Senior Technical Designer / Architect

Archinect; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Competitive salary

SF Mission District office

Team events

Job summary

Moment X in San Francisco seeks a Senior Technical Architect to lead the technical development of high-end residential and commercial projects. You will translate bold design ideas into detailed, buildable solutions, manage construction documents, and supervise coordination with consultants and builders.

The role emphasizes hands-on leadership, mentoring, and maintaining design intent while navigating budget, code, and construction constraints. Previous Bay Area experience is preferred.

Qualifications

• Approximately 10–15+ years of professional architectural experience.
• Extensive experience with modern high-end custom residential and commercial architecture.
• Strong track record of complex residential projects through design development to construction.
• Deep knowledge of detailing, materials, assemblies, and building enclosure systems.
• Experience with wood-frame and related construction systems in sophisticated Bay Area residential work.
• Experience with construction administration and field coordination.
• Ability to mentor team members while remaining hands-on.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical development and delivery from design through construction.
• Translate concepts into buildable, refined solutions.
• Develop and oversee construction documentation and detailing.
• Own complex details, assemblies, and interface between systems.
• Coordinate with consultants (structural, MEP, landscape, interiors).
• Lead site visits, RFIs, submittals, and field observations.
• Mentor architects and designers, elevating studio standards.

Skills

Leadership

Construction admin

Detailing

Coordination

Mentoring

Site visits

Problem solving

Communication

Tools

Revit

Rhino

Job description

Senior Technical Architect

We’re looking for a Senior Technical Architect with extensive experience delivering exceptional modern residential architecture through technical development and construction.

This is a role for someone who is deeply interested in how architecture is made—someone who enjoys translating strong design ideas into thoughtful details, coordinated assemblies, rigorous construction documents, and beautifully executed built work.

Moment X is a design-driven architecture and interiors studio based in San Francisco. We are an experimental, interdisciplinary practice working across architecture, interiors, landscape, and art as one.

We believe in curiosity over certainty, and delight over luxury. We listen before we draw—to the land, ecology, history, clients, craftspeople, and people who ultimately inhabit the places we create. Meaningful architecture emerges not only from a strong idea, but from attention to material, climate, construction, craft, and the realities of everyday life.

As our studio grows, we are looking for people who want to help build the practice with us. We value expertise without ego: people who bring deep knowledge to the table while remaining curious, collaborative, and willing to learn from others. We believe good architecture comes from listening—to one another, to our clients, to consultants and builders, and to the people and places we serve.

This is a hands-on technical leadership role. You will work closely with the Principal and design team to take projects from design development through construction, translating design intent into rigorous, buildable solutions while protecting the clarity and character of the original idea.

For the right person, this is an opportunity to have a meaningful influence not only on individual projects, but also on the technical standards, construction knowledge, and culture of a growing design practice.

Responsibilities

• Lead the technical development and delivery of projects from design development through construction
• Translate architectural concepts into clear, refined, and buildable solutions
• Develop and oversee high-quality construction documentation and architectural detailing
• Take ownership of complex details, assemblies, material transitions, envelope conditions, waterproofing, glazing systems, millwork, and interfaces between building systems
• Work closely with the design team to maintain design intent while responding intelligently to technical, budget, code, and construction constraints
• Lead multidisciplinary consultant coordination, including structural, civil, MEP, landscape, lighting, interiors, and specialty consultants
• Proactively identify coordination and constructability issues and develop well-considered solutions
• Oversee drawing-set coordination and quality control
• Lead construction administration, including RFIs, submittals, shop drawings, samples, mockups, field observations, and contractor coordination
• Work directly with contractors, fabricators, craftspeople, consultants, and vendors to resolve issues during construction
• Regularly visit project sites and use field observations to inform technical decisions
• Evaluate proposed substitutions and construction solutions while protecting the essential design intent
• Mentor architects and designers in detailing, documentation, coordination, and construction
• Help establish and continuously improve the studio’s technical standards, details, documentation practices, and quality-control processes
• Bring knowledge gained through construction back into the design process and the broader studio

Qualifications

• Approximately 10–15+ years of professional architectural experience
• Extensive experience with modern high-end custom residential and commercial architecture
• A strong body of completed work demonstrating exceptional technical resolution and construction quality
• Significant experience carrying complex residential projects from design development through construction completion
• Deep knowledge of architectural detailing, materials, assemblies, building envelope systems, waterproofing, glazing, millwork, and construction
• Strong understanding of wood-frame and other construction systems commonly used in sophisticated Bay Area residential work
• Extensive construction administration and field experience
• Ability to anticipate construction and coordination issues before they become problems in the field
• Strong experience reviewing shop drawings, submittals, mockups, and contractor proposals
• Thorough knowledge of construction documentation and consultant coordination
• Familiarity with Bay Area building codes, permitting processes, construction practices, and local building culture
• Strong understanding of cost and constructability without allowing either to become a substitute for thoughtful design
• Ability to move comfortably between a building-scale problem and a highly resolved architectural detail
• Proficiency in Revit and Rhino
• Rhino proficiency strongly preferred
• Strong communication, organization, and coordination skills
• Ability to mentor less-experienced team members while remaining hands-on with the work

Who We Hope You Are

You may have spent much of your career becoming exceptionally good at the part of architecture that happens after the first idea.

You care about where materials meet, how water moves through an assembly, how a reveal terminates, how glazing interfaces with structure, how a stair is actually fabricated, and whether the construction in the field lives up to the architectural intention.

You enjoy drawings and details, but you also know that architecture cannot be resolved from a desk alone. You are comfortable walking a job site, talking with a contractor or fabricator, understanding why something is not working, and finding a better solution.

You have strong opinions born from experience, but you do not need to be the author of every idea. You are interested in understanding the design intent and making it stronger through technical intelligence.

Our Studio Culture

At Moment X, we believe the quality of the practice and the quality of the work are closely connected.

We are intentionally building a studio where people can bring ideas forward, challenge conventions, take responsibility, and continue to grow. We value:

• Curiosity — asking questions before assuming answers
• Experimentation — being willing to test ideas and explore unfamiliar territory
• Compassion — designing with care for people, place, and one another
• Rigor — caring about the difference between a good idea and a well-resolved one
• Openness — sharing ideas, feedback, knowledge, and responsibility
• Collaboration — believing the strongest work emerges through dialogue rather than individual authorship
• Integrity — being thoughtful, dependable, and accountable in how we work
• Continuous growth — improving the work, the studio, and ourselves over time

We are a relatively small and evolving practice, which means every person has an impact. We hope to work with people who are excited not only to join Moment X, but to help build what Moment X becomes.

Alongside our built work, we pursue interdisciplinary research and creative exchange. Each month, we host Momentum, an ongoing series of conversations with designers, artists, musicians, technologists, makers, and thinkers beyond our daily work. We see these exchanges as part of the practice itself—a way of staying curious and expanding how we think about design.

Compensation & Benefits

• Competitive salary commensurate with experience
• Performance-based bonus
• Health insurance benefits
• Flexible vacation and sick time
• Collaborative studio environment in the heart of San Francisco’s Mission District
• Regular team lunches, interdisciplinary events, studio gatherings, and annual celebrations
• Opportunities to participate in Momentum and the broader cultural and intellectual life of the studio