Senior Director Principal Architect

About the Role

Shape the future of healthcare environments at one of the nation’s leading academic medical centers. As the Facilities Sr. Director-Principal Architect, you will set the architectural vision for complex campuses, transforming strategic priorities into innovative, patient-centered spaces that support care, research, and growth. In this senior leadership role, you will serve as Stanford Health Care's enterprise architectural authority, shaping design strategy, standards, and capital programs across multiple campuses while leading a growing team of architectural professionals.

You'll partner with executives, planners, project managers, and clinical stakeholders to deliver complex healthcare environments that advance organizational goals and patient care. This role is hybrid with a minimum of 2 days per week on-site, with the expectation to be on-site any day as needed during regular work hours.

The Facilities Planning & Design (FPD) business unit leads the planning, design, and improvement of Stanford Health Care’s spaces to advance excellence in care, innovation, and experience. With expertise across Planning, Design, Land Use & Licensing, Art, Wayfinding, Signage, and Facilities Administration, FPD turns vision into reality, creating functional, compliant, and inspiring environments aligned with Stanford Medicine’s mission.

Responsibilities

• Establish and uphold enterprise architectural design standards, guidelines, and best practices across all healthcare projects.
• Provide oversight for programming, planning, and design from concept through construction.
• Ensure alignment with clinical workflows, patient safety, infection prevention, and evidence-based design principles.
• Approve key design deliverables (programs, test fits, design packages) and manage design risk.
• Serve as the primary architectural representative for SHC with external architects, engineers, and consultants.
• Define scope, expectations, and performance standards for design teams.
• Lead design reviews, quality assurance (QA)/quality control (QC) processes, and ensure consistency across projects and campuses.
• Resolve complex design, coordination, and constructability issues.
• Support system-wide master planning, campus planning, and capital programming initiatives.
• Translate enterprise growth, operational, and financial goals into facility and design strategies.
• Partner with Finance, Operations, and Capital Projects to align scope, phasing, budgets, and delivery.
• Facilitate alignment across clinical, operational, and executive stakeholders.
• Present planning and design strategies, options, and recommendations to leadership and governance bodies.
• Drive consensus and decision-making within complex, multi-stakeholder environments.
• Oversee multiple large, complex, and high-risk healthcare projects simultaneously.
• Ensure adherence to scope, schedule, budget, and quality expectations.
• Collaborate with construction teams to maintain design intent through delivery.
• Support value engineering while preserving clinical and operational outcomes.
• Mentor architects, planners, and design staff; support capability building across the business unit.
• Provide thought leadership on healthcare design trends, innovation, and delivery methods.
• Contribute to development of standards, tools, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Serve as campus architect and steward of campus design vision/master planning authority, representing SHC in leadership and enterprise-level engagements.
• Direct Design Phase and lead Schematic Design (SD), Design Development (DD), and Construction Documents (CD) phases in Capital Projects.
• This position may require on-call availability during non-standard hours, including nights, weekends, and holidays, to meet business needs and respond to emergencies.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, architecture, health or public administration, business management, construction management, planning, or a directly related field.
• Master’s degree and/or professional licensure is strongly preferred.
• 15+ years of progressively responsible architectural experience with a strong focus on technical delivery for healthcare or complex institutional projects.

Skills

• Advanced knowledge of healthcare architecture, building design, and planning principles within complex academic medical center environments.
• Deep knowledge of healthcare codes and regulatory requirements (HCAI/OSHPD, California Building Code (CBC), ADA, FGI, NFPA).
• Strong understanding of façade systems, materials, and building envelope performance.
• Ability to translate conceptual design into fully coordinated and executable construction documents.
• Proven ability to maintain and protect design intent through technical execution and construction phases.
• Expertise in building information modeling, design documentation, and coordination workflows.
• Strong problem-solving and decision-making skills in complex, high-risk environments.
• Ability to lead multidisciplinary teams and coordinate across architecture, engineering, construction, and operations.
• Effective communication skills with executive stakeholders, consultants, contractors, and internal teams.
• Ability to balance technical rigor, cost constraints, and schedule pressures while maintaining design quality.
• Demonstrated executive presence, including clear, concise, and influential communication with senior leadership and diverse stakeholder groups.
• Demonstrated ability to leverage emerging technologies (including AI-enabled productivity tools, workflow automation, analytics platforms, and decision-support tools).
• Proven ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced environment with multiple competing deadlines, shifting priorities, and large-scale operational demands.

Qualifications

• California Architect Professional License (CAPL) required upon hire.
• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification preferred.
• Lean Six Sigma Certification preferred.
• Evidence-Based Design Accreditation and Certification (EDAC) preferred.

Pay

Generally starting at $106.01 - $140.47 per hour. The salary of the finalist selected for this role will be set based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to, internal equity, experience, education, specialty, and training.