Education Client Leader II

Cannon Design; Pittsburgh (Allegheny County); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

CannonDesign seeks a senior Education Market leader in the Pittsburgh office to drive client leadership and long‑term relationships with targeted clients. You will contribute to marketing, business development, mentoring, and delivering high‑quality design solutions while championing Living‑Centered Design.

The role emphasizes strategic planning, team leadership, and growth objectives, including guiding cross‑office collaboration and achieving top‑line revenue targets in the Education sector.

Qualifications

• Must have at least 12 years of experience in the Education Market with a proven track record of client and team leadership.
• Bachelor degree in a relevant field required.
• Current Registration/Licensure in Architecture, Interior Design or Engineering preferred.
• Must have client leadership experience within an office or a market, with multiple client relationships.
• Must have experience focused on developing new opportunities and building long‑term relationships with both new target and existing clients.
• Strong communication and leadership skills required.
• Some travel required.

Responsibilities

• Client Leadership: leading and partnering with clients on billable project work, building long‑term relationships and ensuring project and financial success.
• Top Line Growth: develop new net signed fee opportunities and pursue new target clients, cross‑sell services across markets.
• Team Leadership: mentor project teams and promote collaboration across CannonDesign’s multi-office culture.
• Strategy and Planning: understand client business needs and marshal experts across CannonDesign to deliver innovative solutions.
• Bottom Line Growth: align with leadership to implement firm-wide goals and initiatives.
• Staff Development: mentor emerging professionals and foster an environment of leadership and inclusion.

Education

Bachelor degree in a relevant field

Registration/Licensure in Architecture, Interior Design or Engineering preferred

Job description

If you think your skills, experience and aspirations make you a good match for this position, we encourage you to apply.

ABOUT THE ROLE

Your role is focused on providing client leadership within the Pittsburgh office for the Education market to build and maintain strategic long‑term relationships with targeted clients. You will contribute to the success of the firm, including in the areas of marketing and business development, client and team leadership, mentoring our people, advancing the quality of our work, integrating our range of design services, managing our processes and delivering solid financial performance. Importantly, you will be an ambassador of our brand, championing Living‑Centered Design and bringing our Firm's purpose - to help people continuously flourish - to life in every touchpoint you have with our clients.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

In this role the majority of your time will be spent on client and team leadership activities engaged directly on projects. In addition you will be required to proactively engage in business development activities with new target clients, as well as create new business opportunities with existing ones.

• Client Leadership: Leading, engaging and partnering with our clients on billable project‑specific work, fostering strong long term client relationships, driving successful project outcomes and financial success, while creating opportunities for future engagements. You will be accountable for the success of the client relationship.
• Top Line Growth: Developing new net signed fee opportunities for our markets, practices, and service lines. You will be expected to lead and actively pursue new target clients. In addition you will be expected to develop new business with existing clients through the successful implementation of project opportunities. You will participate in marketing activities with other leaders in the firm to support our firm's top line capture.
• Team Leadership: Leading and mentoring project teams and engaging with the practice to advance the firm, the office, the market, and our services. Working collaboratively within our SFMO (Single‑Firm, Multi‑Office) culture to advance and support high‑performing teams focused on delivering high‑quality service and innovative design solutions to our clients.

AREAS OF FOCUS

• Client Leadership: Responsible for the leadership and growth of client relationships within an office or market. Must be a self‑starter and an entrepreneurial person with the ability to lead clients and client teams. You must be able to collaborate effectively with others across the full range of services provided by our firm. You are expected to provide hands‑on leadership in support of our clients and in the development of the work from the initial client visioning meetings through completion of the work.
• Top Line Development: Provide new net signed fee opportunities through the proactive identification, leadership and pursuit of new target clients. In addition you will be expected to develop new business by securing 'direct select', repeat business and additional services with our existing clients. You will champion our Omnichannel approach by promoting and cross selling all markets, practices, and integrated services throughout all phases of client engagement. In this role you will have a personal goal of achieving top line success of $2.0M per year in net signed fees.
• Team Leadership Skills: Proactively develop and lead collaborative project teams. You will be expected to build and lead diverse and inclusive teams capable of both winning and executing transformational solutions that differentiate the firm and add value for our clients. Responsible for ensuring success both from a client and a CannonDesign perspective.
• Strategy and Planning: Develop an understanding of the business, operations and process needs of the client as well as the resulting market solutions. Possess the ability to bring together a comprehensive team of experts and thought leaders within CannonDesign focused on executing creative, state‑of‑the‑art solutions.
• Bottom Line Growth: Working with the Business Practice Leader and Office Market Leader to ensure our firm's business practices, goals and bottom‑line initiatives are successfully implemented.
• Staff Development: Mentoring and growing emerging professionals. Providing leadership in establishing an environment that encourages leadership, integrity, humility, respect and responsibility, along with collaboration, experimentation, innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship. Building enthusiasm for Living‑Centered Design among teams and showing emerging professionals how it applies to their work.

Targets and metrics for this role are subject to change as CannonDesign periodically evaluates our performance metrics.

ABOUT YOUR QUALIFICATIONS

• Must have at least 12 years of experience in the Education Market, preferably working in the A/E/I industry, with a proven track record of client and team leadership.
• Bachelor degree in a relevant field required.
• Current Registration/Licensure in Architecture, Interior Design or Engineering preferred.
• Must have client leadership experience within an office or a market, with multiple client relationships.
• Must have experience focused on developing new opportunities and building long‑term relationships with both new target and existing clients.
• Strong communication and leadership skills required.
• Must possess business acumen and proven ability to execute strategy.
• Must have the professional acumen and maturity demonstrated by the ability to communicate authentically and respectfully.
• Some travel required.

For a general overview of our benefits, please visit our careers page at https://www.cannondesign.com/careers/benefits

ABOUT OUR FIRM

CannonDesign is a design practice where strategy, experience, architecture, engineering, and social impact converge. We don't just dream up solutions - we create and bring them to life in ways to solve some of the biggest challenges facing our clients and the society. At the heart of everything we do is Living‑Centered Design, a bold commitment to using our talents to not just improve the world but to truly reshape it for the better. It's more than a philosophy - it's who we are, and it drives us to make a meaningful, lasting difference every day.

ABOUT WORKING HERE

• We are relentless in our pursuit of client adoration (not simply satisfaction). Consistent delivery of the best service is what we are about.
• We are committed to ensuring our practice provides equal opportunities for all employees, as we strive to connect with communities around us and focus on the future of design. We support equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts that benefit all employees through the leadership of our DEI Council, our Employee Resource Groups which are open to everyone, and other community initiatives.
• We're about communication and transparency here. If you want to talk to someone about an idea you have, or a challenge that needs addressing, we're ready for you.

As a condition of employment, all employees are expected to complete mandatory training, including compliance training, within required timeframes and adhere to our internal policies and our Code of Conduct.

CannonDesign is an Equal Opportunity Employer. CannonDesign is committed to maintaining a work environment that is free from any and all forms of unlawful discrimination and harassment. It is therefore the firm's policy to prohibit discrimination and harassment against any applicant, CannonDesign employee, vendor, contractor, or client on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, pregnancy, veteran status, genetic information, citizenship status, or any other basis prohibited by applicable law. It is also CannonDesign's policy to prohibit any and all forms of retaliation against any individual who has complained of harassing or discriminatory conduct, or participated in a firm or agency investigation into such complaints.