Role Overview
- We are seeking an accomplished and highly experienced Lead Architect / Head of Architecture to provide leadership, technical direction, design oversight, and professional management of the company's architecture and design function.
- The successful candidate will lead Contemporary Group's architectural team and ensure the delivery of high-quality, coordinated, innovative, technically sound, and properly documented architectural projects.
- The role is intended for a senior architectural professional capable of independently leading complex projects, mentoring architects, coordinating multidisciplinary consultants, reviewing design output, and resolving routine architectural and design coordination matters without unnecessary escalation to the Managing Director.
- The Head of Architecture will play a central role in protecting Contemporary Group's design standards and strengthening the internal architecture team as the organisation manages an expanding portfolio of major public and private-sector projects.
Responsibilities
Architectural Leadership:
- Provide overall professional and technical leadership to the architecture and design department.
- Establish clear architectural design and documentation standards.
- Allocate architectural projects and responsibilities across the design team.
- Monitor the workload and performance of architects and design staff.
- Ensure architectural teams understand project objectives, client requirements, programme deadlines, and expected design standards.
- Create a culture of design excellence, technical responsibility, collaboration, and accountability.
- Support the development of a strong internal architectural practice.
Design Leadership:
- Lead and oversee architectural concept development.
- Review and guide project design direction.
- Ensure architectural design solutions are functional, innovative, technically feasible, and aligned with client objectives.
- Lead internal design reviews.
- Review architectural drawings before major client or project submissions.
- Ensure appropriate consideration of planning, circulation, spatial organisation, material selection, building performance, constructability, and user experience.
- Challenge weak design solutions and guide architects toward stronger outcomes.
- Maintain and protect Contemporary Group's architectural design quality.
Technical Architectural Oversight:
- Review architectural drawings, plans, sections, elevations, schedules, details, specifications, and revisions.
- Ensure architectural documentation is accurate, coordinated, and suitable for construction.
- Ensure drawing packages are properly reviewed before issue.
- Monitor drawing revisions and document control.
- Ensure teams are working from approved project information.
- Identify technical design deficiencies and ensure timely correction.
- Review architectural Requests for Information and consultant queries.
- Provide architectural guidance on complex project matters.
- Ensure routine architectural issues are resolved within the Architecture Department wherever possible.
- Multidisciplinary Design Coordination
- Coordinate architectural information with structural, mechanical, electrical, civil, specialist, and other consultants.
- Identify conflicts between architectural and engineering information.
- Lead design coordination meetings.
- Ensure design clashes and consultant coordination matters are resolved promptly.
- Work closely with Project Managers to understand programme implications of outstanding design information.
- Ensure consultant deliverables are properly integrated into architectural documentation.
- Monitor consultant response times on design matters.
- Ensure design decisions are clearly documented.
Project Design Management:
- Develop architectural design programmes and deliverable schedules.
- Monitor design progress against agreed project programmes.
- Ensure Project Architects meet agreed submission dates.
- Identify design delays or capacity constraints.
- Work with management to allocate appropriate resources to projects.
- Ensure priority projects receive sufficient technical and leadership attention.
- Support Project Managers with clear design status information.
Team Leadership and Development:
- Directly manage and mentor Project Architects, Architects, and junior design staff.
- Conduct regular architecture team meetings.
- Review employee performance within the Architecture Department.
- Identify technical capability gaps.
- Recommend training and development requirements.
- Support the recruitment and assessment of architectural staff.
- Develop younger architects through mentoring and structured project exposure.
- Promote internal knowledge sharing.
- Build a stronger architecture leadership succession pipeline.
