Architectural Project Director

Project Director

Company: MCG Architecture

Location:

Irvine, California

Employment Type:

Full-Time Experience Level: Approximately 12–25+ Years Recommended Base Salary: $140,000–$190,000 Estimated Total Compensation Package: $171,600–$228,600 Professional Registration:
California Architectural License Strongly Preferred Recruiting Representation:
Luxus Group Recruiting | AEC Talent Partners

MCG Architecture is seeking an experienced Project Director to provide senior leadership for major clients, complex commercial projects, and multidisciplinary project teams in its Irvine, California office.

The Project Director will be accountable for client satisfaction, project scope, fees, schedules, staffing, consultant performance, design and technical quality, risk management, and overall project delivery.

This person will serve as a trusted client advisor while helping MCG strengthen its relationships with developers, landlords, retailers, restaurant groups, contractors, consultants, and other commercial real estate partners.

Founded in 1927, MCG Architecture is a nationally established commercial architecture firm with offices throughout the United States and architectural licensing coverage in 49 states.

The firm specializes in:

• Retail and shopping-center architecture
• Mixed-use developments
• National retail and restaurant accounts
• Hospitality and entertainment environments
• Office and commercial projects
• Self-storage developments
• Land planning and entitlements
• Building renovations and repositioning
• Tenant improvements
• Ground-up commercial development

MCG's Irvine office supports projects throughout California and the Western Region. The team manages assignments from feasibility, site planning, and entitlements through design, documentation, permitting, bidding, and construction administration.

The Project Director may lead projects and client programs such as:

• Large ground-up shopping centers
• Grocery-anchored retail developments
• Multi-building commercial developments
• Mixed-use destinations combining retail, restaurants, office, hospitality, entertainment, and residential uses
• National retail, grocery, restaurant, and branded-commercial programs
• Prototype management and multi-location rollout programs
• Shopping-center revitalization and façade redevelopment
• Building-shell and tenant-improvement projects
• Hospitality and office projects
• Self-storage developments
• Adaptive-reuse and commercial renovation projects
• Projects requiring complex entitlements, agency approvals, phased construction, or extensive consultant coordination

This position is best suited for an accomplished commercial architect and trusted client leader who can manage multiple complex projects or a major client account.

The ideal candidate can protect project fees and schedules, lead multidisciplinary teams, develop staff, navigate difficult client and construction issues, and confidently represent MCG from the proposal stage through project completion.

• Serve as the senior point of contact for assigned clients and major accounts.
• Maintain clear communication regarding scope, schedule, fees, staffing, approvals, risks, and required decisions.
• Lead proposals, contract scoping, fee development, staffing plans, consultant agreements, and project kickoff meetings.
• Direct projects from initial feasibility and site planning through entitlements, design, documentation, permitting, bidding, and construction administration.
• Manage project financial performance, including labor forecasting, utilization, backlog, fee management, additional services, and margin protection.
• Support invoicing and collection efforts when necessary.
• Assign and supervise Project Managers, Designers, Job Captains, Project Coordinators, and outside consultants.
• Balance staff workloads across multiple projects and competing deadlines.
• Conduct milestone quality reviews covering design, code compliance, consultant coordination, constructability, client criteria, and documentation completeness.
• Maintain appropriate quality-control and risk-management practices.
• Address sensitive agency, landlord, tenant, consultant,…