Principal Landscape Architect Jobs
Principal Landscape Architect jobs are open across landscape architecture firms, municipal agencies, real estate developers, and engineering consultancies, at every level from project lead to director, with specializations in urban design, site planning, and ecological restoration. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
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See related jobsDesign empowers people, strengthens communities, and shapes places that are built to adapt. At Stantec, our Landscape Architects bring a systems-based, and resilience-focused approach to design—connecting public realm, ecology, infrastructure, and community priorities to create places that are beautiful, functional, and prepared for the future. Grounded in social, economic, and environmental sustainability, our work reflects the power of diverse perspectives and interdisciplinary collaboration to deliver lasting impact.
Our team members have opportunities to work on projects across the United States, including visioning, master planning, community design, parks and recreation, commercial and corporate campuses, state and federal projects, healthcare, urban design and revitalization, environmental resilience and green infrastructure, transportation planning and design, and landscape restoration and rehabilitation. These diverse opportunities are delivered through collaboration with experts across North America—because we are better together.
Our US East Landscape Architecture and Planning team includes more than 30 professionals across multiple states, with Boston, MA serving as a key hub. Wherever we are located, we collaborate as one unified team to deliver thoughtful, high-quality design solutions.
Your Opportunity
Stantec is seeking a Principal Landscape Architect/Design Director to lead the design vision and help grow our Boston-based Landscape Architecture practice within Stantec’s Infrastructure team. This is a leadership opportunity for a senior practitioner who brings a strong design point of view, the judgment to elevate the work of others, client relationships, and a collaborative, entrepreneurial mindset to help a growing team thrive. The Principal Landscape Architect will help shape the future of the practice by advancing design excellence, mentoring staff, strengthening client partnerships, and positioning Stantec for complex public realm, resilience, infrastructure, and community development projects across Boston and the broader Northeast. As Design Director, you will shape the studio’s creative direction, lead studio-wide design critiques and reviews, and cultivate a collaborative culture that elevates the quality of every project.
In this role, you will serve as both a design leader and practice builder—guiding multidisciplinary teams, championing design quality from concept through construction, leading business development strategy, and helping create a strong, collaborative studio culture within Stantec’s Boston Infrastructure team. You will strengthen connections with Stantec’s internal architecture, environmental, engineering, planning, and infrastructure disciplines to deliver integrated solutions for complex public realm, resilience, infrastructure, and community development projects.
You will work within both local and virtual team settings, with weekly presence expected in our Boston office. Local travel will be required for client and public meetings, scoping new assignments, and participating in internal meetings.
Your Key Responsibilities
- Lead and grow Stantec’s Boston-based Landscape Architecture practice within the Infrastructure team, strengthening client relationships, and supporting strategic business development for public realm, resilience, and infrastructure-focused projects.
- Serve as Design Director for Stantec’s Boston-based Landscape Architecture practice, setting and holding the design vision across the group’s portfolio and advancing a consistent standard of design excellence.
- Develop and implement business development strategies, including market positioning, client engagement, strategic partnerships, proposal development, interviews, and tracking key performance indicators such as win rates and revenue growth.
- Guide design vision and strategy for large, complex, multidisciplinary projects from early concept development through construction documentation and construction administration.
- Integrate resilient infrastructure, climate adaptation, sustainability, and nature-based design strategies into landscape architecture, planning, and public realm projects.
- Collaborate with internal architecture, environmental, engineering, planning, and infrastructure teams to shape integrated design solutions that respond to client goals, community needs, and long-term resilience priorities.
- Represent and advocate for the design vision with clients, community stakeholders, and review boards, translating ideas into terms that build support and move projects forward.
- Provide project leadership for multidisciplinary assignments, including scope development, team coordination, budget management, schedule oversight, quality control, and client communication.
- Support projects and pursuits led by other Stantec disciplines, bringing landscape architecture, urban design, public realm, and resilience perspectives to integrated teams.
- Mentor and inspire landscape architecture staff, helping build design confidence, technical excellence, and a collaborative studio culture within the Boston Infrastructure team.
Your Capabilities and Credentials
- Licensed Landscape Architect.
- Experience working with public and private sector clients in the Northeast.
- Demonstrated responsibility and commitment to a team-driven environment, including the ability to communicate effectively, lead teams, build strong internal relationships, and foster collaboration.