Client and Stakeholder Engagement:
- Attend major client design meetings
- Present architectural concepts and design solutions professionally
- Understand and interpret client requirements
- Manage client feedback and design changes
- Explain architectural recommendations clearly to non-technical clients
- Support the Managing Director in strategic client presentations where required
- Represent Contemporary Group professionally at design and technical engagements
Site and Construction Support:
- Conduct project site visits
- Review construction against approved architectural information
- Support resolution of architectural site issues
- Review architectural shop drawings and material submissions where required
- Provide design clarification to project teams
- Support snagging and project completion activities
- Identify deviations from approved design and ensure appropriate action is taken
- Work closely with Project Managers and site teams
Design Change Management:
- Ensure client and consultant design changes are properly recorded
- Assess the architectural implications of proposed changes
- Work with the Project Manager and Quantity Surveyor to identify potential programme and cost implications
- Ensure revised architectural documentation is issued in a controlled manner
- Prevent informal or undocumented design changes from creating project confusion
Design Quality Assurance:
- Develop and implement architectural Quality Assurance and Quality Control procedures
- Introduce drawing review checklists
- Establish formal internal design review processes
- Reduce drawing errors and coordination omissions
- Monitor recurring architectural and documentation problems
- Develop lessons-learned systems for completed and ongoing projects
- Ensure the department continuously improves its design and documentation quality
BIM and Design Technology:
- Support the adoption and effective use of modern architectural and design technology
- Promote the effective use of Revit, BIM, AutoCAD, visualization tools, and design coordination systems where appropriate
- Support management in improving architectural workflow and digital collaboration
- Assess opportunities to improve design productivity through technology
- Ensure design teams maintain appropriate digital project documentation standards.
Management Reporting:
- Provide regular management updates covering architectural project status, design programme performance, key design issues, outstanding consultant coordination matters, architectural team capacity, priority design decisions, project risks arising from design delays, team performance, and matters genuinely requiring Managing Director intervention.
Key Performance Indicators
Performance in this role may be assessed against:
- Quality of architectural output.
- Timeliness of design deliverables.
- Reduction in architectural drawing errors.
- Reduction in unresolved design coordination issues.Architectural team performance.
- Design programme compliance.
- Consultant coordination effectiveness.
- Client satisfaction with design delivery.
- Reduction in routine architectural matters escalated to the Managing Director.
- Team development and mentoring.
- Implementation of architecture QA/QC systems.
Success in This Role
- Success will mean that Contemporary Group has a strong, organised, and professionally lead Architect; architectural work is consistently reviewed and coordinated; architects are properly managed and developed; design issues are resolved earlier; project documentation improves; and the Managing Director is no longer required to personally manage every routine architectural decision or review every stage of the department's daily output
Qualifications and Experience
- Bachelor's and/or Master's Degree in Architecture.
- Professionally registered architect with the Architects Registration Council of Nigeria is strongly preferred.
- Membership of the Nigerian Institute of Architects is strongly preferred.
- Minimum of Demonstrable experience leading architectural teams.
- Experience delivering large and complex architectural projects.
- Strong experience in multidisciplinary design coordination.
- Demonstrable experience reviewing and approving architectural documentation.
- Strong client-facing and presentation experience.
- Experience in project and design management.
- Strong knowledge of Nigerian planning and building development environments.
- International project or multidisciplinary consultancy exposure is an advantage.
Technical Knowledge / Skills:
- Advanced architectural design knowledge.
- Architectural documentation.
- Design coordination.
- Construction detailing.
- Building systems understanding.
- Revit and BIM knowledge.
- AutoCAD.
- Design presentation.
- Material specification.
- Consultant coordination.
- Drawing review.
- Architectural QA/QC.
- Site coordination.
- Design change management.
Core Competencies:
- Strong design leadership.
- Technical confidence.
- Professional maturity.
- Excellent architectural judgement.
- Team leadership.
- Ability to mentor architects.
- Decisiveness.
- High attention to detail.
- Strong communication.
- Client management.
- Ability to manage multiple complex projects.
- Strong accountability.
- Calmness under pressure.
- Ability to resolve problems independently.
- Ability to distinguish matters requiring Managing Director input from routine design decisions
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