Senior Associate - Design

Job Description

Job Description

Senior Associate - Design

Confidential Top-Ranked International Landscape Architecture

Location: Northern California

Focus: Luxury Residential Communities, Resort Development, Hospitality, and Large-Scale Planning

The Opportunity

Our client is a highly respected landscape architecture and planning studio known for creating distinctive, place-driven environments for residential communities, resorts, hospitality destinations, and complex development projects across the U.S. and internationally.

This is not a production-only role. This is a senior design seat for a landscape architect who can think conceptually, solve problems visually, lead clients through design decisions, and help shape projects from early planning through design development.

The Senior Associate - Design will play a key role in leading design direction across high-profile projects, mentoring younger team members, coordinating with consultants, and helping clients translate vision into thoughtful, buildable, memorable places.

The right person brings strong design instincts, strong client presence, and the ability to operate in a boutique, highly collaborative studio environment where quality matters.

What You Will Own

You will help lead the design process across large-scale residential, resort, hospitality, and community planning projects.

You will be responsible for developing strong conceptual ideas, advancing design solutions, leading internal design conversations, and helping guide projects through schematic design and design development.

You will work directly with principals, clients, consultants, and internal teams to ensure the design intent is clear, coordinated, and aligned with the character, economics, and long-term vision of each project.

You will also serve as a mentor and design leader within the studio, helping younger staff sharpen their thinking, presentation skills, and technical execution.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead site planning, landscape design, conceptual design, schematic design, and design development efforts for complex projects.
• Develop design concepts that respond to site, context, culture, client objectives, and long-term development strategy.
• Create and communicate design ideas through hand sketches, digital drawings, plans, diagrams, presentations, and working sessions.
• Provide design direction to internal teams and oversight of project work products.
• Coordinate with architects, engineers, planners, consultants, developers, and client teams.
• Lead or support client presentations, design meetings, consultant coordination meetings, and stakeholder discussions.
• Help manage multiple high-priority assignments while maintaining design quality, responsiveness, and forward momentum.
• Support proposals, interviews, marketing efforts, and business development opportunities when needed.
• Mentor junior designers and contribute to a strong, collaborative, high-standard studio culture.

What We Are Looking For

• 10+ years of post-degree professional experience in landscape architecture.
• Licensed Landscape Architect.
• Undergraduate or graduate degree from an accredited landscape architecture program.
• Strong background in residential communities, resort development, hospitality, mixed-use, or large-scale site design.
• Exceptional design ability across site planning, landscape design, layout, and design development.
• Strong understanding of the full design process for large and complex site design projects.
• Ability to move quickly between big-picture thinking and detailed design execution.
• Strong hand drawing and digital drawing ability.
• Experience working with complex clients, developers, stakeholders, and consultant teams.
• Understanding of the economic realities of large-scale residential, resort, and hospitality development.
• Ability to lead meetings, present clearly, facilitate discussion, and build trust with clients.
• Desire to mentor younger staff and help elevate the broader design team.
• Long-term authorization to work in the United States without sponsorship.

The Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate is a true designer and a practical project leader.

They can walk into a room with a developer, architect, owner, consultant team, or internal studio group and clearly communicate the “why” behind a design. They understand that great landscape architecture is not just about making something beautiful. It is about creating places that make sense culturally, physically, financially, and experientially.

They are confident without being rigid. Creative without being impractical. Senior enough to lead, but still hands-on enough to sketch, solve, refine, and push the work forward.

They want to be part of a studio where the work is meaningful, the projects are design-driven, and the expectations are high.

Why This Role Matters

This position is central to the studio’s continued growth and design leadership.

The firm works on projects where the landscape is not an afterthought. It is often the organizing idea behind the entire experience. From resort communities and hospitality environments to private residential and large-scale planning assignments, the Senior Associate - Design will help shape places that are built to last.

For the right person, this is an opportunity to step into a visible design leadership role with meaningful client exposure, global project work, and a direct path to greater influence within the studio.