- Expertise in resilient, sustainable, and nature-based design strategies, including integration of green infrastructure, climate adaptation, and infrastructure performance into public realm and site design.
- Desire and ability to lead and contribute at multiple stages of the design process.
- Excellent creative and critical thinking skills.
- Ability to integrate sustainability into all aspects of planning and design.
- Strong knowledge of local, regional, and national trends in planning, landscape architecture, and urban design.
- Ability to successfully scope and deliver multidisciplinary projects.
- Strong communication skills, with the ability to present ideas clearly and confidently.
- Proficiency in AutoCAD, Adobe Creative Suite, and Microsoft Office; Civil 3D and Land F/X experience preferred.
- High-level understanding and working knowledge of GIS, SketchUp, Rhino, or similar platforms at a supervisory level.
- Detailed knowledge of applicable codes, legal requirements, and design standards in relevant jurisdictions.
- Demonstrated effectiveness building and maintaining client relationships, with the ability to translate those relationships into new work opportunities.
- Experience conducting presentations and project interviews.
- Good driving record and valid driver’s license required.
Education and Experience
- Bachelor’s or master’s degree from an accredited Landscape Architecture program.
- Minimum of 15 years of related experience preferred.
This description is not a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that may be required in this job; other duties, responsibilities, and activities may be assigned or may be changed at any time with or without notice.
About Stantec
Stantec is a global leader in sustainable engineering, architecture, and environmental consulting. The diverse perspectives of our partners and interested parties drive us to think beyond what’s previously been done on critical issues like climate change, digital transformation, and future-proofing our cities and infrastructure. We innovate at the intersection of community, creativity, and client relationships to advance communities everywhere, so that together we can redefine what’s possible.
Primary Location: United States | MA | Boston
Organization: BC-2104 CommDev-US Northeast
Employee Status: Regular
Management Level: Midlevel manager
Business Justification: New Position
Travel: Yes
Schedule: Full time
Job Posting: 06/10/2026 06:10:16
Req ID: 1008189
Stantec provides equal employment opportunities to all qualified employees and applicants for future and current employment and prohibit discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, genetic information, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. We prohibit discrimination in decisions concerning recruitment, hiring, referral, promotion, compensation, fringe benefits, job training, terminations or any other condition of employment. Stantec is in compliance with laws and regulations and ensures equitable opportunities in all aspects of employment. At Stantec we are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is accessible to all. If you require reasonable adjustments to be made during the recruitment process then please inform a member of our Talent Acquisition team.
Design empowers people, strengthens communities, and shapes places that are built to adapt. At Stantec, our Landscape Architects bring a systems-based, and resilience-focused approach to design—connecting public realm, ecology, infrastructure, and community priorities to create places that are beautiful, functional, and prepared for the future. Grounded in social, economic, and environmental sustainability, our work reflects the power of diverse perspectives and interdisciplinary collaboration to deliver lasting impact.
Our team members have opportunities to work on projects across the United States, including visioning, master planning, community design, parks and recreation, commercial and corporate campuses, state and federal projects, healthcare, urban design and revitalization, environmental resilience and green infrastructure, transportation planning and design, and landscape restoration and rehabilitation. These diverse opportunities are delivered through collaboration with experts across North America—because we are better together.
Our US East Landscape Architecture and Planning team includes more than 30 professionals across multiple states, with Boston, MA serving as a key hub. Wherever we are located, we collaborate as one unified team to deliver thoughtful, high-quality design solutions.
Your Opportunity
Stantec is seeking a Principal Landscape Architect/Design Director to lead the design vision and help grow our Boston-based Landscape Architecture practice within Stantec’s Infrastructure team. This is a leadership opportunity for a senior practitioner who brings a strong design point of view, the judgment to elevate the work of others, client relationships, and a collaborative, entrepreneurial mindset to help a growing team thrive. The Principal Landscape Architect will help shape the future of the practice by advancing design excellence, mentoring staff, strengthening client partnerships, and positioning Stantec for complex public realm, resilience, infrastructure, and community development projects across Boston and the broader Northeast. As Design Director, you will shape the studio’s creative direction, lead studio-wide design critiques and reviews, and cultivate a collaborative culture that elevates the quality of every project.
