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 Senior Planner in our Seattle office who can help contribute to the overall excellence of work coming from Olson Kundig.

Position Description:

The Senior Planner oversees the planning and development of projects, ensuring they adhere to zoning regulations, land use policies, and other relevant codes. Senior planners often collaborate and lead conversations (in subject matter expertise) with architects, engineers, developers, and local government officials to create comprehensive plans for the built environment. They may also be responsible for managing project teams, delegating & conducting research, analyzing data, and presenting proposals to clients or stakeholders. 

Primary Responsibilities

Planning and Coordination:

• Provides professional planning consultation in the planning, design, and coordination of projects.

• Collaborates with other planners, architects, and landscape architects to create integrated, sustainable, and equitable solutions for complex land planning problems.

• Leads conversations around research and analysis that include master plan level programming and space planning studies.

• Leads conversations in stakeholder outreach for community-based land planning assignments.

• Provides detailed attention to varied needs for private, public, institutional, and nonprofit clients.

• Coordinates and leads conversations with multiple consultants at once including mobility, civil, infrastructural, financial, and zoning, to name a few.

  Technical Expertise and Project Leadership:

• Analyzes natural and man-made factors affecting site development suitability for a wide range of project typologies.

• Liaises with project management, other architectural team members, and consultants.

• Serves as a subject matter expert on specialized systems.

• Develops and represents lead technical viewpoint on projects.

• Leads conversations with the Partner and/or Principal on appropriate technical solutions, products, and project delivery.

• Provide guidance on analytical and design graphics to junior team members.

• Lead subject matter expertise and QA/QC design documentation and client material.

  Communication, Presentation Skills, and Reporting:

• Takes on aspects of external project communications and the preparation of presentations with the support of junior team members, with subconsultants/clients.

• Leads concept and technical presentations for project meetings and reports.

• Work closely with the directors and partners on advancing agenda on the future of cities, including urban design and planning trends, sustainability, resiliency, mobility, ecology, infrastructure, etc.

• Work with business development team on urban planning and design RFQs and proposals.

  Supervision and Guidance:

• Supervises and guides the work of junior team members.

• Provides mentorship and guidance in all phases of projects (regardless of scale & typology) to junior team members.

  Education/Skills/Experience:

• APA accredited degree in Urban Planning, or a professional degree in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, or closely related field.

• 10+ years of related professional experience or similar role with equivalent work experience.

• Proficient in design software, including AutoCAD, Revit, Enscape, ArcGIS, Rhino 3D, Adobe Creative Cloud

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite.

• Experience working on public realm projects, including both the horizontal (street, landscape, and public space design), and vertical (architecture, massing, and façade articulation) and being able to bridge multiple disciplines at the same time

• Experience with a variety of project scales from planning to smaller city planning/urban projects.

• Experience in mentoring & QA/QC work for junior staff, with technical planning documents including urban design guidelines and detailed site plans, sections, axonometric and diagrams.

• Highly experienced with zoning and development codes.

• Experience in design-lead and project-management roles.

• Strong written and verbal communication.

• Ability to integrate physical, social, economic, and sustainability factors into responsible designs for our clients.

  Nice to Have:

• AICP certified

• Actively engaged and heavily involved with professional organizations such as APA, AIA, ASLA, and/or ULI.

• Advanced knowledge of systems thinking.

• Has experience in working on projects related to sea level rise planning, community engagement, equitable access to parks and open space.

• Interest in sustainability, resiliency, infrastructure, real estate, and/or higher education

• Interest in emerging technologies such as generative/computer-aided design, AI, AR/VR, and interactive data visualization tools

• Familiarity with large-scale sustainability rating systems such as EcoDistricts, LEED-ND, and/or Living Community Challenge

  What can you expect from us?

• A creative work environment and colleagues who are collaborative, creative, and challenging

• Opportunity to grow professionally with excellent projects

• Check our culture page to learn about life at Olson Kundig

  In addition to a dynamic and creative culture, Olson Kundig provides a generous benefits package that includes 16 days of paid time off, paid holidays, health plan, 401k match, bonuses, profit-sharing plans for qualified positions, a monthly travel subsidy for public transportation, and more.

  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 $105,000 and $125,000 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.

  All applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship and must already possess long-term work authorization.

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