Urban Design Lead

Your Role

As an Urban Design Lead in Gensler's Dubai office, you will assist the Design Director and Studio Director to lead and grow a team of designers and planners dedicated to shaping the future of cities across the region. You will be instrumental in driving design excellence, technical rigor, and business growth. This will include leading client‑facing interactions, presence and representation at events and conferences and development of business opportunities.

• Build the Urban Design and Landscape Urbanism practices by leveraging your expertise, network, and market insights.
• Deliver master planning and urban and landscape design projects of varying scales and complexities, ensuring design quality and technical excellence.
• Collaborate with Managing Principals, Design Directors, and Practice Area Leaders across Asia Pacific and globally.
• Drive business development efforts, including RFQ/RFP responses, client presentations, and strategic positioning.
• Manage project performance and maintain strong client relationships.
• Mentor and develop team members, fostering growth and leadership.
• Stay ahead of emerging trends, technologies, and innovations in urban design, landscape and public realm design and planning.
• Promote a positive, inclusive, and collaborative work environment.

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Urban Design, Landscape Architecture, or a related discipline.
• 10+ years of experience in urban design and master planning, including demonstrated leadership roles.
• Proven track record in business development and maintaining strong client relationships.
• Exceptional presentation and communication skills, with the ability to influence, inspire, and engage diverse stakeholders.
• Advanced analytical and problem‑solving abilities, thriving in interdisciplinary and fast‑paced environments.
• Outstanding time‑management and organizational skills, adept at balancing multiple projects, clients, and resources.
• Experience managing Urbanism and Landscape teams and delivering projects on time and within budget.
• Strong leadership qualities, combining creativity, strategic thinking, and empathy.
• Proficiency in design and visualization tools (Revit, Adobe Creative Suite; Rhino/Sketch Up preferred).
• Deep commitment to sustainability and innovation in urban and landscape.

• Familiarity with the BIM project lifecycle through design, construction and operational phases.
• Understanding of BIM deliverables and terminology in contracts.
• Good knowledge and experience with collaboration within the BIM context, including cloud‑based markups, consultant coordination and clash detection.
• Experience in establishing and managing BIM teams for project design and delivery.
• Experience in managing design teams with Revit/Rhino/Grasshopper skills.
• Basic understanding and familiarity with real‑time rendering processes, and material creation & management within the context of integrated BIM and parametric workflows.
• Understanding of the capabilities and application of Information Management tools such as Aconex, Asite, Newforma, etc.

• Design Authoring - Revit, Rhino, AutoCAD, Navisworks
• Collaboration - BIM
  360
• Computational Design - Grasshopper, Dynamo
• Building Performance Simulation - Insight, Sefaira, Diva, Ladybug tools
• Visualization – Vray, Enscape, Twinmotion, 3DS Max
• Graphics & Productivity - Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office Suite
• Experiential – Unreal Engine, Unity
• Development – C#, Python

To be considered, please submit portfolio and/or work samples in PDF format.

As a people‑first organization, we are as committed to enjoying life as we are to delivering best‑in‑class design. From internal design competitions to research grants to “Well‑being Week,” our offices reflect our people’s diverse interests. We encourage every person at Gensler to lead a healthy and balanced life. Our comprehensive benefits include medical, dental, vision, disability and wellness programs. We also offer profit sharing and twice‑annual bonus opportunities.

As part of the firm’s commitment to licensure and professional development, Gensler offers reimbursement for certain professional licenses and associated renewals and exam fees. In addition, we reimburse tuition for certain eligible programs or classes. We view our professional development programs as strategic investments in our future.