The Role
The Computational Designer will create workflows that integrate ecological data into design projects, collaborating with multidisciplinary teams to optimize landscapes for environmental benefits.
Summary Generated by Built In
OXMAN
OXMAN is a nature-based research and design company based in Manhattan. We incubate ventures and technologies that reimagine the relationship between humanity and the natural world. Working across disciplines—from architecture and ecology to materials science and computation—we develop nature-centric solutions to critical environmental challenges.
EDEN
Nature provides humanity with services that are critical for survival: the sequestration of carbon, the filtration of water, and the production of the air we breathe. EDEN works to strengthen and regenerate these natural processes by cultivating biodiverse, resilient ecosystems that sustain life for all species—human and non-human alike.
EDEN is a digital design environment for the engineering and design of ecosystems, modeling the flows, relationships, and processes that sustain them. We build tools that quantify how landscapes can be engineered toward specific performance goals—cooling cities, filtering water, sequestering carbon, and protecting key species—and use those tools to guide the design of ecologically active sites.
One hectare of well-designed landscape can sequester up to four times the annual emissions of an average home, filter enough water to support thirteen neighborhoods, and reduce ambient temperatures by more than ten degrees. EDEN enables designers to plan intentionally for these outcomes through analysis, simulation, and optimization, turning ecological function into an actionable design parameter.
Our design team works directly with clients to apply these tools toward site-specific goals, from logistics campuses and residential communities to rewilding and climate-resilient developments. Together with our clients, we are designing biodiverse, productive environments that serve both humanity and nature.
Role Overview
OXMAN is seeking a Computational Designer to join the EDEN design team and develop procedural design workflows that integrate ecological intelligence into architecture, landscape, and planning projects.
This role sits at the intersection of design, data, and simulation. The ideal candidate is fluent in Houdini workflows and uses procedural systems to explore, analyze, and visualize complex spatial relationships. They bring a designer’s intuition, a systems thinker’s curiosity, and a technical artist’s precision—translating ecological and environmental data into adaptive, rule-based geometries that inform real-world design decisions.
Responsibilities
- Collaborate with architects, ecologists, and planners to design nature-centric developments including industrial campuses, residential communities, and landscape restoration projects.
- Use EDEN’s analytical and simulation tools to optimize land-use configurations for ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, thermal buffering, and habitat connectivity.
- Develop and visualize design scenarios that balance ecological and human systems, integrating data-driven insight with creative spatial thinking.
- Build computational design workflows for analyzing and optimizing environmental performance in design projects.
- Translate ecological and spatial data into procedural models that support real-time iteration and informed decision-making.
- Collaborate with software engineers to test, refine, and provide feedback on tools that quantify and simulate ecological processes.
- Work directly with clients to understand project goals, communicate performance outcomes, and guide the application of EDEN’s tools in design development.
- Partner with our ecology and computation teams to ensure that ecological performance metrics are legible, actionable, and embedded in the design process.
- Present design concepts, analysis results, and workflow methodologies to both technical and non-technical audiences.
Qualifications
- Advanced degree or equivalent professional experience in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, or Computational Design.
- A portfolio demonstrating computational and generative design applied to built environment or landscape contexts.
- Proficiency in Houdini for computational geometry and procedural modeling is mandatory. Experience with Rhino and Grasshopper workflows is preferred.
- Experience developing workflows for site planning, landscape analysis, or performance-based design.
- Strong ability to synthesize complex environmental data into clear design logic and visualizations.
What We Offer
- The opportunity to help define the role of computational design in ecological design.
- A collaborative, interdisciplinary environment working at the intersection of architecture, ecology, and technology.
- The chance to contribute to both client-facing design projects and the development of next-generation ecological design tools.
- Work that directly impacts the future of sustainable, regenerative environments.
OXMAN does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, or any other legally protected characteristics.
NYC Salary Range: $75,000-$125,000
Salary is based on a number of factors including job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and other business and organizational needs. Our compensation package also includes variable compensation in the form of year-end bonuses, benefits, immigration assistance, and equity participation.
Top Skills
Grasshopper
Houdini
Rhino
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The Company
What We Do
Envision a future of complete synergy between Nature and humanity, where human-made and Nature-grown become indistinguishable.
OXMAN is a new kind of company fusing design, technology, and biology to invent multi-scale products and environments—allowing design to empower science and science to empower design. As activist designers, we call for a fundamental shift from human-centric design to Nature-centric design. Categorical delineations between climate change and global pandemics, loss of biodiversity and loss of empathy for one another give way to authoring systems that address manifold challenges. Through this shift, we open ourselves up to moving beyond mere maintenance of Nature toward its radical betterment
