Education Strategist

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Smith Group is an integrated design firm with a reputation for cultivating a top‑ranked culture while pioneering award‑winning innovative design solutions. We blend research, data and technology with ingenuity and a creative spirit to deliver resilient, inclusive spaces that solve our clients’ greatest challenges. Our teams create exceptional design solutions for healthcare, science and technology, workplace, mixed use, higher education, cultural, waterfront, parks and open spaces, and urban environments.

We are looking for passionate problem solvers who want to elevate design, push boundaries and create a more resilient future.

The San Francisco office of Smith Group is looking for a Higher Education Strategist to join our team. The Higher Education Strategist is part of a national network of subject matter experts with deep knowledge of future‑focused thinking in higher education environments, ranging from open access to research institutions. The strategist is responsible for pushing boundaries while partnering with higher education clients and design teams across Smith Group’s eleven higher education studios to align client goals and industry best practices with design strategy and vision.

• Plan and lead early‑phase client strategy engagements (programming, master planning, feasibility study and/or concept design).
• Lead all aspects of design research, research execution, and analysis (data gathering and research, engaging diverse stakeholders, and assembling multiple stakeholder perspectives).
• Structure, analyze, and synthesize primary and secondary research and data (quantitative and qualitative) to generate actionable materials.
• Articulate hypotheses, insights, and points of view to facilitate the development of design solutions and organizational recommendations.
• Produce high‑quality deliverables such as client presentations, strategic design briefs and collateral materials.
• Lead programming efforts (observations, data gathering, interviews and workshops), development of program and space requirement reports.
• Work collaboratively with other team members to integrate specialized technology and equipment requirements.
• Develop design strategy briefs through writing, analysis, and graphic content development.
• Work with project teams to implement strategy through planning and design concepts.
• Support and partner with strategy team and others to create thought leadership.
• Initiate design and marketing ideas relative to the strategy team.
• Assist in establishing a strong network of Smith Group strategists across offices.
• Support design strategy awareness and inclusion in proposals and pursuits.
• Support and develop strategy marketing materials and proposal graphics.
• Assist with guiding and onboarding of other internal staff.
• Strengthen and grow team expertise.

• Bachelor’s degree in Architecture or Interior Design preferred.
• 15+ years professional experience, with a minimum of 5 years of direct experience in Higher Education programming, planning, design, and strategy.
• Specialized expertise in the programming, planning and design of a wide spectrum of learning environments including classrooms and instructional labs for STEM, health education and professional schools as well as informal collaboration spaces.
• Demonstrable thought leadership through written publications and conference presentations.
• Proficient in MS Office (advanced skill in Excel), Adobe Creative Suite, AutoCAD and/or Revit (preferred but not required).
• Familiarity with data analytics tools, e.g. Power BI, Tableau is a plus but not required.
• Strong graphic skills, including data visualization, process and adjacency diagrams, and plan visualization.
• Strong communication and presentation skills.
• Proficient in programming, planning and benchmarking.
• Confidence in facilitating strategic conversations.
• Analytical, creative thinker.
• Flexible and adaptable to work with multiple teams and initiatives.
• Entrepreneurial mindset.
• Collaborative, team‑player mentality as foundational quality.

We offer flexible scheduling, a hybrid work environment,…