Senior Project Manager + Place-Based Designer

Trademark Creative Studio; Boise (ID); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company-sponsored health plan

401(k) plan with employer matching

Generous PTO

Collaborative environment

Multidisciplinary team

Job summary

Trademark Creative Studio in Boise, Idaho is seeking a Senior Project Manager + Place-Based Designer to lead complex, multidisciplinary projects from concept through fabrication and installation. You’ll own client relationships, translate vision into clear plans, and guide teams to deliver place-based experiences that matter.

You are a curious, collaborative thinker with strong design and technical instincts, able to balance bold ideas with budget, schedule, and field realities.

Qualifications

• Background may be in environmental graphic design, architecture, industrial design, experiential design, product design, exhibit design, placemaking, fabrication, construction, or related discipline.
• Equally strong in orchestrating people and moving parts, with a collaborative mindset.

Responsibilities

• Lead projects from kickoff through design, fabrication, installation, and closeout.
• Serve as the client’s primary point of contact and trusted advisor.
• Translate approved scopes into clear plans, milestones, responsibilities, reviews, and approvals.
• Manage scope, schedule, labor hours, budget, consultants, vendors, and risk.
• Guide clients and team through decisions, priorities, and tradeoffs.
• Keep project information and next steps clear and current.
• Identify scope changes, delays, unresolved decisions, and risks early.
• Own the client experience and project outcome.

Skills

Project leadership

Detail-oriented

Problem-solving

Mentoring

Collaboration

Strategic thinking

Education

Background in environmental graphic design

Tools

Adobe Creative Cloud

CAD/3D modeling

Technical drawings

Project management tools

Job description

Trademark is a multidisciplinary, place-based creative studio in Boise, Idaho. We partner with cities, communities, organizations, and businesses to shape brands, spaces, and stories for the built environment.

We’re on a mission to free the world of mediocre design. We believe people deserve to feel inspired by the places they live, work, and play. The places we move through every day influence how we connect with one another, how we experience our communities, and how we feel about the places we call home.

We envision a world where communities are celebrated for what makes them unique, forgotten places are reimagined, neglected spaces are revitalized, and people feel a deeper connection to the places they move through every day. We believe a more connected world starts with places worth connecting to.

We are placemakers who design with imagination and build with intention. Trademark brings together curious minds, imaginative thinkers, and technical builders whose backgrounds span from fine art to mechanical engineering, brand strategy to machining, and material science to carpentry.

We think in systems, sketches, renderings, and moodboards. Some of us shape visual identities. Others shape physical environments. Many of us do both. We blur the lines between disciplines on purpose because that’s where we believe the magic happens.

The Opportunity

We’re looking for a Senior Project Manager + Place-Based Designer to lead complex, multidisciplinary projects and help bring ambitious ideas to life.

This role is for someone who can hold the whole project: the vision, client relationship, design, team, details, and realities of making something physical. You’re naturally curious and skilled at uncovering what makes a place distinct, translating that understanding into thoughtful design, and carrying the idea through development, fabrication, and installation.

You’re as comfortable leading a client conversation as you are working through a drawing, material, or field condition. You “paint it done” for clients and team members, creating clarity and alignment from the start. You bring different disciplines together, encourage collaboration, and know how to keep projects on track without losing the magic.

You’re the person clients want to work with and team members want beside them. If we asked the people who have worked with you before, they’d tell us you made both the work and the people around you better.

What You’ll Do

Lead Projects and Client Relationships

• Lead projects from kickoff through design, fabrication, installation, and closeout
• Serve as the client’s primary point of contact and trusted advisor
• Translate approved scopes into clear plans, milestones, responsibilities, reviews, and approvals
• Manage scope, schedule, labor hours, budget, consultants, vendors, and risk
• Guide clients and team members through decisions, priorities, and tradeoffs
• Keep project information and next steps clear and current
• Identify scope changes, delays, unresolved decisions, and risks early
• Own the client experience and project outcome

Shape Place-Based Design

• Uncover what makes a place, organization, or community distinct and translate it into a clear design direction
• Consider how people approach, understand, move through, and feel within a place
• Communicate ideas through narratives, presentations, sketches, drawings, and prototypes
• Develop concepts across identity, wayfinding, signage, interpretation, placemaking, public art, and experience
• Think across scale, visibility, circulation, materials, accessibility, durability, and maintenance
• Protect the details that make the work meaningful and authentic to the people and place it represents

Carry Ideas Into the Built Environment

• Translate creative concepts into thoughtful, buildable solutions
• Develop and review technical drawings, details, specifications, prototypes, and fabrication documents
• Research materials, construction methods, attachment systems, and unfamiliar conditions
• Collaborate with architects, engineers, fabricators, installers, vendors, and contractors
• Invite and incorporate feedback from peers and principals, drawing on the team’s diverse experience to strengthen the outcome
• Think through how the work will be fabricated, transported, installed, and maintained
• Account for field conditions, permitting, utilities, site access, equipment, and installation requirements
• Balance creative ambition with budget, schedule, constructability, accessibility, and long‑term performance
• Adapt when site conditions or new information require the plan to change

The Heart of What We’re Looking For

Your background may be in environmental graphic design, architecture, industrial design, experiential design, product design, exhibit design, placemaking, fabrication, construction, or another discipline where ideas become physical.

You’re a bit of a unicorn: equal parts orchestrator of people and moving parts, conceptual design thinker, and technically minded problem‑solver. You’re humble, collaborative by nature, and want to contribute to something greater than yourself.

The right person will bring:

• Demonstrated experience leading complex, multidisciplinary projects
• Initiative, close attention to detail, and a problem‑solving mindset
• Strong spatial, creative, technical, and practical judgment
• The ability to turn ambiguity into clarity and forward movement
• Sound judgment about when to make a decision and when to involve additional expertise
• A steady, curious, and resourceful approach to unfamiliar problems
• High standards, dependable follow‑through, and respect for the expertise of others
• The confidence to lead without ego and collaborate without losing accountability
• A genuine interest in mentoring others and making the team stronger

Technical Requirements

• Proficiency with Adobe Creative Cloud, particularly Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop
• Experience working in a CAD, 3D‑modeling, or technical drawing platform
• Ability to develop, interpret, redline, and review technical drawings and fabrication documents
• Experience using project‑management tools to manage schedules, budgets, responsibilities, decisions, and documentation
• Comfort learning new software, materials, systems, and production methods as projects require
• Ability to work across the design studio, fabrication shop, and active job sites

Bonus Points

• Experience with wayfinding, signage, identity systems, placemaking, public art, branded environments, permitting, fabrication, installation, or public‑sector work
• Proficiency in 3D modeling and rendering, particularly Fusion 360
• Familiarity with reading architectural and construction drawings and conducting accurate field measurements

What We’re Offering

Added Perks of the Job:

• Company-sponsored health plan
• 401 (k) plan with employer matching
• Competitive PTO policy
• Collaborative and flexible work environment
• The opportunity to work alongside a talented multidisciplinary team and use your abilities to create a more connected and inspiring world