How To Become A Building Architectural Designer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a building architectural designer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a building architectural designer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $32.41 an hour? That's $67,414 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -3% and produce -6,700 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreBuilding Architectural DesignerUS Average

Salary

5.3

Avg. Salary $67,414

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.3

Growth rate -3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.70%

Asian 7.02%

Black or African American 3.09%

Hispanic or Latino 11.66%

Unknown 5.20%

White 72.33%

Gender

female 17.01%

male 82.99%

Age - 45

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 45

Stress level

4.3

Stress level is moderate

7.1 - high

Complexity level

5.9

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.0

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a building architectural designer

Explore building architectural designer education requirements

Most common building architectural designer degrees

Bachelor's

60.1 %

Associate

22.6 %

Master's

7.3 %

Start to develop specific building architectural designer skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	17.91%
CAD	17.52%
Revit	10.90%
HVAC	5.90%
BIM	5.57%

Complete relevant building architectural designer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 4-10 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New building architectural designers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a building architectural designer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real building architectural designer resumes.

Research building architectural designer duties and responsibilities

Lead the development of BIM modeling content for the architecture team as a direct report to the executive and lead architects.
Install doors, windows, flooring (laminate and tile), frame walls, build and design shelves and closets.
Repair siding, roof replacement, doors and windows under codes and contracts.
Develop customized user interaction models using object-orient prototyping.

Prepare your building architectural designer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your building architectural designer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a building architectural designer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable building architectural designer resume templates

Build a professional building architectural designer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your building architectural designer resume.