Senior Project Designer

At HDR, our employee-owners are fully engaged in creating a welcoming environment where each of us is valued and respected, a place where everyone is empowered to bring their authentic selves and novel ideas to work every day. As we foster a culture of inclusion throughout our company and within our communities, we constantly ask ourselves: What is our impact on the world?

Watch Our Story:' https://www.hdrinc.com/our-story'

Each and every role throughout our organization makes a difference in our ability to change the world for the better. Read further to learn how you could help make great things possible not only in your community, but around the world.

Senior Project Designer - Education & Science | San Francisco Studio

Every breakthrough begins with a space designed for possibility - a place where ideas take shape, discoveries accelerate, and collaboration drives innovation forward. At HDR, that's what inspires us. As a Senior Project Designer in our San Francisco studio, you'll help create those transformative environments.

You'll join a team shaping the future of discovery and innovation across the Bay Area and beyond. Our work spans everything from cutting-edge biotech research centers and interdisciplinary innovation hubs to inspiring campus transformations and advanced science and technology facilities. These are spaces that don't just serve today's missions - they anticipate tomorrow's breakthroughs.

In this role, you won't just design buildings. You'll design impact:

• Serve as a design leader from concept through construction, shaping the creative direction of complex education and science projects in collaboration with the Design Principal and multidisciplinary teams.
• Explore and develop innovative design strategies that respond to evolving learning models, emerging technologies, and research needs.
• Lead the creation of presentation materials, design narratives, and client-facing content, and participate in stakeholder workshops, user group sessions, and agency reviews.
• Ensure design decisions consider code, cost, sustainability, and operational performance, aligning creativity with project goals and institutional missions.
• Guide the integration of architecture, engineering, and planning disciplines throughout all phases of design to deliver cohesive, high-performing environments.
• Facilitate design charrettes and collaborative sessions with faculty, researchers, students, and technical experts to ensure user-driven solutions.
• Mentor and oversee the work of junior designers and design teams, elevating design quality and innovation across the studio.
• Review and refine design documentation and coordinate with the project architect to resolve interdisciplinary challenges.
• Support construction administration activities to maintain design intent and ensure execution excellence.
• Contribute to the creative culture of HDR by championing design excellence, sustainability, and innovation across project types and disciplines.

This is a role for a designer who thrives on complexity and purpose - someone who sees architecture as more than form and function, but as a catalyst for discovery, innovation, and real-world impact.

What You'll Bring:

• Master's degree in Architecture (or equivalent experience).
• Registered Architect preferred.
• Evidence of a good design understanding e.g. a good design portfolio
• Demonstrated experience designing higher education, research, or science and technology facilities.
• Strong interest in sustainable, regenerative, and human-centered design principles.
• Proficiency in design and visualization tools such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Rhino, Enscape, V-Ray, Grasshopper, Lumion, SketchUp, and 3ds Max.