciplines.
- Presentation of Architectural designs to appropriate regulatory and client authorities for approval during all stages of the design process.
- Ensuing the completeness and quality of the output of architectural design teams.
- Reporting to Project managers, interpreting the global needs of a project and translating those into resource requirements, schedules and deliverables that allows fee budgets and schedules to be met.
- Ensuring that technical output meets current and relevant building codes and standards.
- Assisting in the general management of the Architectural Department including ongoing implementation of BIM and Revit capabilities.
- Supervision of staff development including continuing education development and training in new software and LEED education programs.
- Monitoring of productivity and discipline within the studio environment and resolution of issues, if necessary with the support of the Head of department.

Requirements

- Suitable candidates will have a Bachelors degree in architecture accredited by a Western Architectural Professional Body (e.g. RIBA, AIA, RAIC) and a minimum of 15 years professional experience since graduation, some of which would preferably have been gained in the Middle East.
- A thorough knowledge of all aspects of the building design and construction process, including in-depth knowledge of architectural construction materials and their application, as well as considerable experience in the production of design documentation, including drawings and details, schedules and specifications is essential.
- The ability to effectively communicate ideas to other team members, as well as an understanding of the engineering requirements of projects and the coordination of these into the architectural design, are essential aspects of the position.
- Candidates must be conversant with international codes and standards for building design and be familiar with quality assurance/quality control procedures applicable to a design office.
- Well-founded confidence, self-motivation, a flexible approach and the ability to work within, and recognize the cultural sensitivities in motivating a multi-cultural team are all qualities important to making a success of the position.
- A strong and positive problem solving capability and level of initiative is essential.

About the Company

SSA Ltd. (Sommerman Skinner Associates) find out the detail to allow you to make qualified judgments about your career and its progression. On the companies that we represent (over 2000 spread across a diverse spectrum of industry) we will be able to inform you of contracts pending, awarded, company growth, opportunity, relative reward and internal prospects. We believe that through spending time and effort front end through interviewing or individual dedication we can offer real advice that will be valued. Our founder is degree qualified with extensive exposure to industry and with a career also behind him in Recruitment Management. Our team is made up of qualified construction professionals. We specialise in both permanent and freelance opportunities to qualified construction professionals.

Disciplines covered include:

Site Engineers, Site Agents, Project Managers, Contracts Managers, Quantity Surveyors, Commercial Managers, Planners, Safety, Purchasers, Estimators and Design Executive.