Design Director

About the role

Job Title

Job Description Summary

The Design Director provides strategic leadership for design services across assigned client accounts, ensuring consistent standards, quality control, innovation, and scalable delivery. This role leads design governance, Revit and technology transitions, process improvement, and cross-functional coordination while managing and developing a high-performing design team. The Design Director partners with clients, account leadership, and internal stakeholders to translate business needs into actionable design solutions across corporate, workplace, and retail rollout environments.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic design leadership and serve as the design subject matter expert across assigned client accounts, ensuring alignment with client design standards, workplace strategy, platform best practices, and client business objectives.
• Lead design governance across accounts, including standards, workflows, quality control, deliverable expectations, escalation support, and consistent execution across teams and projects.
• Lead Revit implementation, technology transitions, and design innovation initiatives, including workflow development, standards adoption, process integration, training, visualization improvements, and change management.
• Develop scalable design processes, templates, tools, workplace standards, and best practices to improve efficiency, consistency, quality, speed-to-delivery, and the overall client workplace design experience.
• Support corporate design, workplace planning, and retail rollout programs, including prototype standards, multi-site implementation, account-specific design solutions, and scalable design delivery models.
• Serve as the primary design point of contact for assigned clients and account teams, translating client needs, business requirements, and workplace standards into actionable design direction and executable solutions.
• Manage, mentor, and develop a large design team, including design managers and associates, while overseeing workload planning, resource alignment, coaching, accountability, and professional growth.
• Support onboarding, training, and change management for new accounts, tools, processes, and team members to ensure successful adoption and long-term consistency.
• Oversee and help direct third-party relationships with architects, engineers, consultants, and other external partners to support successful project outcomes.
• Partner with clients, account leadership, and internal stakeholders to define design processes, improve team workflows, support account operations, and align design services with occupancy planning, capital planning, FF&E, moves, and broader operational priorities.
• Provide executive-level reporting and communication related to trends, timelines, performance metrics, SLA/KPI results, project health, risks, staffing impacts, innovation progress, escalations, and account performance updates.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree from a CIDA-accredited institution in a related discipline or field of study, such as Architecture, Interior Design, Corporate Real Estate, Facilities, Project Management, or Construction Management required; or bachelor’s degree in another major plus Interior Design certification, degree, or diploma.
• NCIDQ certification preferred.
• Seven or more years of experience in a corporate real estate, workplace, design, or related environment.
• 5–10 years of management experience, including direct leadership, coaching, development, workload planning, and performance support of design teams.
• Experience leading design services across multiple client accounts or business lines, balancing competing priorities, service models, stakeholder expectations, and project complexity.
• Proven experience developing and managing design standards, processes, templates, tools, and governance models across large or complex accounts.
• Experience leading technology implementation, process improvement, and change management initiatives within a design, workplace, or corporate real estate environment.
• Strong client-facing leadership experience, including the ability to advise, influence, build relationships, and present to senior stakeholders.
• Maintains strong working knowledge of industry design software, including Revit, Bluebeam, and Microsoft Office Suite applications.
• Demonstrates proficiency in architectural and engineering drawings, concepts, and design with strong analytical, communication, presentation, attention to detail, and quality-control skills.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively while managing concurrent projects, owning requests through completion, and delivering effective services with minimal supervision.

Pay and benefits

Cushman & Wakefield also provides eligible employees with an opportunity to enroll in a variety of benefit programs, generally including health, vision, and dental insurance, flexible spending accounts, health savings accounts, retirement savings plans, life, and disability insurance programs, and paid and unpaid time away from work.

In addition to a comprehensive benefits package, Cushman and Wakefield provide eligible employees with competitive pay, which may vary depending on eligibility factors such as geographic location, date of hire, total hours worked, job type, business line, and applicability of collective bargaining agreements.

The compensation that will be offered to the successful candidate will depend on factors such as whether the position is covered by a collective bargaining agreement, the geographic area in which the work will be performed, market pay rates in that area, and the candidate’s experience and qualifications.

The company will not pay less than minimum wage for this role.

The compensation for the position is

$ 106,250.00 - $125,000.00

In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA), if you have a disability and would like to request an accommodation in order to apply for a position at Cushman & Wakefield, please call the ADA line at or email. Please refer to the job title and job location when you contact us.

INCO: “Cushman & Wakefield”