In this role, you will serve as both a design leader and practice builder—guiding multidisciplinary teams, championing design quality from concept through construction, leading business development strategy, and helping create a strong, collaborative studio culture within Stantec’s Boston Infrastructure team. You will strengthen connections with Stantec’s internal architecture, environmental, engineering, planning, and infrastructure disciplines to deliver integrated solutions for complex public realm, resilience, infrastructure, and community development projects.
You will work within both local and virtual team settings, with weekly presence expected in our Boston office. Local travel will be required for client and public meetings, scoping new assignments, and participating in internal meetings.
Your Key Responsibilities
- Lead and grow Stantec’s Boston-based Landscape Architecture practice within the Infrastructure team, strengthening client relationships, and supporting strategic business development for public realm, resilience, and infrastructure-focused projects.
- Serve as Design Director for Stantec’s Boston-based Landscape Architecture practice, setting and holding the design vision across the group’s portfolio and advancing a consistent standard of design excellence.
- Develop and implement business development strategies, including market positioning, client engagement, strategic partnerships, proposal development, interviews, and tracking key performance indicators such as win rates and revenue growth.
- Guide design vision and strategy for large, complex, multidisciplinary projects from early concept development through construction documentation and construction administration.
- Integrate resilient infrastructure, climate adaptation, sustainability, and nature-based design strategies into landscape architecture, planning, and public realm projects.
- Collaborate with internal architecture, environmental, engineering, planning, and infrastructure teams to shape integrated design solutions that respond to client goals, community needs, and long-term resilience priorities.
- Represent and advocate for the design vision with clients, community stakeholders, and review boards, translating ideas into terms that build support and move projects forward.
- Provide project leadership for multidisciplinary assignments, including scope development, team coordination, budget management, schedule oversight, quality control, and client communication.
- Support projects and pursuits led by other Stantec disciplines, bringing landscape architecture, urban design, public realm, and resilience perspectives to integrated teams.
- Mentor and inspire landscape architecture staff, helping build design confidence, technical excellence, and a collaborative studio culture within the Boston Infrastructure team.
Your Capabilities and Credentials
- Licensed Landscape Architect.
- Experience working with public and private sector clients in the Northeast.
- Demonstrated responsibility and commitment to a team-driven environment, including the ability to communicate effectively, lead teams, build strong internal relationships, and foster collaboration.
- Expertise in resilient, sustainable, and nature-based design strategies, including integration of green infrastructure, climate adaptation, and infrastructure performance into public realm and site design.
- Desire and ability to lead and contribute at multiple stages of the design process.
- Excellent creative and critical thinking skills.
- Ability to integrate sustainability into all aspects of planning and design.
- Strong knowledge of local, regional, and national trends in planning, landscape architecture, and urban design.
- Ability to successfully scope and deliver multidisciplinary projects.
- Strong communication skills, with the ability to present ideas clearly and confidently.
- Proficiency in AutoCAD, Adobe Creative Suite, and Microsoft Office; Civil 3D and Land F/X experience preferred.
- High-level understanding and working knowledge of GIS, SketchUp, Rhino, or similar platforms at a supervisory level.
- Detailed knowledge of applicable codes, legal requirements, and design standards in relevant jurisdictions.
- Demonstrated effectiveness building and maintaining client relationships, with the ability to translate those relationships into new work opportunities.
- Experience conducting presentations and project interviews.
- Good driving record and valid driver’s license required.
Education and Experience
- Bachelor’s or master’s degree from an accredited Landscape Architecture program.
- Minimum of 15 years of related experience preferred.
This description is not a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that may be required in this job; other duties, responsibilities, and activities may be assigned or may be changed at any time with or without notice.
About Stantec
Stantec is a global leader in sustainable engineering, architecture, and environmental consulting. The diverse perspectives of our partners and interested parties drive us to think beyond what’s previously been done on critical issues like climate change, digital transformation, and future-proofing our cities and infrastructure. We innovate at the intersection of community, creativity, and client relationships to advance communities everywhere, so that together we can redefine what’s possible.
Primary Location: United States | MA | Boston
Organization: BC-2104 CommDev-US Northeast
Employee Status: Regular
Management Level: Midlevel manager
Business Justification: New Position
Travel: Yes
Schedule: Full time
Job Posting: 06/10/2026 06:10:16
Req ID: 1008189
Stantec provides equal employment opportunities to all qualified employees and applicants for future and current employment and prohibit discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, genetic information, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. We prohibit discrimination in decisions concerning recruitment, hiring, referral, promotion, compensation, fringe benefits, job training, terminations or any other condition of employment. Stantec is in compliance with laws and regulations and ensures equitable opportunities in all aspects of employment. At Stantec we are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is accessible to all. If you require reasonable adjustments to be made during the recruitment process then please inform a member of our Talent Acquisition team.
