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Lead Architectural Designer

Position Summary:

The Lead Architectural Designer is the creative and technical anchor of the design and pre-construction teams. This role is responsible for originating new residential floor plans and elevations for our production and semi-custom homes, while also maintaining and refining existing plans across single-family and multi-family projects. The Lead Architectural Designer combines strong drafting expertise with creative design vision to develop buildable, cost-effective, and market-driven homes that meet company standards, building codes, buyer preferences and community guidelines. Success requires the ability to generate fresh design concepts, translate them into complete construction documents, manage the design team and multiple deadlines while collaborating with other departments to ensure plans are accurate, deficient and ready for construction.

In this role, the Lead Architectural Designer is the primary designer, responsible for creating new home designs, modifies plans to meet lot-specific and homeowner needs, and supports updates for inventory homes. Additional duties include managing the plan library, preparing lot fit guidelines, and contributing to new community launches. Success in this position requires strong attention to detail, proficiency in drafting software, and the ability to efficiently handle multiple projects and deadlines.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Lead the conceptual design process by developing original floor plans, elevations, and architectural features for new production and semi-custom homes.
• Collaborate with product development, interior design, sales and marketing teams to translate market research, buyer feedback and design trends into practical, buildable home designs.
• Evaluate and incorporate value-engineering opportunities, energy-efficiency improvements and cost-saving innovations while maintaining aesthetic appeal and structural integrity.
• Mentor and provide technical guidance to other members of the design team and drafters on plan accuracy, company standards and best practices.
• Develop, update, and maintain detailed construction drawings that align with current residential designs, company standards, and all applicable codes.
• Prepare and modify plans based on homeowner selections, community guidelines, and feedback from the field.
• Complete all drafting work accurately and on schedule, following established checklists and jurisdiction-specific requirements.
• Perform job site visits alongside construction managers and trade partners to review new products and homes in progress, identifying opportunities to improve plan quality and efficiency.
• Address city review comments promptly by returning revisions within two business days and ensure all requested field details are clearly drafted and communicated.
• Maintain up-to-date marketing exhibits and bid sets to ensure alignment across sales, estimating, and marketing teams.
• Develop and manage drafting templates, base plans, and design options in collaboration with the Product Development team to support consistency and scalability.
• Support new community launches by reviewing master plans and ensuring construction documents are complete and ready for implementation.

Qualifications and Experience:

Technical Skills:

• Proficiency in Chief Architect
• Working knowledge of AutoCAD and Revit
• Strong understanding of residential construction practices, architectural detailing, and building code requirements
• Ability to develop complete, permit-ready construction document sets for field execution

Design and Creative Skills:

• Demonstrated ability to originate creative, market-responsive residential designs for production and semi-custom homes.
• Strong conceptual and visualization skills with the ability to balance innovations, cost and constructability.
• Experience incorporating current design trends, buyer lifestyles and sustainability features.

Professional Skills:

• Exceptional organization skills with a high level of accuracy and attention to detail
• Self-motivated, deadline-oriented, and able to manage multiple projects simultaneously
• Effective communicator with the ability to collaborate across cross-functional teams

Education:

Degree or certification in Drafting, Architecture, or a related field preferred; equivalent hands-on experience in residential drafting will also be considered.

Experience:

3 or more years of experience producing construction drawings and developing original designs for residential homebuilding, production, semi-custom homes or custom homes.

Physical Requirements:

• Ability to read and interpret detailed construction drawings and field markups with accuracy.
• Regularly required to sit, stand, bend, reach, and move throughout an office environment.
• May be asked to perform other related duties as assigned.