Exclusive to Grõ Careers | Central London

Not on job boards. Not with any other agency.

Some architects are strongest not just in the design itself, but in everything that holds a complex project together.

The structure. The programme. The coordination. The workshops. The risk. The deliverables. The clarity across teams.

If you’ve become the person who naturally brings order to complexity - leading stage set-up, aligning consultants, managing design information, tracking actions, shaping programmes, and keeping momentum across multiple stakeholders - this opportunity has likely been building in your direction for some time.

Grõ Careers has been exclusively retained on a Senior Design Manager opportunity with a highly respected, design-led practice in Central London.

This is a rare move for a Senior/Associate Architect or experienced Design Manager who wants to step further into a role centred on design leadership, coordination, project structure and delivery management on major, high-profile schemes.

The Opportunity

You’ll join an established team working on a large, complex project where successful delivery depends on strong design management from day one.

This is not a pure design role.

It is a position for someone who enjoys leading the process around the design - coordinating teams, managing information flow, driving programmes, resolving issues, and ensuring the wider project team is working in a clear, structured and commercially aware way.

You will work closely with senior leadership and multidisciplinary teams, taking a visible role in helping shape project performance, team coordination, and overall delivery strategy whilst in a client-facing role.

What you’ll do

• Lead and oversee design delivery across multiple workstreams
• Coordinate internal teams, external consultants, and wider project stakeholders
• Manage programmes, deliverables, actions, and design-related reporting
• Lead design team meetings, workshops, reviews, and key coordination sessions
• Monitor project risk, issues, changes, and design dependencies
• Help manage project commercials, including tracking scope, resource requirements, cost impacts, and broader project reporting
• Support project set-up, project planning, resource forecasting, and team alignment
• Oversee the flow of design information, comments, RFI's, and project actions
• Work closely with senior directors to maintain momentum, accountability, and delivery quality
• Help mentor and guide more junior team members
• Bring structure, consistency, and calm to a fast-moving, high-profile project environment

Why this is different

• A genuinely exclusive opportunity through Grõ Careers
• A chance to move further away from traditional practice and into a more strategic, delivery-focused leadership role
• A strong fit for people who already operate as the organisational anchor on projects, even if their current title does not fully reflect it
• Exposure to major, complex schemes within a respected design environment
• The opportunity to build a longer-term career in senior design/project management rather than remain in a purely architectural lane

You’ll be a strong fit if…

• You are a Project Architect, Senior Architect, Associate, or Design Manager with strong experience in complex project environments
• You have led projects through multiple stages, with real ownership around coordination, delivery, team management, and project reporting
• You are confident running DTM's, workshops, programmes, trackers, consultant coordination, and reporting
• You are comfortable managing change, design queries, project actions, risk items, stakeholder communication, and commercial implications across a project
• You have experience supporting or managing project commercials, whether through fee tracking, scope management, resource planning, cost reporting, or identifying the impact of changes on programme and delivery, and additional fees
• You enjoy building systems, improving workflows, and creating consistency across teams
• You are naturally organised, proactive, and trusted by others to keep projects moving
• You can balance detail with the bigger picture
• You want a role where your value is in orchestrating the process, not just contributing to the design

Particularly relevant backgrounds

We are especially keen to hear from people with experience in:

• large-scale multidisciplinary projects (£50m-£200m+)
• complex public or private sector schemes
• education, cultural, workplace, civic, infrastructure, healthcare, mixed-use, or similarly coordination-heavy environments
• architecture practices, multidisciplinary consultancies, or design management teams where you have taken on significant project leadership responsibilities

What you’ll get

• A permanent role within a highly regarded London studio
• A clear move into a more senior, management-focused position
• Strong long-term career development potential
• A collaborative, high-performing environment
• Competitive salary and benefits package

If this sounds like the kind of move you’ve been building towards, please apply exclusively via Grõ Careers with your CV.

About Grõ Careers

Selective, one-to-one support for leading architects moving beyond the traditional path

We specialise in helping architects transition into alternative pathways - design management, project management, client-side and consultancy. We partner selectively with values-aligned people and employers; much of our work is exclusive and by recommendation. That focus lets us deliver tailored advice you won’t find elsewhere.

Both founders, Carl + Reece, work directly on every engagement, bringing 20+ years’ combined experience at the intersection of architecture and recruitment. Our approach is hands-on, detail-driven and ethics-first - fewer projects, deeper relationships, stronger results.

What you can expect

• Role-mapping and route design aligned to your strengths
• Narrative coaching for your CV/portfolio, and tailored interview prep
• Insight-led market guidance on timing, salary and positioning
• Discreet introductions, often to exclusively retained opportunities not widely advertised

If you’re a values-aligned architect ready for a strategic move, we’d love to speak.