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Architecture, interiors, landscape & planning studio with offices in Seattle, New York City, and Chicago.
The Role
Olson Kundig is a design practice founded on the ideas that buildings can serve as a bridge between nature, culture and people, and that inspiring surroundings have a positive effect on people’s lives. The firm’s work can be found across the globe, with projects as wide-ranging as huts to high rises, homes—often for art collectors—to academic, cultural and civic projects, museums and exhibition design, places of worship, creative production, urban design, and interior design.
Currently, we are seeking a Design Technology Lead who can help contribute to the overall excellence of work coming from Olson Kundig.
Position Summary
The Design Technology Lead will engage directly with project teams to surface challenges, define pathways forward, and integrate tools and workflows that enhance design intent and delivery clarity. As a strategic and technical lead, this role directly contributes to improved coordination, delivery outcomes, and overall project success. The Design Technology (DT) Lead is expected to bring initiative, solutions-oriented thinking, and context awareness — operating inside projects to ensure that technology supports and accelerates design excellence. In addition to project work, this role will support department initiatives and contribute to cross-functional efforts with other design teams
Primary Responsibilities:
Project Engagement
Education/Skills/Experience:
Nice to Haves -
What can you expect from us?
As a firm, we are committed to pay practices that are fair, competitive, and reflect internal pay equity. At the time of posting this job, the hiring range for this position in Seattle is between $91,000 and $99,000 annually. Final salary decisions are made based upon the extent and relatedness of the candidate’s education and experience and considering internal equity and external market factors.
Currently, we are seeking a Design Technology Lead who can help contribute to the overall excellence of work coming from Olson Kundig.
Position Summary
The Design Technology Lead will engage directly with project teams to surface challenges, define pathways forward, and integrate tools and workflows that enhance design intent and delivery clarity. As a strategic and technical lead, this role directly contributes to improved coordination, delivery outcomes, and overall project success. The Design Technology (DT) Lead is expected to bring initiative, solutions-oriented thinking, and context awareness — operating inside projects to ensure that technology supports and accelerates design excellence. In addition to project work, this role will support department initiatives and contribute to cross-functional efforts with other design teams
Primary Responsibilities:
Project Engagement
- Engage directly with project teams to define challenges early — evaluate workflows, delivery risks, and technology pressures before proposing solutions.
- Clarify Design Technology scope early and constructively — raise strategic flags when misalignment arises and protect team capacity by reframing ambiguous asks.
- Lead the development and continuous refinement of DT Strategy documentation and/or BIM Execution Plans — align them with team structure, project goals, and delivery phases.
- Act as an embedded project technology leader — support client and team needs while mentoring others in effective digital design delivery.
- Drive project outcomes through digital strategy — ensure DT contributions meaningfully support project clarity, coordination, and delivery success.
- Coordinate and liaison with consultants and collaborators — align modeling strategies, resolve interoperability challenges, and represent DT priorities across disciplines.
- Translate delivery insights into action — identify gaps and opportunities, propose process improvements, and maintain DT knowledge systems that strengthen firmwide digital fluency.
- Collaborate across departments and disciplines — align DT strategies with teams in Visualization, Building Performance, Project Delivery, Planning & Landscape, and Interiors.
- Evaluate workflows, software fluency, and best practices — identify improvement areas and communicate actionable solutions to DT and project leadership.
- Liaise with IT and Project Delivery to serve as an embedded digital delivery leader — ensure project support aligns with firmwide technology & delivery direction.
- Identify recurring patterns in digital delivery — convert insights into improved workflows, process innovations, or training needs.
- Contribute to the evolution of DT standards — document strategies, share case studies, and develop collateral that strengthens firmwide practice.
- Deliver just-in-time training — support project teams and the firm with timely, context-aware and relevant instruction that empowers teams and elevates how tools and processes impact projects.
- Identify trends and skill gaps — propose targeted improvements to BIM workflows or team competencies.
- Support DT service operations — contribute to DT Support Ticket resolution in collaboration with IT.
- Advance knowledge sharing — maintain OKpedia with updated best practices, lessons learned, and strategic documentation.
Education/Skills/Experience:
- Minimum 6 years of experience in an AEC firm, with preference given to those with architectural or interior design backgrounds.
