Barcelona, Spain
Senior architect – technical lead
at BIG
BIG is seeking a senior technical lead to join its team in Barcelona.
BIG is a group of 500+ architects, engineers, urbanists, inventors, researchers and business minds from all over the world who are based in our New York, Copenhagen, London and Barcelona offices. Our built work ranges from the most diverse urban playground and Michelin-star dining – to affordable housing that feels everything but, and a school among the verdant fjords of the Faroe Islands. Our vision spans traveling at supersonic speed with Hyperloop One, to living in floating cities, and eventually Mars! While we are led by a group of expert partners, directors and associates – a flat hierarchy and collaborative spirit are essential to our BIG ecosystem. We share our collective knowledge and expansive network through study trips and educational workshops – BIG Schools offer in-house lessons, while BIG Picture brings in industry experts to inspire and invigorate. We are infectiously ambitious and unified by the shared mission to craft the world we want to live in, and to give form to our future, one project at a time.
As our office in Barcelona is growing and we have a pipeline of interesting projects, we are seeking a senior architect in the role of technical lead (with over 12 years’ experience) to lead the delivery of exciting projects in Portugal, Spain and other countries.
As a senior technical lead you will be based in our Barcelona office which is currently a 40 strong community of creative thinkers where you will be part of a fast-paced environment. The role requires at least 12 years’ experience in senior roles as senior project manager/architect, preferably with international experience and professional proficiency in Spanish. Portuguese would be an advantage.
This role should oversee, support and advise the teams on technical and delivery aspects related to the development of the design, the technical excellence of the stage packages, production information, detailing, construction as well as regulatory applications and specifications.
You shall provide adequate advice to enable structural, mechanical and constructability aspects to be developed and delivered with the best quality whilst holding the bigger picture across the whole team to complete the project promptly and successfully. The role is an integral part of the building process from beginning to end and must assist, participate and convey design directions of the core design leadership in order to meet client needs, assist budget and time estimations, and in some instances act as an intermediary between the client and the design team.
The Technical Lead must contribute to the effort to ensure that the team is working effectively and keeping to schedule and budget. This involves reviewing work reports and communicating any needs and concerns to employees and leadership.
Your main responsibility will be (not limited to):
- liaise with clients when required to drive discussions to resolution
- drive conversations and/or coordination with technical specialist and consultant teams when required to support the progress of the design
- reporting to the partner-in-charge on design aspects and to the managing director on operations, risk management, contractual, and others matters
- familiarise yourself with and administer project contracts
- strategically design timelines and work plans
- proactively deal with risk assessment and management
- to support, advise, direct and educate all design processes from a technical and buildability perspective
- to ensure the projects maintain the highest technical and innovative levels whilst understanding the broader constraints
- to support the project team to develop compelling creative design scenarios
- to monitor and assess risk within all stages of design activity and to provide proactive proposals for risk mitigation whilst upholding the core creative direction
- to work with the project teams to develop and encourage technical excellence
- to support and advise on the development of systems and procedures that encourages and promotes technical excellence across the projects
- to review a number of projects on a regular basis to maintain excellence in technical detailing and specification and ensure the office produces robust and technically sound documentation prior to issues
- to promote excellence in continuing professional development and ensure the project leaders are familiar with emerging best practice to allow them to deliver technical excellence
- to be aware of the office’s professional indemnity policy and be responsible for developing in-house technical knowledge so that all documentation can be created to the highest technical standards that minimise all reasonable risks of non-compliance to the company
- to actively engage with the wider industry’s technical bodies and attend seminars, lectures and workshops to maintain current knowledge of emerging technologies
- contribute as required to the design reviews
Join us on this mission, if you have:
- a professional degree in architecture and over 12 years’ professional experience as a Project Manager/Architect
- Excellent communication skills, fluent in Spanish and English spoken and written
- Strong organiSational skills, the ability to work under pressure, meet deadlines and manage own time
- Willingness to take on constructive guidance in response to direction from director/partner
- excellent level of technical competency and industry knowledge
- extensive experience of technical design development, delivery and construction
- clear understanding of the creative design process through all work stages
We review applications on an ongoing basis – the deadline is July 4th.
Please submit your application via this link.