Design Guidelines Specialist – Healthcare

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain comprehensive Design Guidelines for healthcare facility
• projects, ensuring alignment with client standards, regulatory requirements, and
• industry best practices
• Lead collaborative meetings with stakeholders including clinicians, administrators
• facilities teams, and design professionals to capture requirements and secure
• Produce high-quality design documentation using desktop publishing tools such as
• Adobe In-Design, creating clear, visually compelling guidelines that communicate
• Coordinate with multidisciplinary teams to integrate architectural, interior design
• clinical, and operational requirements into cohesive design standards
• Review and quality-check all deliverables for accuracy, consistency, and
• Maintain organized digital libraries of design standards, templates, and reference
• materials using SharePoint and collaborative platforms
• Continuously evaluate and improve design guideline processes, incorporating
• lessons learned and industry innovations
• Collaborate with Project Manager to create / review Scope of Work for Cook County
• Health projects ranging from equipment replacement, renovations and new
• construction
• Collaborate with Project Manager to guide AE consultants for compliance with
• County’s Standards and Guidelines as well as SOP’s
• Provide comprehensive design reviews of architectural and engineering
• deliverables, evaluating compliance, functionality, and alignment with project goals
• Attend design meetings to guide project teams on design process and decisions
• Conduct milestone design reviews and coordinate feedback across stakeholders
• and ensure decisions are clearly documented
• Identify potential risks, design concerns, and constructability issues early in the
• design process to prevent costly changes and delays
• Provide expert analysis and recommendations to protect client interests and project
• objectives throughout all design phases
• Ensure design compliance with healthcare facility standards, applicable building
• codes, and Cook County requirements
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to resolve design conflicts and optimize
• solutions that balance clinical needs, operational efficiency, and budget constraints
• Collaborate with other Design Managers for continuous improvement

Other responsibilities related to Design Management include:

• Collaborate with Project Manager to create / review Scope of Work for Cook County
• Health projects ranging from equipment replacement, renovations and new
• construction
• Collaborate with Project Manager to guide AE consultants for compliance with
• County’s Standards and Guidelines as well as SOP’s

Minimum 15 years of professional experience in architecture and/or interior design

Minimum 7 years in healthcare design

Professional licensure (Registered Architect or NCIDQ-certified Interior Designer)

Proven track record of developing Design Guidelines or design standards

documentation

Experience with healthcare accreditation standards (Joint Commission, FGI

Guidelines)

• Proficiency in REVIT to extract graphics and information
• Expert-level skills in Adobe InDesign for publication-quality document production
• Proficiency with Bluebeam Revu / Studio for document review and markup
• Strong command of Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and
• Sharepoint

• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills with ability to present complex
• information clearly
• Outstanding organizational skills and meticulous attention to detail
• Strong meeting facilitation and consensus-building capabilities
• Ability to learn County processes that impact design process and deliverables, and
• lead others to follow
• Self-motivated with a continuous improvement mindset
• Client-facing focus with ability to adjust tone to suit client’s context
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously and meet deadlines

Knowledge of City of Chicago building codes and permitting processes

Experience of working on public agency projects in a client-facing role

Familiarity with evidence-based design principles in healthcare environments