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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 Manager who can help contribute to the overall excellence of work coming from Olson Kundig.
Position Summary
The Design Technology Manager is a strategic leader responsible for developing the systems, culture, and talent that power digital delivery across the firm. This role operates at the intersection of mentorship, standards development, and cross-functional coordination, helping to ensure that the Design Technology team is equipped, aligned, and empowered to meet evolving project demands. This role also plays an active role in complex and high-risk projects, modeling high-impact engagement while supporting DT team members through mentorship and example.
Primary Responsibilities:
Team Leadership & Development
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 $135,000 and $145,000 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 Manager who can help contribute to the overall excellence of work coming from Olson Kundig.
Position Summary
The Design Technology Manager is a strategic leader responsible for developing the systems, culture, and talent that power digital delivery across the firm. This role operates at the intersection of mentorship, standards development, and cross-functional coordination, helping to ensure that the Design Technology team is equipped, aligned, and empowered to meet evolving project demands. This role also plays an active role in complex and high-risk projects, modeling high-impact engagement while supporting DT team members through mentorship and example.
Primary Responsibilities:
Team Leadership & Development
- Provide guidance, feedback, and structure for a team of DT Leads, Strategist, and Specialists – supporting skill growth and clarity of ownership.
- Foster a team culture centered on consistency, curiosity, and accountability.
- Mentor DT Leads throughout digital design & delivery – modeling effective project engagement and using live project challenges as coaching opportunities.
- Help team members navigate ambiguity, clarify scope boundaries, and frame solutions constructively.
- Partner with the Director of Technology on team resourcing and capability planning to ensure alignment between DT capacity, project engagements, and firm priorities.
- Coordinate with Project Managers and Senior Leadership to ensure Design Technology engagement is intentional, timely, and appropriately scoped.
- Engage with complex or high-risk projects to clarify DT strategy, reinforce role clarity, and model scalable delivery approaches.
- Identify under scope DT asks, delivery risk, or conflicting project expectations – raise strategic flags and drive resolution through early communication and acutely clear expectations.
- Support the evolution of BIM Execution Plans and project delivery strategy by connecting project-level insights to firmwide delivery needs.
- Maintain trust and balance in team dynamics when engaging with projects – clearly communicating intent, supporting team learning, and reinforcing boundaries to protect capacity and role clarity.
- Partner with Visualization, Interiors, Building Performance, and Project Delivery teams to align tools, processes, and support across departments.
- Liaise with the IT Manager and the Director of Technology to ensure system-level decisions reflect the realities of digital design and delivery including team capability.
- Participate in firmwide working groups or planning efforts to represent DT priorities and foster interdisciplinary alignment.
- Lead the development and refinement of firmwide DT workflows, standards, templates, and training,
- Translate recurring project needs into scalable systems that improve clarity, reduce rework, elevate skills, and support consistent delivery.
- Ensure documentation is current, practical, and aligned with how teams work in real projects.
- Advocate for continuous improvement by identifying outdated standards, surfacing friction points, and prioritizing changes that deliver impact.
- Contribute to long-term planning for training, documentation strategy, and technology platform adoption.
- Lead software evaluation and vendor coordination – develop and execute proof of concept pilots.
- Lead internal retrospectives, surveys, or check-ins to gather feedback and use those insights to shape systemic improvements.
- Partner with the Director of Technology to set department goals, measure progress, and define success benchmarks for team effectiveness.
- Minimum 10 years of AEC firm experience, with preference given to those with Architecture or Interior design backgrounds.
- Minimum 5 years’ experience managing project-focused Revit/BIM workflows across all phases of design and construction.
- Proven experience coaching or managing team members across complex projects, offices, or roles.
- Expertise with Autodesk Revit, ACC , and related software add-ins.
- Strong knowledge of the project delivery lifecycle (Programming, SD, DD, CD, CA, etc.) including familiarity with contracts, Scope of Work development, and BIM Execution Plans.
- Experience managing standards, templates, and modeling systems – including implementation, versioning, and team-wide training.
- Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional coordination across departments such as Interiors, Visualization, Building Performance and IT.
- Skilled at navigating ambiguity and project complexity – with a track record of clarifying scope, surfacing risks, and aligning resources early.
- Strong experience working across multiple offices, time zones, or through remote collaboration models.
- Experience developing strategic documentation, team resources, or internal communication using tools such as InDesign, Miro, Asana, PowerPoint or similar.
- Exposure to a range of project types and sectors – including residential, commercial, institutional, hospitality, campus-scale, and exhibit work.
- Understanding of legal and contractual risk as it relates to BIM deliverables, consultant coordination, and digital delivery strategy.
- Experience collaborating with Architect of Record (AOR) firms, managing outsourced modeling, or leading large model coordination efforts
- Familiarity with scan-to-BIM workflows, point clout integration, and/or reality capture tools.
- Working knowledge of BIM Level 2 (ISO19650, CIC BIM Protocols, etc.), IFC, COBie, or other international BIM standards
- Familiarity with parallel disciplines and workflows, including Architecture, Interior Design, Building Performance, and Visualization.
- Proficiency or awareness of computational tools such as Dynamo, Grasshopper, or PyRevit.
- Experience contributing to intranet systems, department-wide knowledge management efforts, or standards documentation.
- Experience supporting Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA), prototyping, or fabrication workflows.
- 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 $135,000 and $145,000 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).
