Architectural Designer

About The Role

Every new Primer campus starts as an empty building in a city where we've never operated. Someone has to turn it into a school fast: pass code, fit the budget, and feel like Primer the moment a kid walks in. That's you. This isn't a support role bolted onto real estate. The pace we open campuses at depends on how fast and how well you can run this process, and the standards you set here get reused at every campus after it.

What You'll Do

• Site feasibility and pre-construction
• Lead code analysis and zoning review
• Coordinate traffic and parking studies
• Run test fits and space programming
• Make the go/no-go call on new sites
• Build the diligence playbook
• Permitting and project management
• Manage permitting across jurisdictions
• Run the civil engineers, FLS specialists, and local architects of record on each project
• Juggle several projects at different stages without dropping a deadline
• FF&E and product specification
• Research and spec the furniture, equipment, and branded materials that go into every Primer campus
• Build a vendor list and product catalog other teams can order from
• Find the value engineering wins that save money without cutting corners on the student experience

What We're Looking For

• 5+ years in architectural project management, interior design, or something close, with real ownership from design through construction
• Experience building design standards or prototypes for multi-location rollout (a big plus)
• Background in schools, retail, or hospitality, anywhere physical space matters to the people using it
• Deep knowledge of building codes, ADA, fire life safety, zoning, and permitting across multiple jurisdictions
• Fluency in AutoCAD, Revit, or equivalent, plus comfort with project management tools
• The ability to run multiple projects and vendors at once without losing a thread

Why This Role May Not Be a Fit

• You want to design one beautiful building and live in it for a year. This role moves fast across many sites at once, and nothing sits still long enough for that kind of depth.
• You'd rather hand off permitting and consultant management to someone else. Here, you're the one chasing the inspector and keeping the civil engineer on schedule.
• You need a finished playbook to work from. Part of the job is building that playbook as you go, so some of it will be genuinely undefined when you start.