Professional Designer

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is a collective of over 1,200 architects, designers, engineers, and planners working across studios in London, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Hong Kong, Melbourne, Riyadh and Dubai. We are seeking to hire our next generation of Design Leaders in the SOM London Studio who can drive design ideas and deliver our most ambitious global projects.

Your Impact

As a senior design voice in the studio, you’ll shape projects from concept to completion, integrating strategic vision with design excellence to lead interdisciplinary teams toward bold, future‑focused outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Champion the design process from early concept through delivery, ensuring constructability, performance, and exceptional quality.
• Lead cross‑disciplinary reviews and resolve complex challenges with creativity and clarity.
• Mentor the next generation of talent and contribute to a dynamic, design‑led culture.
• Articulate compelling design narratives that inform clients, inspire collaborators, and elevate our global presence.

Qualifications

• 7+ years experience leading large‑scale, complex projects. License preferred.
• A passionate advocate for impactful and sustainable design.
• A natural leader who energizes and inspires interdisciplinary teams to achieve design excellence.
• An articulate communicator capable of expressing design intent through documentation, dialogue, and publication. Able to develop an active design voice and promote thought leadership, mentorship, and advocacy across the London studio and the wider firm‑wide design community.

Portfolio & CV Mandatory

Portfolios must be submitted for all design and project management positions. Applications without work samples will not be reviewed. Portfolios should be one PDF attachment, 10‑20 pages, maximum 5 MB. Submit as part of your application where the upload field is provided for the resume or CV.

Why Join Us?

As part of our international studio network, you’ll collaborate across offices, disciplines, and cultures, engaging with diverse perspectives to deliver design excellence on a global scale. We’ll support your growth as a design leader through mentorship, global exposure, and access to the firm’s most forward‑thinking leadership. At SOM, your ambition is matched by opportunity, and your ideas have a platform to influence the built environment at every scale.

Details

• Seniority level: Mid‑Senior level
• Employment type: Full‑time
• Job function: Design, Art/Creative, and Information Technology
• Industries: Architecture and Planning, Design Services, Civil Engineering

At SOM, we welcome and encourage diversity in the workplace. We believe an inclusive environment benefits our employees, our firm, and our community, while enriching and challenging our own thinking about design. We are proud to be an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. Employment policy: www.som.com/employment_opportunities_and_policy