What does a project architect do?
A project architect spearheads and oversees a construction project's design and development procedures from the planning stages to its completion, ensuring it adheres to standards, budgets, and deadlines. They primarily coordinate with the clients to understand and identify project needs, leading the engineers and contractors throughout the project. They are also typically in charge of preparing all of the necessary documents and ensuring that procedures adhere to state and federal laws, including the environmental, zoning, and safety standards. Additionally, a project architect maintains an open communication line with the clients, updating them regularly.
Project architect responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real project architect resumes:
- Manage the distribution of and collection of RFQ from and to contractors and sub-contractors.
- Manage design team (s) & consultants of various projects throughout NYC & Washington DC.
- Advise clients on means to achieve actionable goals through sustainable design practices per USGBC leer standards.
- Lead teams in developing use cases, models, systems, and interfaces leveraging J2EE technology.
- Lead the rebranding of all visual communications, including a new website design and print collateral standards.
- Coordinate with leer consultants to achieve project certifications.
- Create ETL mappings in Informatica, PL/SQL objects to implement the business logic.
- Create client script, business rules script includes UI policies using Java script.
- Ensure that the HTML pages are as per web standards.
- Provide QA function for products.
- Carry out as-built surveys for renewals.
- Introduce 3D drafting and visualization to firm.
- Move Internet platform from Linux to Unix/Sun.
- Prepare RFQ's to obtain new clients.
- Redesign service layer for bridge management API.
Project architect skills and personality traits
We calculated that 21% of Project Architects are proficient in Revit, Autocad, and Sketch. They’re also known for soft skills such as Organizational skills, Visualization skills, and Communication skills.
We break down the percentage of Project Architects that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Revit, 21%
Design development (REVIT) for a world headquarters facility located in the St. Louis Region for a confidential client.
- Autocad, 10%
Created construction documents using AutoCAD; Collaborated with engineers and project managers regarding design parameters for client projects.
- Sketch, 6%
Organized drawing and sketch files in comprehensive format for future referral and assess for team members.
- SketchUp, 5%
Utilized SketchUp and developed extensive construction documents.
- Healthcare, 5%
Delivered thorough construction documentation, focused detailing, and contract administration for a firm engaged in private educational and healthcare work.
- Building Codes, 5%
Ensured final construction documents were accurately prepared and meet all applicable building codes.
Most project architects use their skills in "revit," "autocad," and "sketch" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential project architect responsibilities here:
Organizational skills. The most essential soft skill for a project architect to carry out their responsibilities is organizational skills. This skill is important for the role because "architects often manage contracts." Additionally, a project architect resume shows how their duties depend on organizational skills: "established office organizational and operational standards and cad standards. "
Visualization skills. Many project architect duties rely on visualization skills. "architects must be able to envision how the parts of a structure relate to each other," so a project architect will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways project architect responsibilities rely on visualization skills: "staff management, design solutions, 3d modeling, rendering, and visualization. "
Communication skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of project architects is communication skills. This skill is critical to many everyday project architect duties, as "architects share their ideas, both in oral presentations and in writing, with clients, other architects, and workers who help prepare drawings." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "project architect: primary projects in medical industry with responsibilities including construction drawings and client communication. "
Technical skills. For certain project architect responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "technical skills." The day-to-day duties of a project architect rely on this skill, as "architects need to use cadd technology to create plans as part of building information modeling (bim)." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what project architects do: "produced all detailing with building sections, wall sections and technical details for construction drawings. "
Creativity. A commonly-found skill in project architect job descriptions, "creativity" is essential to what project architects do. Project architect responsibilities rely on this skill because "architects design the overall look of houses, buildings, and other structures." You can also see how project architect duties rely on creativity in this resume example: "lead roles: project architect/manager; visualization; core creativity, intern development; and cad/revit detailing. "
Analytical skills. Another skill commonly found on project architect job descriptions is "analytical skills." It can come up quite often in project architect duties, since "architects must understand the content of designs and the context in which they were created." Here's an example from a resume of how this skill fits into day-to-day project architect responsibilities: "developed and implemented microstation to autocad translation procedure for data exchange with engineering consultants"
The three companies that hire the most project architects are:
- Hr International133 project architects jobs
- Stantec72 project architects jobs
- Gensler43 project architects jobs
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Compare different project architects
Project architect vs. Job captain
A Job Captain is responsible for overseeing the drafting process of a project and completing outstanding items or tasks that remain to be accomplished. They take direction from the Project Manager, the Project Architect, and/or the Architect of Record.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between project architects and job captain. For instance, project architect responsibilities require skills such as "sketchup," "healthcare," "building codes," and "business development." Whereas a job captain is skilled in "dsa," "product research," "sf," and "tenant improvements." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Job captains really shine in the hospitality industry with an average salary of $76,826. Comparatively, project architects tend to make the most money in the construction industry with an average salary of $89,231.The education levels that job captains earn slightly differ from project architects. In particular, job captains are 3.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a project architect. Additionally, they're 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Project architect vs. School plant consultant
An architectural consultant is an individual who owns or works for an independent architecture or multidisciplinary design firm to develop innovative building design solutions. The essential skills that an architectural consultant should possess to accomplish his/her or her responsibilities include good creative ability and strong organizational, technical, and visualization skills. The education requirements for the job include possessing a college degree in architecture, business, or a related field.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real project architect resumes. While project architect responsibilities can utilize skills like "revit," "autocad," "sketch," and "sketchup," school plant consultants use skills like "classroom observations," "public schools," "iep," and "mental health."
Average education levels between the two professions vary. School plant consultants tend to reach higher levels of education than project architects. In fact, they're 5.8% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for project architects in the next 3-5 years?
Christy Graves
Professor/Program Manager, Seminole State College of Florida
Project architect vs. Architectural consultant
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, project architects are more likely to have skills like "autocad," "sketchup," "healthcare," and "building codes." But a architectural consultant is more likely to have skills like "cloud," "api," "java," and "design solutions."
Architectural consultants make a very good living in the technology industry with an average annual salary of $110,423. On the other hand, project architects are paid the highest salary in the construction industry, with average annual pay of $89,231.architectural consultants typically earn similar educational levels compared to project architects. Specifically, they're 3.8% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Project architect vs. Senior architect/design manager
Types of project architect
Updated January 8, 2025
