Architectural Design Manager - K-12 Capital Programs & Modernization (DSA)

MAAS Companies; Monterey Park (CA); On-site; USD 167,000 - 183,000; Full time

Job summary

MAAS Companies seeks a Design Manager for LAUSD Facilities Services Division to oversee the district's design process from programming through construction documents, ensuring adherence to budget, schedule, and educational/building standards.

You will lead multiple projects, guide architects and engineers, coordinate with DSA, and report planning and design status with clear findings and recommendations. MAAS is 100% employee-owned through an ESOP, with strong growth and stability.

Qualifications

• 8 years of full-time professional experience managing facilities design or coordinating capital projects including design, contract administration, cost estimating, and scheduling.
• 4 years on design, planning, and construction of educational facilities or similar public agencies.
• A bachelor's degree in architecture or engineering.
• Clear writing and the ability to direct several design firms and projects at once.

Responsibilities

• Own the District's design process on assigned projects from programming to construction documents.
• Manage several projects at once with architects, engineers, consultants, and District staff.
• Select the best-suited architecture or engineering firm for each project.
• Provide clear direction on goals, standards, site, schedule, and budget.
• Conduct design reviews to ensure compliance with LAUSD educational and building standards.
• Review design changes to keep projects within budget.
• Coordinate DSA review and approvals.
• Prepare status reports on planning and design with findings and recommendations.

Skills

Project management

Stakeholder coordination

Written communication

Design review

Education

Bachelor's degree in architecture or engineering

Job description

LAUSD's Facilities Services Division plans, designs, and builds the District's new schools, modernizations, and repair projects. As Design Manager, you manage the District's design process on your assigned projects, so that every set of plans stays inside the program, the budget, the schedule, and the environmental and legal requirements.

You carry several projects at once. For each one you select the architecture or engineering firm best suited to the work, give that firm clear direction on goals, standards, site, schedule, and budget, and run the design review to confirm the design meets LAUSD's educational and building standards. You review design changes so projects stay within budget, coordinate review and approval by DSA, the Division of the State Architect, the state office that approves public school construction, and report on planning and design status with your findings and recommendations.

What You Will Own

• The District's design process on assigned projects, from programming and early design through construction documents the District can build from
• Several projects at once, with the architects, engineers, consultants, and District staff on each one
• Selection of the architecture or engineering firm best suited to each project
• Clear direction to design firms on goals, standards, site, schedule, and budget
• Design review against LAUSD's educational and building standards
• Review of design changes so projects stay within budget
• Coordination of DSA review and approval
• Status reports on planning and design, with findings and recommendations

• 8 years of full-time professional experience managing facilities design, or planning and coordinating capital projects that included the overall design, contract administration, cost estimating, and scheduling (required for this role)
• 4 of those years on the design, planning, and construction of educational facilities or similar public agencies (required for this role)
• A bachelor's degree in architecture or engineering (required for this role)
• Clear writing and the judgment to direct several design firms and projects at once

Preferred

• A current California Certificate of Registration as an Architect, or a Professional Engineer license
• DSA experience
• Modernization and repair work on campuses that stay open while the work happens
• Cost estimating and scheduling during design

Salary range:

$167,000 to $183,000 per year, based on experience.

Benefits:

• health, dental, and vision at low cost
• 401k
• three weeks of PTO
• and an ESOP (employee stock ownership) at no cost to you, with a 3% Safe Harbor contribution vested on day one.

Why MAAS

MAAS has spent nearly 40 years earning the trust of 50+ educational institutions across California, managing over $10B in projects. That track record means the work here is stable, funded, and consequential. You are not chasing the next contract.

As a MAAS employee, you are also an owner. The company is 100% employee-owned through an ESOP, a retirement benefit provided at no cost to you, on top of your salary. MAAS is a profitable, well-run organization and our share price has more than doubled since the plan's inception, with continued growth year over year. Your ownership stake builds the longer you stay, and ESOP participants nationally tend to accumulate 2.5x more in retirement savings than employees at non-ESOP companies.

In an industry not known for prioritizing culture, 96% of MAAS employees say it is a great place to work, and 100% say people genuinely care about each other.