Back to jobs

Student Housing Design Leader

Atlanta, Georgia, United States · Charlotte, North Carolina, United States · Dallas, Texas, United States · Houston, Texas, United States

DLR Group is an integrated design firm with a promise to elevate the human experience through design. This fuels the work we do around the world and inspires our mission to improve the lives of our clients, our communities, and our planet. If this sparks your interest, you’re in the right place.

We have an opening for a Student Housing Design Leader. We operate within a hybrid work model, supporting flexibility between office time and work from home. Considering this model, this role could be based in the following cities:

  • Atlanta
  • Charlotte
  • Dallas 
  • Houston
  • Los Angeles
  • San Diego 
  • Washington DC
  • Other locations may be considered

About the Higher Education Sector at DLR Group

DLR Group’s Higher Education practice fully embraces our responsibility to society by designing spaces that emphasize academic learning and social development. We are transforming the educational landscape, working with our clients to set new horizons for learning and living that enrich school communities, the spaces they strive to provide, and what they can achieve. Our team draws from evidence-based design to work with shareholders to affect student and teacher engagement, ensuring that learning is enhanced through design. We also understand the rapid pace of technological, social, and cultural change; our teams work with schools to navigate these challenges.

Position Summary

As a Student Housing Design Leader at DLR Group, you will lead the design process for higher education student housing projects, both on-campus and off-campus, nationwide. The role involves developing designs from concept through design development and supporting project teams with documentation, coordination, and construction administration. Demonstrated experience with built on-campus student housing in California is required, and expertise in community college housing projects in the state is highly desired. Familiarity with programming and planning student housing is ideal. As part of our integrated design teams, you will contribute to creating innovative buildings that enhance the human experience through design.

What you will do:

  • Have the ability to craft and test conceptual ideas quickly and to facilitate collaborative review of the work.
  • Promote design excellence through design charettes, critiques, sharing of projects, and design award submissions.
  • Work collaboratively with Sector Leaders and staff to lead the pursuit, award, design and resolution of work.
  • Be recognized and respected as a design expert within the student housing market
  • Provide thought leadership and innovation within the firm as well as with clients and the higher education student housing industry.
  • Have an appreciation and passion for leading an integrated design team.
  • Have excellent presentational, written, and verbal communication skills coupled with strong organizational skills
  • Attend industry events and improve DLR Group brand recognition through publications, conferences, and speaking engagements.
  • Ability to work both independently and effectively in a cross-disciplinary team atmosphere and across multiple offices.
  • Have a comprehensive understanding of the coordination aspects and related requirements of all design disciplines.
  • Ability to travel as project needs demand.

Required Qualifications:

  • 15+ years of relevant experience as a Designer and Planner on higher education student housing projects.
  • Demonstrated experience in a client facing role for multiple on-campus, student housing projects in California.

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Master’s Degree in Architecture 
  • Licensed Architect or ability to become registered
  • NCARB certified
  • Sketch-up and other 3D Rendering Software (Revit, Enscape, Lumion).

DLR Group is an integrated design firm delivering architecture, engineering, interiors, planning, and building optimization for new builds, renovations, and adaptive reuse projects.

We are 100% employee-owned: every employee is literally invested in our clients’ success. At the core of our firm are interdisciplinary teams engaged in every step of project lifecycles. Our teams champion true collaboration, open information sharing, shared risk and reward, value-based decision making, and proficient use of technology to deliver exceptional design. We are pursuing the goals of the 2030 Challenge, the ME2040, and the SE2050, and are an initial signatory of the China Accord and the AIA 2030 Commitment.

Through our values – commitment, creativity, environmental stewardship, fun, integrity, ownership, sharing, teamwork – we elevate the human experience through design, together.

We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action/M/F/Veteran/Disabled employer.

 

Create a Job Alert

Interested in building your career at DLR Group? Get future opportunities sent straight to your email.

Create alert

Apply for this job

*

indicates a required field

Resume/CV*

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Cover Letter

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Education

Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...

Example: https://www.linkedin.com/in/username

Enter N/A if you do not have a LinkedIn Profile

Portfolio/Work Samples (PDF Preferred)*

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Please list your current primary residence 

Please list your current primary residence

Please list your current primary residence

Select...

Please list your current primary residence

Please list your current primary residence

Select...

Please list your current primary residence

Select...

If yes, please list their name and your connection to the employee.

Select...
Select...

This includes, but is not limited to, F-1 (OPT, CPT, STEM OPT), H-1B, or TN.

Select...

(Note that such restrictions may be found in different types of agreements, including, but not limited to, employment contracts, stock awards, and sales incentive plans. Indicating that you are subject to a restrictive covenant will not disqualify you from consideration for this position. You should disclose any such restrictive covenant and  be prepared to provide a full, signed copy of the restrictive covenant if requested.)

Select...

If yes, please specify in next question

Select...
Select...
Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in DLR Group’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Select...
Select...
Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305
Page 1 of 1
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 04/30/2026

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury
Select...

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.