How To Become A Design Architect: What It Is and Career Path

What is a design architect and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Christy Graves

Coming up with the right design for a building plays a big role in overall building performance. If you become a design architect, you'll be the one who creates plans and gathers design requirements for new structures. You may also be asked to make alterations or repairs to existing buildings and structures. For most projects, you can expect to work as part of a team of building or architect professionals, frequently under the direct supervision of a senior architect.

Your duties may vary depending on the project. On the job, you'll likely be expected to provide consultations where you evaluate the client's expectations to develop ideas for the building structure. You'll then create blueprints and drafts, frequently with the aid of computer design software programs, to build models. In addition, you'll most likely be responsible for supporting implementation and maintaining standards to promote the achievement of successful design execution.

If you're interested in getting into this line of work, you'll need to complete a minimum of a five-year bachelor's degree in Architecture, along with completion of an internship, and pass the Architect Registration Examination (ARE).

What general advice would you give to a design architect?

Christy Graves

Professor/Program Manager, Seminole State College of Florida

I would advise the graduate to learn from everyone they work with within the workplace environment. Even though a degree in architectural engineering technology is valuable, it's impossible to learn everything you need to know to be successful in the industry by taking classes in school and earning a degree. Do not be afraid to ask others for help when you aren't sure about the task you've been assigned to do. In addition, keep up with new technology. Remember, learning should be a lifetime pursuit. It shouldn't end with earning a degree.

ScoreDesign ArchitectUS Average

Salary

7.0

Avg. Salary $89,139

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.2

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.32%

Asian 16.40%

Black or African American 2.33%

Hispanic or Latino 12.09%

Unknown 3.96%

White 64.90%

Gender

female 25.34%

male 74.66%

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

7.2

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.5

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a design architect

Explore design architect education requirements

Most common design architect degrees

Bachelor's

66.5 %

Master's

21.4 %

Associate

7.4 %

Start to develop specific design architect skills

Skills	Percentages
Revit	15.52%
Architectural Design	5.87%
Project Management	5.12%
Sketch	5.10%
Design Development	4.42%

Complete relevant design architect training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 2-4 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New design architects 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 design architect based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real design architect resumes.

Research design architect duties and responsibilities

Manage technical architects for development and support of existing and new terminal platforms to support Walmart mobile and batch application infrastructure.
Prepare layouts, drawings and 3D visualization.
Sketch and design of require facilities as per contract.
Master drawing with Revit and train team members on Revit.

Get design architect experience

Generally, it takes 2-4 years to become a design architect. The most common roles before becoming a design architect include architect, project architect team lead and architectural internship.

Prepare your design architect resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your design architect 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 design architect resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable design architect resume templates

Build a professional design architect 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 design architect resume.