Senior Project Architect

Job Description

Job Description

Our Work

We are an architecture and real estate development social enterprise creating spaces that embody justice, healing, and self-determination. By designing with communities most impacted by incarceration and disinvestment, we build infrastructure that supports community ownership, redistributes power, and lays the foundation for a world rooted in care, not punishment.

To achieve this mission our team is composed of architects, designers, real estate developers and community members working together to create solutionary spaces and places that bring dignity, well-being and care to the communities we serve.

The Role

Title: Senior Project Architect
L ocation: New York City — Remote (travel to Oakland required once a month / at minimum once a quarter)
Salary Range : $130,000 -$ 150,000
Employment Type: Full Time
Reports To: Studio Director

How You Fit In

You are a senior architectural leader who brings deep technical expertise and strong project leadership, grounded in community-engaged, justice-centered design. You are resourceful, thrive in complex, cross-disciplinary environments and are skilled at translating community input, research, and lived experience into built work across a wide range of project scales and typologies, including large-scale development and master planning.
You're excited to build systems, mentor others, and advance DJDS's architectural and development practice in ways that meaningfully integrate social justice, community engagement, research, and design excellence. This is a key leadership role within the Design Studio — ideal for someone who wants to grow beyond execution into impact, strategy, and organizational contribution.
This role is based in New York City and operates remotely, with regular travel to our Oakland studio. You'll work across both NYC-based and cross-functional national projects, collaborating closely with a team distributed between coasts.

Who You Are

• Based in New York City and eligible to work in the U.S. without sponsorship
• Hold a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Architecture
• Bring 15+ years of architectural experience, including senior responsibility leading projects across all phases. From pre-design and programming through construction administration
• Licensed architect or actively and seriously on the path to licensure; NY licensure (or active NCARB reciprocity path) is required, not a nice-to-have
• Advanced proficiency in Revit, AutoCAD, Rhino, SketchUp, and Adobe Creative Suite
• Strong knowledge of building codes including IBC, NYC Building Code, and familiarity with DOB and FDNY processes
• Experience leading large-scale development and master planning projects
• Working knowledge of sustainable design strategies and collaboration with consultants for energy efficient systems to meet client goals and performance targets.
• An entrepreneurial mindset. You're a self-starter who can operate with autonomy in a distributed, lean environment
• A clear communicator with high emotional intelligence, adaptability, and leadership presence
• Justice-centered, collaborative, growth-oriented, and genuinely open to feedback, including feedback that challenges your assumptions
• Culturally competent and actively committed to deepening that competency; you understand that community engagement is a core design input, not an add-on, and you've done real work to understand what that means in practice
• Comfortable being pushed, shaped, and sharpened. This role requires someone who can receive hard feedback and integrate it, not just tolerate it

Experience That's Helpful but Not Required

• Fabrication, modular construction, or product development experience
• Trauma-informed or restorative justice frameworks
• Public speaking
• Urban design experience
• Experience building or leading mentorship and knowledge-sharing initiatives
• Community engagement facilitation or workshop leadership

What You'll Lead

• Lead design and technical documentation across complex architectural and development projects of varying scales, including new construction, renovation, adaptive reuse, large scale development, and master planning
• Partner with internal and external collaborators to translate the modular room pilot into clear design standards, narratives, and materials that support future partnerships and project launches
• Translate community engagement findings into clear design strategies, technical deliverables, and narratives
• Drive QA/QC systems, technical detailing, and construction documentation
• Own project scopes, schedules, and coordination with consultants, contractors, and partners
• Represent DJDS in client, community, consultant, and agency meetings
• Mentor junior staff and contribute to shared standards, systems, and organizational knowledge

Where You'll Collaborate

• Partner closely with the Studio Director and Design Director on project execution, priorities, and growth
• Work across design, community engagement, and real estate teams to ensure alignment throughout the project lifecycle
• Collaborate with consultants, contractors, fabricators, clients, and community stakeholders across New York and the BayArea
• Engage cross-functionally on both NYC-based and national projects as part of a distributed team
  

Location & Travel

This is a remote role based in New York City, with regular travel to our Oakland studio approximately once a month (no less than once a quarter). We're growing our East Coast presence, and this role may occasionally involve travel to project sites in other East Coast states. Travel costs are covered by DJDS, and frequency will flex based on project needs and organizational milestones.

Benefits

• DJDS covers 100% of medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and their children under age 26, with optional coverage for domestic partners, long-term disability, and life insurance
• Paid time off includes vacation (tiered by tenure), sick leave, bereavement, jury duty, and 16 total holidays (12 standard plus 4 flexible/personal days)
• Up to 12 weeks of fully paid parental leave supported by state and DJDS supplemental pay
• Sabbatical eligibility after 7 years of service, including 12 weeks paid leave and reduced load continuation

How to Apply

Please submit a resume, cover letter, and portfolio.

• Resume and portfolio should be combined into one PDF and uploaded together.
• If your portfolio is hosted online, you may upload your resume and provide a link instead.

Your portfolio should demonstrate:

• Primary authorship and leadership on projects
• Design thinking, technical execution, and collaborative process
• Any fabrication, research, or creative work that supports your practice

Ready to Apply?

If this role resonates with you, we encourage you to apply—even if your experience doesn't match every requirement. We value curiosity, lived experience, and a deep commitment to community.

We're building a team that reflects the diversity of the communities we serve, and we're excited to learn more about what you bring to the work.