Higher Education Team Leader

Position Summary  

We seek a professional with passion and expertise in the design of Higher Education facilities to join our Richmond office as a Higher Education Team Leader. The primary role is to be a Practice/Team builder with a focus on leveraging our recently-established, SWaM certified, Virginia practice to help grow and secure college and university clients, as well as additional Higher Ed team members within the Mid-Atlantic region.

As a Team Leader, you will collaboratively lead the continued growth, evolution and positioning of our national Higher Education practice, as well as leverage your own expertise to capture broader opportunities on higher education campuses throughout Virginia and neighboring states.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

Lead project teams in a fashion consistent with our firm’s core values through collaborative engagement with other firm leaders, team leaders and staff to attract new clients and build a Practice/Team that has a long-term, sustainable future.

Business Development - Successfully lead the development of strategies and the implementation of marketing efforts for the Higher Education team. Achieve mutually-established annual business objectives, by:
establishing new, or refreshing existing, high-level client relationships in the Higher Education market place in the Virginia and Mid-Atlantic region (at the President, Dean, VP, & Athletic/Rec Director levels)
• building upon and promoting the team’s evolving reputation,
• nurturing the team’s ongoing client relationships,
• guiding the strategic preparation for interviews,
• advocating for and positioning our multi-dimensional service offerings, and
• proactively engaging with potential clients through idea-driven presentations and publications at conferences or in periodicals of value to them.

Project Development - Lead teams to deliver powerful results for owners and users, providing pre-design and design phase leadership, leading the generation and translation of design and planning concepts into final solutions for Higher Education projects, with the overall responsibility for client satisfaction, service quality and financial performance, delivering upon:
• the client’s vision,
• the quality of the work performed,
• design excellence,
• overall client service,
• all project goals, and
• the assignment of appropriate staff to projects.

Team Leadership - Create, motivate and lead a growing group of Higher Education specialists, by:
• recruiting talent to our Higher Education team,
• collaborating with other team leaders to identify and achieve annual and long-range goals for the Higher Education team,
• establishing an environment that encourages experimentation, innovation, design creativity and collaboration,
• directly contributing a high level of energy and enthusiasm to the team,
• fostering a spirit of collaborative problem solving and design excellence, and
• mentoring and developing less-experienced team members in all aspects of client service, design approach and project delivery. 

Qualifications

Expertise - We look forward to understanding your already established credibility within the Higher Education marketplace. This should be easily evidenced through:
• a demonstration of how your project expertise has led to, and will lead to, work,
• a fifteen-year, or more, overall track record as a design professional,
• your most recent seven-to-ten years of experience focused on service to clients in the design of Higher Education projects,
• the knowledge you are able to share through discussion of your experiences, solutions you have delivered and current trends and issues in these markets,
• affirmative, President, Dean, VP and Athletic Director-level client references,
• relevant, published articles written by you as well as experience presenting at national conferences and organizations,
• active participation in relevant professional organizations, such as SCUP, and
• Significant and recent experience (within last 5 years) working on projects with the Virginia DEB - Division of Engineering & Buildings (formerly known as BCOM).

Creativity - Your success and track record of programming and/or design excellence outcomes can be demonstrated through:
• a portfolio of completed, artful, relevant projects attributable directly to you,
• a legacy of effective problem solving, and
• an advanced design degree.

Marketability - Because people want to work with you, we anticipate the quality of your established client relationships will be supported by the ability to bring these relationships with you to Kahler Slater. This will be reinforced by:
• proven and verifiable experience identifying leads and building a high-quality network,
• demonstration of strong written and verbal skills,
• having articulate and compelling presentation skills, and
• possessing complementary project capabilities and credentials to those currently within the firm's portfolio.

Leadership - Your passion is obvious and people want to be on your team. We’ll look for established professional peer and subordinate relationships and the associated opportunity to bring these relationships with you to Kahler Slater. You should:
• experience leading a team
• embody a collaborative, consensus and process-oriented approach to design and decision-making,
• be a good team player who shares opportunities and understands your own limitations,
• have a proven track record of placing team goals above your own,
• possess a 7 year track record of positive financial and quality results while leading the overall performance of a group, and
• enhance the firm's ability to attract additional talent through your contacts and reputation in this market sector.

Working Relationships and Scope
As one of the overall Team Leaders on the HE team, you will work closely with other team and firm leaders to create, promote and implement the HE team business plan. We currently have offices located in four cities: Milwaukee, WI, Madison, WI, Richmond, VA and Singapore. The HE team’s home base is Milwaukee, the new Team Leader’s home base will be our Richmond, VA office. The Team Leader will need to establish strong relationships, specifically, you will:
• Work directly with all Higher Education team members.
• Work closely with the Higher Education team’s Sr. Marketing Strategist and Business Development Manager to identify, pursue and win new work and together to position our services and respond to existing and prospective clients’ needs. 

Working Conditions

Work is performed in a professional, collaborative, creative, open office environment. Frequent regional and national travel is required in order to service clients, develop new business and for professional development. Our expectation is you will spend the majority of your time with existing clients, prospective clients, and strategic business partners. As is customary in the industry for professional design staff, “full-time” will exceed 2,080 hours over the course of the year. 

Kahler Slater is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.

Kahler Slater is an e-verify employer.