Hiring kit

Project Architect job description template

A Project Architect job description you can paste into LinkedIn, Indeed or your careers page today, plus official US pay data, ten interview questions and a practical skills test. Everything is free to read and copy on this page.

Copy it from the page

By Martina ObregónHead of Success

Ready to post

Project Architect job description

Replace the highlighted fields in brackets with your details, then paste it into your job board or careers page. The copy button gives you plain text with bullets that survive any editor.

Project Architect

Location: [City, State] ([on site, hybrid or remote])
Employment type: [Full time]

About [Firm name]

[Two or three sentences about your firm: the kind of projects you design, where your team is based and how you work.]

About the role

The Project Architect owns the technical side of our projects. You will lead the production of construction documents, coordinate our consultants, and carry each design through permitting and construction administration, directing a small team of designers and drafters. You are the technical point of contact for the client, the consultants and the contractor.

What you will do

Lead construction documents and specifications, and set the drawing list, schedule and standards for each set.
Coordinate structural, MEP, civil and specialty consultants, run coordination meetings and track open items.
Review drawings from designers and drafters for accuracy, completeness and constructability before issue.
Develop key wall sections and details, and solve technical problems in the envelope, waterproofing and assemblies.
Lead code analysis and permit submittals, and respond to plan review comments.
Answer RFIs, review submittals and shop drawings, and prepare supplemental instructions during construction.
Visit the site to observe progress and confirm the work follows the documents.
Track hours against the fee with the project manager and flag scope changes early.
Run quality control reviews at each milestone with a written checklist.
Mentor designers and drafters and support their path toward licensure.

What you bring

[Architecture license in [State], or licensed in another state with a plan to get licensed here.]
[8] or more years of experience, including complete construction document sets and construction administration.
Deep knowledge of building assemblies, the building code and accessibility requirements.
Experience coordinating consultants on [project type] projects.
Revit fluency and the ability to review and redline a set efficiently.
Clear, confident communication with contractors and building officials.
Experience leading a small production team.

Nice to have

Specification writing organized by CSI MasterFormat.
Experience with [design bid build, design build or construction manager at risk] delivery.
Building envelope or waterproofing expertise.
LEED AP or a similar credential.

Software

Revit, AutoCAD, Bluebeam Revu, Navisworks, Procore or Autodesk Construction Cloud, Microsoft 365

Pay and benefits

[Pay range, for example $XX,000 to $XX,000 per year.] [Benefits: health insurance, retirement plan, paid time off, continuing education.]

How to apply

Send your resume and a portfolio showing construction documents you led, including a few detail sheets, with your role on each project, to [email or application link].

[Firm name] is an equal opportunity employer.

US pay data

What a Project Architect earns in the US

Annual wages for Architects, Except Landscape and Naval, United States, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.

BLS does not split architects by seniority; this is the Architects category as a whole, so compare a project architect against its upper percentiles.

Annual wages by percentile for Architects, Except Landscape and Naval, May 2025
Percentile	Annual wage
10th percentile	$62,300
25th percentile	$77,960
Median	$99,280
75th percentile	$126,550
90th percentile	$161,420
Average (mean)	$106,260

BLS counts 106,770 jobs in this category nationwide, and half of them pay between $77,960 and $126,550. Use the percentiles to set the range you post, nearer the 25th for a junior hire and nearer the 75th for someone who will lead, keeping in mind the note above on how closely this category matches the role. For medians by state, see the architect salary guide, and to see what a hire costs once benefits, recruiting and an empty desk are added, run the hiring cost calculator.

Interview

Project Architect interview questions

Ten questions in three groups. Under each one, what a strong answer covers, so anyone on your team can run the interview and compare candidates on the same terms.

Technical

Walk me through how you set up a construction document set at the start of the phase.
What a strong answer covers: Covers the sheet list and cartoon set, the schedule with milestones, the standards and detail library, and who draws what.
Which details do you draw yourself and which do you delegate?
What a strong answer covers: Keeps the risky ones (envelope transitions, waterproofing, fire rated assemblies) and delegates repetitive details with clear markups.
How do you run code analysis on a project, and when do you revisit it?
What a strong answer covers: Builds it early (occupancy, construction type, egress, fire separations, accessibility) and updates it at every design change and before each permit submittal.
Describe a detail that failed or leaked on a past project. What did you change?
What a strong answer covers: Explains the failure honestly, how it was fixed, and how their standard detail changed afterward.

