Principal Architect

Principal Project Architect

At Mott MacDonald, we're driven by a clear purpose: improving society through excellence in engineering, management, and development services. Our Southwest Buildings design team is seeking an experienced Principal Project Architect in our Los Angeles office to lead delivery of architectural designs from concept through construction and grow the architecture practice.

Based in Los Angeles, this role serves as the senior technical and operational leader for the Buildings design team, responsible for driving project delivery excellence, business growth, and team development across a diverse portfolio of building and infrastructure projects.

Reporting to the Group Leader of SW the Buildings, this role is responsible to work closely with Division Leadership, Global Discipline Leaders, and Market Leaders to expand Mott MacDonald's presence across key sectors including light rail (stations and maintenance yard facilities), aviation, and major events and venues. Additional infrastructure programs may include data centers, civic buildings, healthcare facilities, and higher education.

The successful candidate will combine technical leadership, client relationship management, business development, and people leadership to strengthen Mott MacDonald's Buildings practice throughout California and the broader Southwest region.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage the Southwest Buildings architectural design practice, ensuring the successful delivery of projects on schedule, within budget, and to the highest quality standards.
• Provide leadership and integration between architectural and project engineering disciplines, including mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, structural, civil, and specialty building disciplines.
• Serve as a senior client manager, building trusted relationships and ensuring exceptional client service and project delivery performance.
• Lead and oversee architectural design and technical delivery on complex mid-size and large-scale projects.
• Establish project design direction, technical standards, and quality expectations and develop architectural concepts and design strategies in collaboration with engineering design disciplines and integrate innovative technical solutions to produce the basis of design (BOD).
• Develop and oversee the production and quality review process for design submissions, construction documents, BIM models, drawings, and specifications.
• Manage project scope, schedule, budget, and coordination across multiple disciplines.
• Provide technical leadership during construction, including responses to RFIs and construction administration support.
• Ensure compliance with applicable building codes, zoning requirements, and industry standards.
• Conduct quality assurance reviews to support constructability and design excellence.
• Coordinate closely with engineering disciplines, cost estimating and scheduling teams, specialty consultants, contractors, and project stakeholders to integrate project scopes of work in alignment with client criteria goals and objectives
• Lead client presentations and serve as a trusted advisor throughout project delivery.
• Support business development activities, proposals, and pursuit interviews.
• Mentor and guide junior architects and project team members.
• Conduct site visits and field reviews to verify alignment with design intent.
• Develop and execute growth strategies for Buildings design services across the Southwest Division, with an initial focus on California.
• Partner with Division and Global Leadership to identify, pursue, and secure new business opportunities across targeted market sectors.
• Support business development efforts by developing client relationships, identifying upcoming capital programs, positioning for pursuits, and contributing to capture strategies.
• Support major proposals, presentations, interviews, and pursuit activities, by helping to develop compelling win themes and differentiators.
• Drive operational excellence through effective project planning, resource management, quality assurance, risk management, and performance monitoring.
• Monitor business performance through key operational and financial metrics and implement strategies to improve utilization, project profitability, and delivery outcomes.
• Foster collaboration across offices, disciplines, regions, and business units to deliver integrated, client-focused solutions.
• Recruit, mentor, develop, and retain high-performing technical professionals while supporting career progression, succession planning, and workforce growth.
• Establish training and development programs that promote technical excellence and professional growth across the Buildings architectural team.
• Build strong internal and external networks to support project delivery, resource sharing, innovation, and business growth.
• Represent Mott MacDonald at industry events, conferences, and professional organizations to strengthen market presence and industry reputation.
• Lead and promote safety and wellbeing culture, ensuring compliance with established processes and demonstrating positive safety leadership.
• Champion PRIDE Values, Our Code, and Inclusion & Diversity by fostering a collaborative, inclusive, and high-performing team environment.

Qualifications and Experience

We are looking for professionals who can demonstrate:

• Bachelor's degree in Architecture from an accredited institution.
• Registered Architect (RA) license in California, or ability to obtain a California license with 6 months of the date of hire.
• 15+ years of architectural design and project delivery experience.
• Proven experience leading multiple projects of varying size and complexity.
• Strong understanding of building systems, California building codes, construction methods, and technical detailing.
• Experience developing complete contract documents, including drawings, specifications, and bid packages.
• Knowledge of (one or more) building markets and facility types, including aviation, ports, transit stations, maintenance facilities, major events venues, and data centers, and is preferred.
• Excellent communications, organization, and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to lead project teams and manage priorities.
• Open to limited travel to regional project sites and client locations as required.
• Demonstrated success delivering building projects in California; Texas project experience is additionally desirable.
• Experience leading innovative and technically complex building projects, including sustainable and high-performance facilities.
• Experience delivering Net Zero, LEED, WELL, Envision, or other sustainability-focused projects is preferred.
• Strong client management skills with a proven ability to develop long-term relationships and grow strategic accounts.
• Experience managing staffing, resource planning, recruitment, performance management, and team development.
• Exceptional leadership, communication, collaboration, and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Established industry relationships and/or a client program network within the region are highly desirable.

Software & Technical Skills

• Proficiency with:
• Revit
• AutoCAD
• Bluebeam
• Adobe Acrobat Pro
• Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint)
• BIM coordination and documentation workflows
• Procore (or comparable construction project management software)

What You'll Bring

• Ability to independently lead multi-discipline design teams to deliver client projects on-time, within budget, and at high-quality industry standards.
• Proficient communications and presentation skills.
• Solid technical expertise and comprehensive attention to detail.
• A highly collaborative and client-focused project team approach.
• The ability to solve complex design and construction challenges.
• Passion for delivering sustainable and innovative solutions.
• Leadership skills with the ability to mentor and develop others.

Our teams are comprised of bright and enthusiastic people who wish to make a difference to the world that we live in. If you share that vision and don't have all the experience outlined in this posting, we still want to hear from you! Let's discuss how we can help you take the next step in your career and how you can participate in an exciting new chapter for Mott MacDonald in North America.

Equal opportunity is the law.

We seek to promote fair employment procedures and practices to ensure equal opportunities for all. We encourage individual expression in our workplace and are committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels they have the opportunity to contribute.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, protected veteran status, creed, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, citizenship status or disability status.

Location/s: Los Angeles, CA