One - Junior Designer - Design

Year One
- Junior Designer
- City Design

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) | Posted Mar 11

Full-time, California, Entry (0-2 yrs)

Join SOM’s Year One Program as a Junior Designer
- City Design.

Our Year One program picks up where your formal education leaves off, with a suite of events and creative initiatives to help you get the most out of your first year ngside your day‑to‑day project responsibilities, we’ll encourage you to expand your learning and to propose bold ideas for the future of design. SOM offers the best of both worlds: the hands‑on experience of small, dynamic studios, and the resources and diversity of a global organization.

Our interdisciplinary firm affords a wealth of opportunities for emerging designers; our collaborative approach means that your ideas and creativity will be valued and recognized from day one. In keeping with SOM’s reputation for innovation, our Year One program invites you to shape the future of the practice with us. Start here to dive into the profession, chart your path forward, and make your mark.

At SOM, we are a collective committed to shaping a better future for our clients, communities, and planet. We aspire to create the most sustainable, impactful work through creative, interdisciplinary teams with all the resources and diversity of a global firm. We value those who are passionate about excellence, innovation, integrity, inclusivity, and collaboration. Together we can achieve great things.

Complete applications must include a Resume or CV and Work Samples. Work Samples shall be one PDF attachment, 10-20 pages, maximum 5 MB. Submit Work Samples as part of your application in the section where the application asks for your Resume or CV. Applications that do not meet this criteria will not be reviewed.

• Ideas:
  We believe in a meritocracy of ideas.
• Knowledge:
  We believe that expertise is the result of lifelong learning.
• Product:
  We strive for excellence in the concept, quality, and delivery of our work.
• Individual:
  We value individuals who bring the highest standards of professionalism and personal integrity in the way they work.
• Team:
  We value the power of interdisciplinary integration.
• Firm:
  We have a history of making transformative contributions to the profession and our communities.

• Generates planning and design ideas, conducts research, documents precedents and scale studies, develops diagrams, renders site plans, and contributes to all manner of graphic and visual production.
• Demonstrates a basic understanding of planning and urban design concepts, building typologies, critical dimensions, utility and infrastructure systems, land development considerations, zoning codes, and phasing and implementation techniques. Applies technical and visualization skills with appropriate software.
• Applies strong conceptual design ability to projects of varying complexity and sites of divergent scales; integrates interdisciplinary criteria to advance planning and urban design aspects.
• Effectively communicates internally through timely and appropriate written, oral, and visual means.
• Collaborates at a project team level, developing, communicating, and critically and constructively evaluating ideas.
• Manages time and workload to meet project task deadlines and commitments with guidance from project leaders and team members.
• Actively participates as a junior member of the CDP Team.
• Brings energy, enthusiasm, creativity, and a disciplined work ethic to the City Design Practice.
• Immerses in the SOM office through lectures, design reviews, lunch and learns, site visits, and office activities; participates in the Year One Program.

• Recent completion of a professional Degree in Architecture, Planning, Urban Design, or Landscape Architecture.
• Strong collaborative ability.
• LEED accreditation preferred.
• Interest in large‑scale planning, mixed‑use, and transit‑oriented development.
• Exhibits initiative, process innovation, problem solving, and decision‑making quality with high attention to detail.
• Proficiency in AutoCAD, Rhino, Grasshopper, Enscape, Lumion, parametric and rendering software,…