Dezeen Jobs

AvroKO is looking for a senior designer to join its studio in London.

The senior designer acts as AvroKO’s lead designer responsible for the whole design of a project through overseeing the definition and delivery of the design from conceptualisation, through development, coordination, documentation and execution in the field.

This is a project-specific role.

The senior designer’s core responsibilities are

Design:

• leading the AvroKO team in conceiving of the project design to meet the clients program, quality objectives, project constraints as well as AvroKO’s brand of design
• liaison between the principal in charge and the design team during the design process
• organise and run regular in-house design sessions presenting to the P.I.C and with the team
• work as part of the team sketching design solutions, preparing drawings, editing presentations, sourcing materials, finishes FF&E, producing work drawings, specifications etc.

Development:

• responsible for the development of the whole design of the project according to the design intent
• reviewing all documents to ensure they incorporate the design intent

Coordination:

• represent AvroKO and the design for all consultant coordination meetings
• manage design coordination within AvroKO i.e. between architecture, FF&E and graphics, and between owners, consultants and AvroKO
• manage (or delegate) and coordinate all communications to and from consultants
• supervise, develop and mentor designers
• coordinate with the project manager in providing services per scope, budget and schedule

Documentation:

• responsible for creating and delivering presentations based on AvroKO’s deliverables standards for presentations and contract documents
• oversee the production and delivery of quality and timely sets of contract documents being drawings, specifications, budgets and reports as proscribed by the contract

Execution:

• partners with the project manager to ensure conformance with architecture standards’ checklist requirements specific to each project design phase
• lead the AvroKO team in performing its construction administration services including:
  • responding to RFI’s and interpreting the contract documents to ensure the design intent is met
  • reviewing submittals, substitutions and field conditions for conformance with design intent
  • attending and reporting on field visits
  • conducting punch lists reviews
  • resolving problems and issues that arise during construction

Leadership:

• this is a very important function of the senior designer’s role
• as a creative collaborative, all voices are welcome and should be considered in the design process
• while the SD has certain responsibilities and authorities – AvroKO is not hierarchical or dictatorial and goes to great pains to encourage junior staff in order to bring out their best and capitalise on their talents and energy
• the successful SD is able to encourage staff initiative to think for themselves and create and iterate on ideas we develop as a team, rather than prescribe or force their own vision on a project, the SD also doing the work in collaboration with the team – not just delegating tasks

Project financial monitoring and reporting:

• studio-wide:
  • forecaster: project what we should be billing
• update at minimum once a month to reflect:
  • existing project schedule changes
  • new project starts
  • potential projects forecast
  • submit to PIC for review
  • billings – monitoring what we actually bill
  • update percent completes at the end of the month (or before client billing date)
  • coordinate with accounting
  • review A/R and help on collections
  • be aware of invoicing
• project-specific:
  • project management report (PMR)
  • review at minimum once a month – preferably every two weeks, especially for large projects
  • adjust work plan based on spent to date (STD) figures
• staffing:
  • based on routine PMR review and considering adjustments in project schedule or scope, mark up changes to the office schedule with requirements for staffing changes (which must be substantiated with a work plan and additional service agreement (ASA) where necessary

Staff scheduling:

• studio-wide:
  • using Microsoft Project, one can create and adjust:
    • new projects (set to automatic scheduling) with durations (in workdays) and start dates
    • set relationship by creating predecessors
    • adjusting tasks to be subtasks
    • assign staff on a percentage basis
• run reports showing:
  • Gantt chart overall schedule by project and phase – filter of highlight to suit for date ranges
  • project allocations by person (resource) to see total workload commitment near and long term
  • person allocation by project
  • overall studio-wide workload commitment to ensure full utilization
• monitor staffing to identify openings in availability and report to the new business development team, to plan for new work intake
• reconcile staffing with forecaster to plan for when we need work for cash flow vs staff availability

Project-specific:

• using Smartsheet one can create schedules and task lists (from the same sheet by changing view) in order to list the
  • main phases of our services
  • key tasks required during each phase (work breakdown structure, WBS)
  • timing and sequencing of key tasks
  • principle person responsible
  • progress and final milestone dates, workshops and meetings
• those managing projects should be leading
  • project kick-off meetings
  • phase kick-off meetings
  • weekly team check in to review progress

Required skills and experience:

• over eight years of post-graduate design experience with significant experience in high end, bespoke hospitality design restaurants and hotels
• demonstrated conceptual approach to design
• experience leading design teams
• persuasive presentation skills
• excellent teamwork skills, ability to work collaboratively with design directors and creative managing directors across the firm
• excellent organisational skills with strong attention to detail, outstanding communication skills
• proven industry experience with common industry software applications such as Adobe Creative Suite, 3D modelling applications, AutoCAD and Microsoft Office, Spexx specification writing software a plus
• experience building, nurturing and fostering client relationships
• strong writing skills (narratives, strategy, meeting minutes, proposals, etc.)
• minimum bachelors degree in interior design or architecture, a masters degree is a plus

• Applications have closed.