Working at Derrington Building Studio.
The Role
Position: Design Lead
Compensation: $70,000–$90,000 annually, with a 90-day performance review and potential adjustment
Location: Austin, TX — in-studio at 912 Montopolis Dr., with occasional site visits within a four-hour drive radius
Reports to: Founding Principal
What You'll Own
Design vision and spatial strategy. Translate principal direction into resolved spatial proposals. Bring design thinking to every phase—not just form, but material, sequence, and experience.
Project design development. Develop schematic concepts into coordinated packages through construction documents: plans, sections, elevations, material palettes, and CD sets that carry design intent all the way to the field.
Consultant coordination. Work with the technical team to ensure design intent carries through CDs. Flag conflicts between design aspirations and technical or budget constraints early—not at the deadline.
Client communication and presentation. Own the design presentation as a deliverable in its own right. Present your work with conviction. Respond to feedback in real time.
Design quality control. Maintain visual quality across all deliverables. Own what the client sees.
What We're Looking For
Professional degree in architecture (B.Arch or M.Arch)
3–7 years of experience with real design ownership—not just production support
A portfolio that shows spatial thinking in plans and sections, not just renderings
ArchiCAD proficiency, or a genuine commitment to learn within 90 days
Strong visualization skills: rendering (Twinmotion, Enscape, or equivalent), diagramming, layout (Adobe Creative Suite or equivalent)
The ability to manage your own deadlines and communicate risk early—never late
Willingness to surface problems Thursday, not Monday morning
What Happens Next
Submit your application below—include your resume and portfolio.
If your application resonates, we'll reach out for a brief introductory call.
From there: a conversation and a short exercise.
If it's a mutual fit, we'll extend an offer.
You'll hear from us either way. We don't ghost applicants.
This place is not for everyone.
You can’t be a rendering specialist or pause your genius at the end of SD. We want complete architects here.
We confront unknown challenges head on.
We let the best ideas win.
We know the value of builders and subcontractors - we are not superior.
We are allergic to dogma and ideology.
Is the Grass Greener?
I wouldn't be surprised if you're being underutilized. You have more capacity, more curiosity, more to offer than your current role is drawing out—and nobody seems to notice or care.
I'm willing to bet the firm above you is a little mismanaged. Not incompetent—but the decisions don't connect to any logic you can identify. The path toward real ownership is unclear.
And the culture—performatively serious. Like everyone is playing the role of a person who works at an architecture firm.
You didn't get into this to feel like an administrator.
What we do.
DBS designs experiential buildings—climbing gyms, adaptive reuse, hospitality-adjacent spaces, recreational venues. The kind of work that requires you to understand what draws people to a place and use a building. Not just how it photographs.
We work for developer-operators and brick-and-mortar businesses—clients who expect the architectural investment to provide a return. We substantiate design beyond superficial aesthetics.
How we work.
We almost never work overtime. When we do, you'll know why—and it won't be because someone's schedule slipped for the fourth time.
When you're off, you're off. We don't call you on weekends. We don't send messages at ten at night expecting a response by morning.
The people we work with want to work with us again. Our clients come back. Our consultants ask to stay on. And when something goes sideways—and it will—we don't disappear on each other.
Why we do it.
Vision: To build a transferable architecture practice that produces constraint-driven, materially honest work at the intersection of craft and commerce—a firm that runs on systems, not heroics.
Mission: We turn a project into a place. We untangle the complicated parts—budget, code, structure, operations, construction—so the outcome reads with clarity and ease. People feel it before they can name it. They linger.