BrightBuilt Home

Seeking: Architectural Designer 

About us:

BrightBuilt Home is a residential design and project facilitation company that guides homeowners through the design and delivery of high-performance net-zero energy homes. We believe deeply in our mission to more rapidly expand the supply of attractive, attainable, energy efficient homes for all, by engaging offsite construction and assembly companies as collaborators. We aim to disrupt this industry to make a profound and meaningful impact on housing availability throughout the Northeast, and, ultimately, nationwide. 

Does the above mission statement resonate with you? Do you also appreciate a vibrant studio atmosphere, working with collaborative, earnest souls who genuinely like working together? If so, we might just be the team for you.

We’re looking for an affable individual with proven experience in residential design, stakeholder presentations, and project delivery.

Strong communication, design, and time management skills are vital. Ideally, you have passion, drive, bright ideas, engaging energy, and an interest in people.

This Position Reports to:

Studio Director, Principals

Role:

An Architectural Designer works both in support of and autonomously on residential architectural assignments, alongside other members of the project delivery team. They are also involved in other varied design work and department projects, assisting Principals and more experienced Architectural Staff and providing occasional guidance to less experienced Architectural Staff. All members of the team collaborate and actively participate in the execution and growth of BrightBuilt’s mission.

Qualifications:

Required: Minimum BS or BA in Architectural Design completed - or - substantial field and design experience. 2-5 years of relevant work experience. Location within commuting distance of our office in Portland and the ability to attend construction site visits within a 3-hour range of Portland, regular in-person client meetings, and in-person office events, occasionally on weekends. Access to the office requires climbing one flight of stairs. Construction Administration requires navigating job sites lacking accessibility features.


Preferred: Concentration in sustainability practices and design.

Skills:

Required: Excellent aesthetic and technical design skills, strong written and verbal communication skills, drafting with BIM modeling experience

Preferred: Education/interest/experience in the field of sustainable design, understanding of high-performance building assemblies and general Building Science design principles, proficiency with Mac, Archicad, Microsoft Office, Gsuite, Adobe Creative Suite, Keynote or Powerpoint

Responsibilities:

Design Skill:

  • Independently and competently apply standard architectural techniques for all projects

  • Show an ability to assimilate programmatic requirements into competent design solutions

  • Develop assembly details, as required

  • Coordinate regular reviews and approvals of conceptual designs with mentors

  • Show creative design potential through innovative design solutions 

Communication:

  • Be relied upon to present directly to clients on technical and design solutions

  • Provide project communications and documentation that pertain to the design and specs for the project

  • Act as a design assist to higher level staff with some client and builder contact on larger projects

  • Have an awareness of project budgets and schedules

Technical Ability:

  • Provide Building Information Modeling, research, renderings as required

  • Plan and prepare Construction Documents, if required

  • Assist in preparing project specifications, compile and analyze relevant data

  • Write reports and specifications

  • Work independently to provide Building Information Modeling, research, renderings, presentation boards

  • Provide intermediate review of technical drawing sets and project specifications

  • Provide specific technical design aspects of moderately complex design pathways, including investigation, evaluation, and recommendation of design solutions that best meet the client’s needs

  • Coordinate with Principals and more experienced Architectural Staff on appropriate technical solutions and strategies

  • Occasionally provide technical guidance to less experienced architectural staff 

Teamwork:

  • Work in a collaborative team structure with other architectural designers and project team members, on individual single-family and multi-unit single-family residential projects, and big picture company initiatives

  • Work under guidance of Senior Architectural Designer or Studio Director for development of design work and client interface

  • Work with Project Pilots to stay apprised of and prepare for project milestones, client communications, and exchange key information with clients

Industry Awareness:

  • Strive to incorporate sustainable solutions throughout your work

  • Produce work that is consistent with the quality and design aesthetic of the firm, and the region

Self-development:

  • Participate in office culture

  • Strive for professional and personal development

Leadership:

  • Champion one or more internal initiative(s)

Compensation, Timing, and (Excellent!) Benefits:

Anticipated salary range for this role is commensurate with experience and job rubrics, with a potential base salary starting at $55,000 for a total compensation package starting at $65,600.

This offer includes 3 weeks of paid vacation / personal / sick time annually. Our benefits package also includes 100% medical coverage on Health Insurance and 100% coverage on Disability Insurance. Additionally, BrightBuilt Home offers a 401K benefit plan that allows you to save for retirement. With this plan, BrightBuilt Home will match your contributions up to 4% of your salary. There is no waiting period to receive this benefit; you are eligible to join the 401K plan upon hire. Salary and all benefits will be prorated based on the number of days worked per week. We value your time and a healthy work-life balance. We observe a 40- hour work week, and time spent on project work beyond your weekly obligation is reimbursed as comp time.

We also offer 10 paid holidays, including 3 paid floating holidays. A commuting stipend of $60/mo. will be provided, and may be either spent towards a parking space, bus pass, or kept by you if an alternate form of transportation is used. Bonuses are distributed in accordance with hours worked and success of the office.

Annually, every employee has the opportunity to spend up to $500 and two days pursuing professional development, which might include attending a conference, taking a class, or participating in another approved activity. We also offer one paid Community Day with the entire office and up to 24 matched hours over the year for any a Community Service project you would like to pursue.


BrightBuilt Home maintains an open, collaborative team approach and a collegial studio atmosphere in a fast- paced environment. We believe deeply in working to reverse climate change, and strive to practice what we preach. We enjoy company happy hours, birthday lunches, and occasional bowling parties, as well as a dedicated Slack channel for sharing photos of your canine companion. As if that’s not enough, let’s just say that after hours, we aren’t afraid to push up our sleeves and turn the conference room table into a ping pong court.

If you’re interested in joining a team of energetic thinkers, designers, innovators, and doers who want to change the world, and you have some thoughts on what you could bring to the table, we’d love to sit down with you.

To view some of our work and our philosophy, please visit www.brightbuilthome.com.

Ready to join our team? 

Please submit a resume, portfolio, and cover letter to: jrichards@brightbuilthome.com. Our first test for consideration is rigorous: please also mention your most useless superpower in your initial response. Please, no calls.

Jeannette Schram