Director of Architecture & Design Quality

CREATE is growing, and we’re looking for an experienced architect to help us raise the bar. We’re looking for a licensed architect with 15 years of experience who loves both sides of architecture: creating great design and figuring out how to actually build it. This is not a business development position. You won’t be expected to bring in work, develop firm strategy, or spend your days networking.

• Location: 1910 S Minnesota Ave, Sioux Falls, SD | Primarily in-person with remote flexibility
• Employment Type: Full-Time, Salaried
• Compensation: $100,000–$115,000 Profit Sharing | Based on experience
• Benefits: Health, Dental & Vision Insurance | 401(k) Retirement Plan | Generous PTO Floating Holidays
• Professional Development: Paid Professional Memberships Licensure, continuing education conference opportunities
• Schedule: Flexible work environment with an emphasis on collaboration, accountability and results
• Team: growing architecture design firm with a collaborative 6-person team
• Growth Opportunity: Senior leadership role with the opportunity to directly shape CREATE’s design standards, processes and portfolio

·        Design Draw (Revit specifically)

·        You will remain actively involved in the work.

·        We want someone who can take an early idea and develop it into mature, thoughtful architecture, not simply manage the people doing it.

·        You’ll work directly in projects, developing concepts, plans, elevations, materials, details and architectural solutions alongside our team.

·        We’re looking for someone with a strong design eye who understands proportion, materiality, constructability and the details that make a building feel intentional.

·        Lead Projects from Start to Finish

·        You’ll provide senior architectural leadership throughout the entire life of a project, from early concepts through construction.

That includes:

·        Concept and schematic design

·        Design development

·        Construction documentation

·        Code and technical review

·        Consultant coordination

·        Permitting and bidding

·        Construction administration

·        Resolving complex design and construction conditions

Our work includes multifamily, commercial, mixed-use, residential and other project types, with a significant emphasis on multifamily and commercial architecture.

One of the most important parts of this position is helping define and maintain the standard for CREATE’s architectural work.

You’ll lead our QA/QC process and review projects before major submissions and issuances.

We want you looking at both the big picture and the tiny stuff:

Does the building feel resolved? Are the plans actually working? Do the elevations have the right proportions? Are the details constructible? Are consultants coordinated? Does the drawing set communicate clearly? Would we be proud to put CREATE’s name on it?

You’ll have the authority and responsibility to push projects another round when they aren’t there yet.

CREATE is still a young firm, which means you won’t be inheriting 30 years of rigid standards. You’ll help us build them.

That may include improving:

• Architectural detailing standards
• Revit and documentation standards
• Typical assemblies
• Drawing organization
• QA/QC processes
• Design review processes
• Consultant coordination
• Code review
• Specifications
• Constructability review
• Internal design critiques

The goal isn’t to create bureaucracy. The goal is to make really good architecture consistently.

Teach Mentor

·        We have a growing team of architects and designers, and we want someone who enjoys making the people around them better.

·        Sometimes that means redlining a drawing.

·        Sometimes it means sitting next to someone in Revit and working through a detail.

·        Sometimes it means asking, “Why are we doing it that way?”

·        We want someone who teaches through the work—not someone who simply reviews it from across the room.

WHO WE’RE LOOKING FOR

Our ideal candidate has:

• 15 years of professional architecture experience
• Active architectural licensure
• Significant experience with multifamily and commercial projects
• Strong design portfolio demonstrating mature, thoughtful architecture
• Extensive experience developing construction documents
• Strong Revit proficiency
• Excellent understanding of building assemblies and detailing
• Strong knowledge of building codes
• Experience coordinating structural, mechanical, electrical and civil consultants
• Experience taking projects through construction
• Strong QA/QC instincts
• Ability to identify problems before they become construction problems
• Ability to lead while remaining actively involved in production

Just as importantly, we’re looking for someone who is:

·        Detail-oriented. Curious. Collaborative. Practical. Confident enough to challenge an idea. Humble enough to listen to another one.

·        We don't need perfection or ego.

·        We need someone who genuinely cares about getting the architecture right.

WHERE YOU FIT AT CREATE

This position works closely with CREATE’s leadership while having a very specific focus: the architecture itself.

Firm vision, business development and growth strategy will remain with Aspen and the ownership team. Operations, staffing and project delivery will continue to be led by Justin, Director of Operations.

Your lane will be architectural excellence: design quality, technical quality, project leadership, documentation and mentorship.

You will have significant influence over how CREATE designs buildings and how we document them, without the expectation that you spend your time selling work or running the business.

WHY CREATE?

We’re a small, growing architecture and development firm based in Sioux Falls.

That means this position is different from becoming another senior architect inside a large organization.

You’ll have the opportunity to help shape a practice.

You’ll work directly with the people making decisions. You’ll have meaningful influence over our projects and processes. You’ll be able to design, draw and solve problems instead of moving entirely into management.

And you’ll help us answer an important question as CREATE grows:

What should people expect when they see CREATE on a set of drawings or on the side of a building?

We want the answer to be: thoughtful design, technically strong architecture and work we're proud to put our name on.

If that sounds like the kind of responsibility you’ve been looking for, we’d love to talk. Reach out to Aspen or Justin!