- Minimum 3 years of experience leading project-focused Revit/BIM workflows from concept to construction.
- Expertise with Autodesk Revit, Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC), and related software (e.g., Ideate, CTC Tools, BIM Interoperability Suite).
- Proficiency in managing multi-model Revit environments, supporting complex design scopes, and navigating unique delivery methods.
- Familiarity with the full project lifecycle (Programming, SD, DD, CD, CA), including experience with contracts, Scope of Work documents, and BIM Execution Plans.
- Working knowledge of complementary model authoring tools such as Rhino, SketchUp, AutoCAD, and FormIt, with the ability to assess or train interoperability workflows.
- Strong Experience developing strategic documentation and technical collateral (e.g., InDesign, PowerPoint, Miro, Visio, Prezi).
- Experience reading and writing scopes of work, either in formal context of B101/RFPs or casual context of managing expectations with project leadership.
- Demonstrated ability to lead with influence — align stakeholders, set digital strategy, and maintain DT scope within complex project environments.
- Proven experience collaborating with external consultants, contractors, and cross-functional design teams.
- Strong interpersonal skills — communicates clearly, listens actively, builds trust, and operates with integrity.
- Adaptable and collaborative — works effectively across disciplines and adjusts to change with resilience.
- Proactive and disciplined — takes initiative, prioritizes well, and delivers consistent follow-through.
- Comfortable navigating ambiguity with systems awareness — makes informed decisions that consider both project context and firmwide impact.
Nice to Haves -
- Experience collaborating with AOR’s, scan to BIM/Point Clouds, outsourced modeling, and/or multi-office modeling across time zones and continents.
- Working knowledge of BIM Level 2 (ISO19650, CIC BIM Protocols, etc.), IFC, COBie, or other industry and international BIM standards
- Working knowledge or experience with parallel Architecture, Interior Design, and Visualization workflows
- Familiarity with computational tools like Dynamo, Grasshopper, PyRevit or others.
- Experience with Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA), prototyping, and/or other fabrication workflows.
- Experience contributing to internal standards, intranet systems, or knowledge sharing initiatives.
- Understanding of legal/risk implications as it relates to contracts and BIM.
What can you expect from us?
- A creative work environment and colleagues who are collaborative, creative, and challenging
- Opportunity to grow professionally
- Check our culture page to learn about life at Olson Kundig
As a firm, we are committed to pay practices that are fair, competitive, and reflect internal pay equity. At the time of posting this job, the hiring range for this position in Seattle is between $91,000 and $99,000 annually. Final salary decisions are made based upon the extent and relatedness of the candidate’s education and experience and considering internal equity and external market factors.
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The Company
What We Do
Now in its sixth decade of practice, Olson Kundig is a collaborative design practice led by 13 principal/owners whose work includes cultural and museum projects, exhibition design, commercial and mixed-use design (including wineries and sports facilities), private and multi-family residential, hospitality projects, places of worship, interior design, product design and landscape design. With deep roots in the Pacific Northwest, the firm and its team of over 350 work with clients around the world.
The firm began its creative existence in 1966 with the architect Jim Olson, whose work at that time centered on explorations of the relationship between dwellings and the landscapes in which they inhabit. Olson started the firm based on the essential ideas that buildings can serve as a bridge between nature, culture, histories, and people, and that inspiring surroundings have a positive effect on people’s lives.
Among the firm’s accolades are the 2009 National AIA Architecture Firm Award (as Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects), national and regional design awards from the American Institute of Architects, Jim Olson’s 2007 Seattle Medal of Honor and Tom Kundig’s National Design Award from the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt and his Academy Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Books on the firm’s work include Tom Kundig: Working Title (Princeton Architectural Press, 2020); Jim Olson: Building • Nature • Art (Thames & Hudson, 2018); Tom Kundig: Works (Princeton Architectural Press, 2015); Jim Olson: Art and Architecture (August Editions, 2013); Tom Kundig: Houses 2 (Princeton Architectural Press, 2011); Jim Olson Houses (The Monacelli Press, 2009); and Tom Kundig: Houses (Princeton Architectural Press, originally published in 2006 and re-released in 2021).
