Principal Architect

Principal Architect

Location: Cupertino, CA

Job Type: Full-time

Compensation: Approximately $150,000 base salary + bonus, depending on experience

About Alignment Architects

Alignment Architects is a growing architecture and real estate development company based in Cupertino, CA. We focus on residential development throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, with an emphasis on single-family homes, single-family communities, and townhome projects .

We are closely connected to the development and construction sides of the business, allowing our architects to be involved throughout the project lifecycle—from design and permitting through construction and completion.

Our goal is simple: create high-quality residential projects and deliver them efficiently.

We are looking for an experienced architect who can help us raise the design quality, technical rigor, and efficiency of our architectural work.

About the Role

We are seeking a Senior Architect / Architectural Director with strong Bay Area residential experience to lead design, technical documentation, quality control, permitting, and team execution across our growing portfolio.

This is a hands-on leadership role .

We are not looking for someone who only manages projects or reviews work at a high level. We want an architect who understands the details of residential construction documents, can personally review and improve drawings, coordinate consultants, solve technical problems, and lead a team to deliver high-quality permit and construction sets efficiently .

The ideal candidate has substantial experience with single-family homes, residential communities, and/or townhomes in the Bay Area .

Key Responsibilities

Architectural Design & Leadership

• Lead architectural design for single-family homes, residential communities, and townhome projects.
• Maintain a high standard of architectural quality across projects.
• Balance design quality with budget, constructability, schedule, and development objectives.
• Review and guide the work of architects, designers, and project teams.
• Establish consistent architectural standards and best practices.

Technical Documentation & QA/QC

• Perform detailed technical reviews of architectural drawing sets.
• Review plans, elevations, sections, details, schedules and specifications for completeness and consistency.
• Identify missing information, conflicts, and constructability issues before they reach construction.
• Coordinate architectural drawings with structural, civil, MEP, landscape and other consultant drawings.
• Establish and maintain internal QA/QC standards and drawing review processes.
• Ensure drawing sets are technically sound and sufficiently detailed to clearly instruct construction .

Construction Documents & Drafting

• Personally review, redline, and improve construction documents.
• Be comfortable getting into the details of drawings and architectural detailing.
• Develop and improve drawing standards, templates, details, and production workflows.
• Help the team produce accurate permit and construction documents efficiently.
• Improve both the quality and speed of document production.

Permitting

• Lead projects through the Bay Area building permit process.
• Coordinate with planning and building departments and plan checkers.
• Anticipate permitting issues and resolve them early.
• Manage plan‑check comments and responses.
• Help the team achieve fast and predictable permit approvals .

Consultant Coordination

• Lead coordination between architectural and structural, civil, MEP, landscape, and other consultants.
• Review consultant deliverables for quality and coordination.
• Identify conflicts and drive issues to resolution.
• Ensure the architectural and consultant drawing sets remain coordinated throughout the project.

Team Leadership

• Lead, mentor, and develop architects and designers.
• Establish clear expectations for design quality, technical documentation, and deadlines.
• Review team members' work and provide direct, actionable feedback.
• Build efficient workflows that allow the team to manage multiple projects without sacrificing quality.
• Develop systems and standards that improve consistency across the organization.

Qualifications

Required

• Professional degree in Architecture (B.Arch, M.Arch, or equivalent).
• California architectural license (RA) or equivalent licensure.
• 10–15+ years of professional architectural experience.
• Significant experience with Bay Area residential development .
• Strong experience with single-family homes, residential communities, and/or townhomes .
• Proven experience taking projects from design through permit and construction documents .
• Strong technical knowledge of architectural detailing and construction documentation.
• Strong understanding of California building codes and Bay Area permitting processes.
• Extensive experience coordinating architectural drawings with structural, civil, MEP, landscape and other consultants.
• Strong drafting and documentation skills.
• Proficiency in Revit, AutoCAD, or comparable architectural production software .
• Proven ability to lead and mentor a team.

Strongly Preferred

• Experience working on residential projects in Silicon Valley and the greater Bay Area.
• Experience with multiple-home residential communities and townhome developments.
• Experience working directly with real estate developers.
• Experience working with jurisdictions such as Cupertino, San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Los Altos, Saratoga, Campbell, or surrounding Bay Area cities.
• Strong understanding of residential construction methods and sequencing.
• Experience working directly with general contractors.
• Experience establishing or improving architectural QA/QC systems.
• Experience improving architectural production efficiency and document standards.

What We’re Looking For

We are looking for someone who is both a strong architect and a strong technical leader .

You should be able to:

Design well.

Document well.

Coordinate well.

Solve technical problems.

Navigate permitting.

Lead people.

And get projects done efficiently.

You should know what makes a residential drawing set complete, coordinated, buildable, and permit-ready .

You should be comfortable identifying problems before they become construction issues, and you should enjoy improving the systems and processes that allow a team to consistently produce better work.

We value quality, technical rigor, speed, and accountability .

Compensation & Benefits

• Approximately $150,000 base salary , depending on experience and qualifications
• Performance-based bonus opportunity
• Paid lunch
• Paid holidays
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Weekly training and professional development
• Opportunity to work closely with our architecture, interior design, construction, and real estate development teams
• Opportunity to play a significant leadership role in a growing Bay Area residential development company

Why Join Alignment Architects?

At Alignment Architects, architecture is closely connected to real estate development and construction .

You will have the opportunity to see projects through the full process:

Land → Design → Permitting → Construction → Completion

This creates an environment where architects can make meaningful decisions based on not only design, but also constructability, cost, schedule, permitting, and real-world project execution .

We want to build a team that consistently delivers better design, better documentation, faster permitting, and more efficient project execution .

If you are an experienced residential architect who takes pride in both design quality and technical excellence , we would like to hear from you.

Alignment Architects is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.