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Find JobsPrincipal Landscape Architect Job Market
Who's Hiring
Top Industries Hiring
- Consulting & Professional Services
- Food & Beverage
What Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in principal landscape architect jobs.
- Licensed Landscape Architect with LARE completion and active state licensure
- Eight or more years of progressive landscape architecture experience including project leadership
- Proficiency in AutoCAD, Civil 3D, and Adobe Creative Suite
- Experience managing multidisciplinary project teams and subconsultants
- Bachelor's or master's degree in Landscape Architecture from an accredited program
- Demonstrated experience with grading, drainage, planting design, and construction documentation
Tips for Your Principal Landscape Architect Job Search
Tailor your portfolio for the sector
Municipal clients want to see parks, streetscapes, and civic plazas. Private developers want mixed-use and residential work. Pull the projects that match the employer's portfolio before you apply, and lead your case studies with outcomes like acreage delivered or community impact.
Highlight your licensure and states covered
Many postings require an active Landscape Architect license in a specific state. List every state where your LARE reciprocity is active and note whether you can obtain additional licenses. Employers hiring across multiple project sites weight multi-state coverage heavily.
Apply early to roles that fit
Migrate Mate lists principal landscape architect openings from across the United States in one place, so you can find roles that match and apply directly to each listing.
Name the software tools you own
Principal-level postings consistently ask for proficiency in AutoCAD, Civil 3D, Adobe Creative Suite, and GIS platforms like ArcGIS. Spell out each tool and your depth of use in your resume skills section rather than burying them in project descriptions.
Prepare a client and stakeholder narrative
At the principal level, interviewers ask how you've managed client relationships, navigated regulatory approvals, or led public engagement sessions. Prepare two or three concise stories that show you as the person accountable for a project's outcome, not just its design.
Negotiate scope alongside compensation
Principal roles vary widely in what 'principal' actually means: some own business development, others focus purely on design leadership. During late-stage interviews, clarify which responsibilities are yours so you can assess fit and anchor your offer conversation to the full scope of the role.
Principal Landscape Architect Jobs: Frequently Asked Questions
Which companies are hiring the most principal landscape architects?
The most active employers for principal landscape architects right now are Stantec, HDR, and DTJ DESIGN, and the most openings are in Nebraska, Georgia, and Arizona, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of November 2026. Demand is strongest at mid-size landscape architecture and planning firms with active public-sector contracts.
How many principal landscape architect jobs are remote?
About 0% of principal landscape architect openings are fully remote or hybrid as of November 2026, reflecting the hands-on nature of site design and construction administration. Project management, design development, and client communication phases tend to be the most remote-friendly, while site visits and stakeholder meetings typically require in-person presence.
How do you become a principal landscape architect?
Start by completing an accredited bachelor's or master's degree in Landscape Architecture, then accumulate supervised experience to qualify for the LARE exam. After licensure, build a portfolio across varied project types and move into project management roles that expand your client and team leadership experience. Principal-level positions typically require demonstrated ownership of full project lifecycles, business development activity, and mentorship of junior staff.
Can you get hired as a principal landscape architect without direct principal experience?
Yes, especially if you've led complex projects as a senior associate or project manager and can show the outcomes. Firms often promote strong senior staff into principal roles when candidates demonstrate client relationship skills, the ability to win or retain work, and consistent delivery of projects from concept through construction. Framing your existing work in terms of accountability and business impact closes the experience gap.
What does the principal landscape architect interview process look like?
Most firms run two to three rounds. The first is typically a phone or video screen covering your background and licensure. The second is a portfolio review where you walk through two or three representative projects in depth, including your specific role, design decisions, and how you handled challenges. A final round often involves meeting firm leadership or a committee focused on your approach to client relationships, team mentorship, and business development.
Where can I find and apply to principal landscape architect jobs?
You can find and apply to principal landscape architect jobs on Migrate Mate, which lists current openings from across the United States. Search the listings to find roles that match your experience, specialization, and preferred location, then apply directly to each opening that fits.
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