Lead Architect / Senior Architect — Luxury Villas & Turnkey Interior Design

About the Role

We are looking for a Lead Architect / Senior Architect with strong experience in luxury villas, high-end residential interiors, turnkey fit-out projects, and UAE project coordination.
This is a senior design leadership role. The candidate must be able to manage the internal design team, control the quality of drawings and presentations, coordinate with site/project teams, consultants, suppliers, subcontractors, and support the full project process from concept design to technical documentation, site execution, and handover.
The role requires a person who can combine design sensitivity, technical accuracy, team leadership, and practical construction understanding.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and manage the architectural / interior design team across luxury villa and high-end residential projects.
• Develop and control project design direction from concept to design development, technical drawings, and site execution.
• Review and approve layouts, moodboards, material palettes, FF&E concepts, reflected ceiling plans, elevations, details, and drawing packages.
• Coordinate architectural, interior design, MEP, lighting, joinery, marble, kitchen, bathroom, landscape, and FF&E requirements.
• Ensure all drawings are accurate, coordinated, buildable, and aligned with approved client direction.
• Manage design deliverables, deadlines, internal workflow, and team priorities.
• Prepare and update design schedules, deliverable trackers, drawing registers, issue logs, and action lists.
• Attend client, consultant, supplier, subcontractor, and internal coordination meetings.
• Prepare and review minutes of meetings, design comments, action points, and technical responses.
• Coordinate with the Site Manager / Project Manager to resolve RFIs, site issues, design changes, and execution details.
• Review shop drawings, material submittals, samples, mock-ups, and technical proposals from suppliers and subcontractors.
• Support authority / landlord / developer submission packages where required.
• Maintain high design standards suitable for luxury residential clients.
• Ensure the team produces clear, professional, and coordinated documentation before issuing to site or client.
• Identify risks early: design gaps, missing details, MEP conflicts, procurement issues, client changes, and site constraints.
• Support client presentations and explain design/technical decisions clearly and professionally.

Required Experience

• Minimum 10+ years of experience in architecture, interior architecture, or high-end residential design.
• Minimum 5+ years of UAE experience is required.
• Proven experience managing a design team.
• Strong experience in luxury villas, high-end residential, palaces, hospitality, or premium private projects.
• Strong knowledge of interior architecture and turnkey fit-out, not only conceptual design.
• Experience coordinating with MEP, lighting, joinery, marble, kitchens, bathrooms, FF&E, and site teams.
• Ability to review and control detailed drawing packages.
• Strong understanding of renovation projects, existing site constraints, and buildability.
• Experience preparing or reviewing reports, drawing registers, schedules, minutes of meetings, and action trackers.
• Strong English communication is required.
• UAE project experience is mandatory.

Software Skills

• AutoCAD
• Revit or BIM workflow preferred
• SketchUp / Rhino / 3D coordination tools preferred
• Adobe Creative Suite
• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft Project / Primavera / planning tools preferred
• Bluebeam / PDF markup tools preferred
• PowerPoint / presentation tools

Candidate Profile
We are looking for someone who can:

• Think like a designer but work with construction discipline.
• Control drawings before mistakes reach site.
• Manage architects, interior designers, draftsmen, and visualizers.
• Understand luxury residential proportions, materials, detailing, and client expectat