Principal and Regional Design Director

Stantec Buildings is on a mission to become the world’s leading integrated design practice. Our architects, engineers, interior designers, sustainability specialists, and technologists are passionate about the power of design. We take an innovative, collaborative approach to projects, sharing a common belief that sustainable design for the built environment can make the world a better place for future generations. Join us and design your place with Stantec.

Your Opportunity

To be successful as a Principal and Architect in our principal-led practice, a collaborative mindset is essential. You will be surrounded by our network of resources and trusted to collaborate with clients and internal teams alike as a thought-leader, design champion, brand ambassador, and expert in project delivery. Our leaders remain directly engaged in projects and contribute in a meaningful way to making our clients more successful.  

Successful candidates will have a strong understanding of a multidisciplinary design practice, will be active listeners, able to develop relationships internally and externally nurturing long-lasting client bonds, connecting the ideal Stantec disciplines and team members with opportunities, pursuing new projects in your region and worldwide, as required, and challenging your colleagues every day to be the best. 

With a secondary focus as Regional Design Director, you will champion design excellence through creation of fiscally responsible, award-winning engagements with a focus on positive human outcomes. You will be a critical member of the Design Excellence leadership team and will develop integrated design proposals for cutting edge and world-class projects in partnership with top tier marketing, while leading and mentoring others and collaborating with team members to contribute to the final deliverables—bringing inspiration and design excellence to your daily practice. 

Your Key Responsibilities

Principal Leader

• BD/Client Management
  • Responsible for leadership of project pursuits and client relationship management, including opportunity identification, prepositioning, pursuit leadership, strategic fee development and oversight of project design, project management, and delivery for architecture and engineering services. Target $3-4m NR annually.
  • Directs contract negotiations with clients and consultants and reviews and approves fee proposals as prepared by the Project Manager.
  • Responsible for the overall relationship with clients, and monitors client satisfaction (follows up and takes corrective action when needed), including participation in regular client surveys.
  • Coach and support peers and emerging leaders to pre-position, develop leads and capture plan on key opportunities across multiple sectors.
  • Develops and maintains industry relationships and visibility with current and prospective clients, sub-consultants, competitor/teaming partners, and potential recruits.
  • Identify emerging industry trends and develop corresponding project approaches and pursuit teams (i.e. IPD, APD, Alliance, modular and related design innovations).
• Brand Management / Talent Development
  • Acts as an internal and external ambassador for the firm.
  • Contribute to thought leadership and design/technical excellence brand development, by sharing knowledge and innovation stories at key client engagements, industry events, and across professional networks.
  • Lead and support recruiting efforts. Mentor and coach the next generation of designers and thought leaders.
  • Engage with peer teams across the organization on projects where design skills are required, to support a positive learning curve for project delivery, project management and understanding Stantec’s model overall.
• Management/Leadership responsibilities
  • Responsible for the overall performance of projects including client service, revenue generation, and quality.
  • Provides direct supervision of PM’s, holds them accountable, and provides timely feedback.
  • Resolves conflict amongst the Project Manager, Project Designer, Project Architect and/or Project Engineers and is the final decision maker when needed
  • Works collaboratively with office and operational leadership to achieve effective staffing which supports the needs of clients and projects as well as appropriately balances the firm’s resources.
  • Responsible for financial performance of projects including A/R collections.

Regional Design Director

• Active participation in the design of transformational projects that elevate Stantec’s design brand.
• Enhance design brand and culture through curation and support for submission of projects for design excellence awards, including internal recognition via “Best of Stantec” and “Divine Detail” annual award program.
• Seek and sponsor innovation submissions, target 2 per year.
• Participate in the annual allocation and organization of Design Excellence budget.
• Present content in Design Forum and/or Design Excellence calls, target 2 per year.
• Lead and participate in regional design town halls and desk crits, target 30 per year.
• Lead alignment of design objectives with active design work and 5 Parameters of Stantec.
• Work with Carbon and Climate Ambassadors to identify and adopt best practices with respect to carbon and climate initiatives.
• Lead and participate in efforts to engage public realm mentoring, pro bono or volunteering.
• As part of design leadership team, select and organize content for publication in the Design Quarterly, peer groups, and industry publications. Target 2 pieces of content per year.
• Represent Stantec’s design content actively in social media. 
• Engage academic institutions to mentor, critique and advise future design leaders.