Certified Building Designer & Design Integration Manager

CERTIFIED BUILDING DESIGNER & DESIGN INTEGRATION MANAGER

Remote | Full-Time | US Residential Remodeling & Construction
$15–$22/hour depending on experience | Exceptional candidates up to approximately $25/hour
Performance bonus and profit-sharing potential

READ FIRST — TWO NON-NEGOTIABLE REQUIREMENTS

1. CPBD CERTIFICATION
You must currently hold the Certified Professional Building Designer (CPBD) credential issued by the National Council of Building Designer Certification (NCBDC).

Do not apply unless you hold this exact credential. A Texas-licensed architect may also satisfy the professional qualification requirement.

2. EXTENSIVE US RESIDENTIAL EXPERIENCE
You must have extensive hands-on experience with US residential remodeling, additions, and/or custom homes.

Do not apply if your experience is primarily commercial, institutional, industrial, infrastructure, drafting-only, or non-US residential work.

ABOUT THE POSITION
We are seeking a senior Certified Building Designer & Design Integration Manager to take projects from early design through permitting and continue carrying the design and technical requirements through construction. This is a hands-on senior role. Initially, you will personally perform the design, zoning review, permitting, technical coordination, and design-integration work.

As the company grows, this position is expected to develop into leadership of the building-design function, including establishing standards, improving workflows, training junior designers, reviewing their work, and ultimately managing a design team.

The role is intentionally broader than production design. You will be responsible for keeping design coordinated with estimating, engineering, procurement, permitting, construction requirements, field conditions, and client decisions throughout the project lifecycle.

BUILDING DESIGN & PRECONSTRUCTION
Projects frequently begin before complete construction drawings exist. You must be comfortable developing projects from progressively improving information such as client requirements, site walkthroughs, photographs, 3D scans, existing-condition documentation, preliminary concepts, partial plans, and other project records.

Responsibilities include:
- Review client objectives, site conditions, 3D scans, preliminary budgets, and available project information.
- Review applicable zoning, historic-district requirements, overlays, setbacks, height limitations, building coverage, impervious cover, and other development restrictions.
- Develop conceptual site plans and floor plans.
- Develop 3D schematic studies where appropriate.
- Evaluate project footprint, flow, feasibility, and constructability.
- Prepare interior and exterior elevations.
- Develop technical details, schedules, specifications, and coordinated drawing sets.
- Incorporate structural, subcontractor, estimating, and field feedback into the design.
- Coordinate structural engineers and other consultants.
- Maintain design consistency as scope, pricing, selections, engineering, and field conditions evolve.
- Work closely with estimating so design and cost development proceed together rather than as disconnected processes.

ZONING & PERMITTING — DIRECT OWNERSHIP
This position will personally own the design side of zoning and permitting for assigned projects.

Responsibilities include:
- Determine applicable zoning and development requirements.
- Identify zoning or permitting constraints early in design.
- Prepare permit-ready architectural documents.
- Assemble and submit permit applications.
- Coordinate required engineering and supporting documentation.
- Track permit progress.
- Review municipal plan-review comments.
- Coordinate responses with engineers and other consultants.
- Revise drawings in response to review comments.
- Prepare and submit permit revisions.
- Maintain organized records of comments, revisions, approvals, and outstanding permit conditions.

The role is expected to carry projects through the permit process rather than simply prepare drawings for someone else to manage.

DESIGN INTEGRATION DURING CONSTRUCTION
The role continues through construction. You will be responsible for maintaining continuity between the approved design and actual construction by coordinating the technical information required by the field team, Project Manager, estimators, engineers, subcontractors, and suppliers.

Responsibilities include:
- Manage design-related RFIs and technical questions.
- Coordinate submittals and shop drawings.
- Prepare supplemental drawings, details, and clarifications.
- Resolve drawing conflicts and design discrepancies.
- Coordinate engineering responses and consultant information.
- Prepare design and permit revisions caused by field conditions or approved changes.
- Maintain current drawing, specification, and revision records.
- Track unresolved design decisions and technical dependencies.
- Coordinate technical information required for procurement and fabrication.
- Review technical substitutions and proposed alternatives.
- Support client selection and specification coordination.
- Identify design-related schedule constraints before they affect construction.
- Support project schedule updates with design, permitting, approval, and procurement dependencies.
- Participate in project meetings where technical or design issues require resolution.
- Support closeout documentation and as-built information.

The objective is to ensure that design is actively integrated into execution rather than handed off and forgotten once construction begins.

CABINETRY & CNC — STRONG PREFERENCE
Strong preference will be given to candidates with significant cabinetry and architectural millwork design experience, particularly:
- Kitchens
- Bathroom vanities
- Closets
- Built-ins
- Custom architectural millwork
- Shop and production drawings
- Cabinet construction and hardware
- Cut lists and optimization
- CNC-ready production files
- CNC machine files or toolpaths

Candidates capable of taking cabinetry from design through fabrication-ready CNC output will receive significant preference.

SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT & FUTURE LEADERSHIP
This position is expected to grow into leadership of the building-design function.

Responsibilities are expected to expand to include:
- Establishing drawing and documentation standards
- Developing design QA/QC procedures
- Refining zoning and permitting workflows
- Creating reusable drawing standards and templates
- Improving design-to-estimating handoffs
- Improving design-to-construction handoffs
- Documenting repeatable processes
- Developing standards for RFIs, submittals, revisions, and technical coordination

The long-term objective is for this person to become the senior leader of a growing residential building-design function.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Current Certified Professional Building Designer (CPBD) credential issued by NCBDC, or Texas architectural licensure
- Extensive hands-on experience designing and supporting US residential remodeling, additions, and custom homes
- Demonstrated ability to independently develop residential projects from early concept through construction documents and permitting
- Strong knowledge of US residential construction methods, detailing, constructability, zoning, and permitting
- Experience coordinating engineers, consultants, subcontractors, suppliers, and field teams during both preconstruction and construction
- Strong professional English communication
- Ability to work full-time with substantial overlap with US Central Time

COMPENSATION
$15–$22/hour, depending on experience and demonstrated capability.

Exceptional candidates with especially strong US residential remodeling/building experience, permitting and zoning competency, cabinet/CNC capability, and leadership experience may be considered at approximately $25/hour.

The position also offers potential performance bonuses and profit sharing as responsibilities expand and the role develops into department leadership.

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
Please answer these questions directly in your application:

1. Do you currently hold the Certified Professional Building Designer (CPBD) credential issued by the National Council of Building Designer Certification (NCBDC)? If yes, provide your certification number and current status. If you are instead a Texas-licensed architect, provide your Texas license information.

2. How many years of US residential remodeling, addition, and custom-home design experience do you have? Briefly describe the types and approximate number of US residential projects you have personally handled.

3. Describe one US residential remodeling, addition, or custom-home project that you personally carried from early concept or incomplete information through construction documents, permitting, and construction-phase design coordination.

4. Describe your cabinet and millwork design experience, including whether you have personally created CNC-ready production files or toolpaths.

5. Please provide a portfolio showing US residential design documents and, if applicable, cabinetry, millwork, or CNC-related work.