Workflow and coordination

How do you run a coordination meeting with consultants?
What a strong answer covers: Sends an agenda and current models or backgrounds ahead, works from an open items log, and ends with owners and dates for every item.
An RFI comes in that shows a real conflict in the documents. What do you do?
What a strong answer covers: Answers quickly with a clear fix, involves the consultant if needed, tracks any cost or schedule impact with the project manager, and updates the documents.
How do you review a submittal or shop drawing?
What a strong answer covers: Compares it against the drawings and specifications, marks deviations clearly, uses the standard review actions, and keeps a log with dates.

Working with the team

How do you review a junior designer's drawings without slowing them down?
What a strong answer covers: Reviews at set points, gives clear markups with the reason behind each one, and checks the fixes quickly.
Tell me about a tense moment with a contractor on site.
What a strong answer covers: Stays calm, relies on the documents and the contract, and looks for a solution that protects the client and the design.
How do you keep the project manager informed about the technical side?
What a strong answer covers: Gives short, regular updates on progress, risks and scope changes, before they become fee problems.

Skills test

Project Architect skills test

Construction documents review. A practical exercise to send after the first interview. Time limit: 3 hours.

The task

Give the candidate a PDF of a small drawing set from a past project (plans, sections, a few details and some specification sections) where you have seeded known problems: a detail that does not match the wall type, a missing fire rating, a door without accessible clearances, a reference that points nowhere and an MEP conflict. Ask for a marked up PDF and a one page list of comments ranked by risk.

What to send the candidate

A PDF drawing set with your seeded problems, and your own answer key.
The relevant specification sections.
Your markup legend or comment format, if you have one.

What to evaluate

How many seeded problems they find.
Whether the list is ranked by real risk, not by sheet order.
Comments a drafter could act on without asking.
Real problems they find that you did not seed.
Tone: direct and useful, not nitpicking.

Tell the candidate how you will score it and hold to the time limit. The goal is to see how they work, not to get free production.

Another option

Hiring remote?

Remote option

Get a quote for a full time remote Project Architect

Tell us the role and the software, and we send you a rate for your firm.

Get a quote

WorldTeams presents vetted remote Project Architects who work in your time zone and join your team full time. You interview them and approve the person before they start. See how it works on Remote construction documentation teams, or compare the full yearly cost of each option in the hiring cost calculator.

Keep reading

Need a Project Architect sooner than a job post can deliver?

WorldTeams presents vetted remote Project Architects who work in your time zone. You interview them, you choose, and they join your team full time.

Remote construction documentation teams Start hiring

Questions, answered

What should a Project Architect job description include?

A good Project Architect job description says what the person will own day to day, which software and standards they must already know, the experience you need and how they will work with your team. This kit covers all four, ready to edit, plus interview questions and a practical skills test to check them. For how the role works on real projects, see our page on remote construction documentation teams.

Ask AI

Does a project architect need to be licensed?

Not by title, but the role calls for it. What states regulate is the practice of architecture, and every state requires architects to be licensed. A project architect leads documents that will be sealed and deals with contractors and building officials, so ask for a license in your state, or in another state with a plan to get yours, unless a licensed principal reviews and seals everything.

Ask AI

How much does a project architect earn in the US?

BLS does not split architects by seniority, so use the Architects category: a national median of $99,280 a year in May 2025, $126,550 at the 75th percentile and $161,420 at the 90th. Project architects usually sit above the median, because the role asks for years of documentation and construction experience. Check the state medians in our architect salary guide before you set the range.

Ask AI

How many years of experience should a project architect have?

There is no official number, so anchor it to the work. AIA's definitions of architectural positions put Architect Level III, who supports a project through every phase and acts as a subject matter expert, at eight or more years, and Project Manager also at eight or more. Ask for complete construction document sets and construction administration on projects like yours; that matters more than the exact count.

Ask AI

Can a project architect work remotely?

Partly. Construction documents, coordination meetings, code analysis, RFIs and submittal reviews all work well remotely. Site visits and some meetings with building officials need someone local. One setup that works: a remote project architect leads documentation and coordination, and a local architect or principal covers site observation. WorldTeams places remote construction documentation teams that work in your time zone.

Ask AI

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025; BLS OEWS, Architects, Except Landscape and Naval; BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Architects; AIA, Definition of architectural positions; NCARB, Get licensed; ICC, International Codes; US Department of Justice, ADA Standards for Accessible Design.

Last updated September 23, 2026.