Architectural Designer 1

STV's Washington, DC Architecture practice is seeking an Architectural Designer I with 0-5 years of professional experience to join our growing multidisciplinary design team with our Buildings Group.

We welcome emerging architectural professionals with different strengths and career interests. Some candidates may bring strong design and visualization skills. Others may be more technically oriented and interested in documentation, building systems, or constructability. Others may see their long-term path in project coordination and project management. This position is designed to provide broad exposure to architectural practice while allowing individuals to develop toward their strongest areas over time.

The Architectural Designer I will support transportation, civic, federal, institutional, and other complex public projects across multiple phases of design and delivery. Compared with more experienced architectural roles, extensive experience assembling complete drawing sets is not expected. However, candidates should be comfortable working in Revit, have strong architectural fundamentals, and demonstrate curiosity, adaptability, and a willingness to contribute wherever the project needs support.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and Project Development: Support architectural design, planning, documentation, visualization, and project coordination across different phases of work.
• Architectural Documentation: Assist with the development of floor plans, reflected ceiling plans, elevations, sections, enlarged plans, details, schedules, diagrams, and other architectural drawings under the direction of more experienced team members.
• Revit Modeling and Documentation: Develop and maintain Revit models and drawing content in accordance with project standards, including views, sheets, annotations, schedules, families, and model organization.
• Design Exploration: Contribute to design studies, option development, diagrams, renderings, physical or digital models, and presentation materials.
• Technical Learning: Develop an understanding of building assemblies, materials, detailing, constructability, accessibility, life safety, and the relationship between architectural and engineering systems.
• Multidisciplinary Coordination: Participate in coordination with structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, civil, and other disciplines while learning how architectural decisions interact with broader building systems.
• Project Coordination: Assist project architects and project managers with meeting materials, coordination tracking, issue documentation, and other project delivery activities.
• Design Technology: Explore and apply digital tools, workflows, automation, visualization, and emerging technologies that can improve design quality, coordination, productivity, and consistency.
• Quality Control: Incorporate markups accurately, check work for completeness and consistency, and develop disciplined habits around model and drawing quality.
• Team Collaboration: Work across different project types, design phases, and assignments based on project needs, while communicating progress and asking questions when requirements are unclear.
• Professional Development: Build experience across design, technical delivery, coordination, and project management while developing a clearer long-term professional direction.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Architecture from an accredited program.
• 0-5 years of professional architectural experience.
• Strong architectural fundamentals, including an understanding of plans, sections, elevations, spatial relationships, and basic building organization.
• Proficiency in Autodesk Revit, including the ability to:

o Navigate and work effectively within an established project model.

o Create and modify architectural elements such as walls, floors, roofs, ceilings, doors, windows, stairs, and basic curtain wall systems.

o Develop and organize views, sheets, annotations, dimensions, tags, and schedules.

o Work with levels, grids, linked models, view templates, visibility settings, and basic worksharing workflows.

o Modify existing families and parameters and create simple project-specific content when needed.

o Incorporate markups accurately while maintaining model and drawing consistency.

o Understand the relationship between the Revit model and the resulting architectural documentation.

• Ability to communicate architectural ideas through drawings, diagrams, models, and graphics.
• Strong attention to detail and willingness to develop sound documentation habits.
• Curiosity about how buildings are designed, coordinated, constructed, and operated.
• Ability to learn new software, workflows, project requirements, and technical concepts.
• Willingness to work across different project types, project phases, and assignments rather than specializing too early in one area.
• Strong collaboration and communication skills and the ability to respond constructively to feedback.

Preferred

• Experience with Adobe Creative Suite, Rhino, Enscape, or other architectural design and visualization tools.
• Exposure to construction documentation, architectural detailing, multidisciplinary coordination, or construction administration.
• Experience with computational design, automation, scripting, BIM workflows, data-driven design, AI-assisted workflows, or other design technology applications.
• Interest in transportation, civic, federal, institutional, infrastructure, or other complex public projects.
• Interest in pursuing architectural licensure and continued professional development.

Ideal Candidate

We are not looking for one specific type of emerging architect.

A strong candidate may be a talented designer who wants to understand how ideas become buildings, a technically minded individual who is interested in detailing and building systems, or someone who enjoys coordination and sees a future path toward project leadership and management.

What matters most is a strong foundation, proficiency in Revit, intellectual curiosity, adaptability, and a willingness to learn across the full range of architectural practice.

The ideal candidate does not expect every assignment to fit neatly within a preferred specialty. They are willing to move between design studies, documentation, modeling, coordination, presentations, research, and technical problem-solving as project needs evolve. They should also be interested in how technology can improve the way architects work-not simply by producing faster graphics, but by improving coordination, reducing repetitive effort, increasing consistency, and strengthening the quality of project delivery.

This position is intended to give emerging professionals a broad platform from which to develop. Over time, individuals may grow toward design leadership, technical architecture, project architecture, project management, design technology, or a combination of these paths within STV's Washington, DC Architecture practice.

This position is not eligible for sponsorship.

Compensation Range:

$63,557.00 - $72,223.00

STV offers the following benefits • Health insurance, including an option with a Health Savings Account • Dental insurance • Vision insurance • Flexible Spending Accounts (Healthcare, Dependent Care and Transit and Parking where applicable) • Disability insurance • Life Insurance and Accidental Death & Dismemberment • 401(k) Plan • Retirement Counseling • Employee Assistance Program • Paid Time Off • Paid Holidays • Back-Up Dependent Care • Parental Leave • Continuing Education Program • Professional Licensure and Society Memberships

STV is committed to paying all of its employees in a fair, equitable, and transparent manner. The listed pay range is STV's good-faith salary estimate for this position. Please note that the final salary offered for this position may be outside of this published range based on many factors, including but not limited to geography, education, experience, and/or certifications.

Not sure this role is the perfect match? We encourage you to apply if STV's work and values resonate with you. We know great candidates don't always meet every qualification, and research shows women and people of color are less likely to apply unless they do. At STV, we believe strong talent comes from a wide range of backgrounds, and your skills and experience may align with this or another opportunity as we continue to grow.