Senior Project Manager

Senior Project Manager - Higher Education Architecture

A leading global architecture and design firm is seeking a Senior Project Manager to join its growing Dallas studio and help shape the next generation of higher education environments. This is a high-impact opportunity for an experienced architectural project leader who is ready to guide complex campus projects, mentor teams, deepen client relationships, and grow into a visible leadership role within the firm’s Higher Education practice.

This role offers a highly competitive compensation package, with a salary of $120K+, along with significant leadership visibility and long-term career growth potential.

This role is ideal for a strategic, client-focused Senior Project Manager with a strong portfolio of higher education, campus, academic, student life, research, or institutional projects. The successful candidate will bring strong technical knowledge, business acumen, and the leadership presence needed to build trust with universities, colleges, consultants, and internal teams.

With a clear path toward becoming a Higher Education Practice Leader, this position offers significant career trajectory, influence, compensation upside, and long-term growth within one of the most respected design environments in the industry.

Salary: $120K+

About the Role

As a Senior Project Manager in Dallas, you will lead multidisciplinary architecture and design teams through all phases of higher education projects, from early strategy and programming through design, documentation, construction administration, and client delivery. You will be responsible for project performance, client satisfaction, team leadership, consultant coordination, and overall execution.

This is more than a project delivery role. It is a platform for leadership, supported by a strong compensation package starting at $120K+. You will have the opportunity to shape client strategy, expand the firm’s higher education portfolio, contribute to market growth, and position yourself for advancement into practice leadership.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead complex higher education architecture projects, including academic buildings, campus master planning efforts, student life facilities, research environments, libraries, student housing, and institutional renovations.
• Serve as the primary client-facing project leader, building strong relationships with college and university stakeholders, facilities teams, campus planners, and executive leadership.
• Manage project scope, schedule, budget, staffing, fees, contracts, deliverables, and overall project performance.
• Guide internal architecture and design teams through all phases of project development, ensuring design excellence, technical quality, and successful delivery.
• Coordinate consultants, engineers, contractors, and owner representatives to maintain alignment across project goals, documentation, and construction execution.
• Mentor emerging project managers, architects, designers, and technical staff while fostering a collaborative, high-performance studio culture.
• Support business development efforts, including client relationship building, proposal strategy, interviews, presentations, and pursuit planning.
• Help grow the firm’s higher education practice in Dallas and throughout the region by identifying opportunities, strengthening client partnerships, and contributing to thought leadership.
• Champion innovative, inclusive, sustainable, and student-centered design solutions for colleges, universities, and campus communities.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional experience in architecture, with a strong focus on project management and delivery.
• Demonstrated experience leading higher education, academic, campus, institutional, or comparable large-scale architecture projects.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Architecture or a related field.
• Architectural license preferred.
• Proven ability to manage complex projects from concept through construction administration.
• Strong client leadership skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with university stakeholders, consultants, contractors, and internal teams.
• Experience managing project financials, contracts, schedules, staffing plans, and risk.
• Business development experience preferred, including pursuits, proposals, interviews, client engagement, and market growth.
• Strong leadership, mentorship, communication, and organizational skills.
• Proficiency with industry-standard architecture and project delivery tools.

Compensation and Career Growth

This Dallas opportunity offers a salary of $120K+ and is designed for a project leader who wants more than a traditional project management role. The firm is looking for someone who can step into meaningful responsibility now while building toward a larger leadership platform.

The compensation reflects the importance of the position: a senior-level leadership opportunity for someone who can manage major higher education projects, strengthen client relationships, support business development, and help grow a market-facing practice.

The right candidate will have the opportunity to:

• Move into a visible leadership role within the Higher Education practice.
• Help define growth strategy for campus and academic work across the region.
• Build and expand long-term relationships with colleges and universities.
• Mentor teams and influence studio culture.
• Shape the future of learning, research, student life, and campus experience through design.

For an ambitious Senior Project Manager, this is a rare chance to join a highly respected architecture practice, earn a competitive $120K+ salary, lead notable higher education projects, and grow into a future Higher Education Practice Leader.

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is a confident project leader, trusted client advisor, and collaborative mentor with a passion for higher education design. They understand the complexity of campus environments and bring the communication skills, technical knowledge, and strategic mindset needed to lead both projects and people.

They are energized by the opportunity to grow a practice, strengthen client relationships, support business development, and help define the future of higher education architecture in Dallas.