Regional Director Design - Architecture

About us

Bringing True Hospitality to the world.

We want to welcome you to a world of bringing True Hospitality to everyone. When you join us at IHG®, you become part of our global family. A welcoming culture of warmth, honesty, and a passion for providing True Hospitality.

We pride ourselves on letting your personality and passions shine, recognizing the individual contribution you make and supporting your ambition to learn and create your own career path. In making a difference to our guests and owners, colleagues and communities, every day is a chance to create great and unique experiences, in your own way.

With over 370,000 colleagues in nearly 100 countries sharing our values, there’s countless opportunities at your fingertips.

We’re growing; grow with us.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Job Summary – (Role Summary) 

In collaboration with regional and global colleagues, the Regional Director of Design will lead the strategic visioning, development, and maintenance of IHG’s efforts to accelerate guest and owner-insight-driven design innovation within the Americas. Lead and mentor a team of architects and interior designers responsible for creating and embedding IHG’s brand design programs that will be implemented by our franchisees in their new construction and renovation projects. Plan, scope, and engage external consultants to design and estimate new architectural initiatives that deliver industry-leading design with the highest-potential value for guests and owners. Train and support the regional Design Review, New Construction and Property Improvement (PIP) project teams as they work with franchisees to implement the prototype design programs.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities – (Key Activities)

• Manage brand design initiatives for the Americas region from scoping and program development through concepting and commercialization by working with internal stakeholders and external consultants to deliver brand-defining design principles, programs, model rooms, prototype designs, brand standards and design guidelines for all brands, in accordance with funding allocations, deadlines, and/or direction established by senior leadership.
• Develop and regularly update hypothetical project development estimates in a standardized format for all IHG brands leveraging external cost estimating consultants, internal data, and industry knowledge.
• Work as design lead responsible for collaborating with a multi-disciplinary team to deliver original, creative solutions in a collaborative and timely manner.
• Represent the design team to internal and external stakeholders, communicating the status of brand design initiatives, project trends, design issues, and owner feedback.
• Apply design talent to problem-solving design exercises to achieve cost-efficient results that align with brand standards and brand strategy by facilitating best practice and customer trend evolutions.
• Liaise with the Global and Regional Brand Standards team to supply all relevant data to enable design standards to be written and implemented within the region.
• Coach and develop team members; hire, assess, discipline, document performance and recommend salary and classification changes.  Act as an advisor to staff to help meet established schedules and/or resolve technical or operational problems. Train new consultants as needed. 
• Research and communicate any design and construction trend changes and/or suggest improvements in order to keep IHG’s brand design and construction requirements innovative and competitive.
• Be active and informed in building a strong and relevant complement of external consulting partners for future development and execution of brand design initiatives.
• Communicate and monitor project specifications with outside vendors (architectural, interior design, engineering and/or contracting firms) to ensure scope and responsibilities are understood, and to ensure projects progress according to plan and IHG requirements.
• Work with Global Procurement to evaluate and recommend program suppliers.
• Contribute to ongoing development of Americas Design & Construction department’s internal and external processes, tools and resources.
• Actively participate in regular Design leadership meetings, providing input on team staffing, engagement and growth, as well as product and prototype design strategies and issues.
• Develop, train and maintain templates and ways of working.
• Organize and supervise construction and renovation of model rooms at IHG’s Design Center or in-hotel pilots.  Examples of assigned activities include: planning, budgeting and scheduling of all work; scope development and engagement of 3rd-party project team; negotiating pricing, overseeing and directing the purchase, delivery and installation of materials and furnishings; ensuring timely project completion and project closeout.
• Prepare installation, construction, and consultant contracts in cooperation with the Global Procurement and Legal Departments.
• Prepare, communicate, and maintain project schedules and project budgets.  Track cost and payment information as needed; identify trends or issues and resolve them in a timely manner, bringing critical issues to immediate attention (examples include cost overruns, schedule adjustments, issues with vendors or vendor approval status, issues with insurance, compliance issues, etc.). Compile project cost reports for review.
• Assist Brand Management Teams in the design and execution of brand design experiences for IHG Investor’s Conference and industry events.
• Manage or contribute as needed to special projects related to the planning, budgeting, design and construction of hotels.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education – 

Bachelor's or Master's Degree in Architecture, or a relevant field of work, or an equivalent combination of education and hotel design and construction work-related experience. 

Experience –

10+ years extensive progressive work experience in Design, Architecture, and/or Construction Management with demonstrated proficiency in hotel new development and renovation lifecycles. A minimum of 2 years prior Project Management experience related to hotel design and construction is preferred.

Technical Skills and Knowledge –

• Ability to work in a high volume, fast-paced, on-time, delivery focused environment as a member of a collaborative team. Responsiveness to demands from multiple stakeholder groups and ability to understand and balance consumer, managerial and ownership perspectives.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and resources.  Ability to effectively prioritize project details and manage time. Must make immediate time available to work with franchisees when problems arise regarding brand design projects, brand standards or vendor-related issues. Strong problem solving and time management skills required. 
• High degree of personal drive, self-starter and ability to work independently without regular direct/local management. Attention to detail and ability to manage multiple tasks required. 
• An inventive mindset focused on re-imagining and crafting design environments to meet the challenges of differentiated brands and maintaining industry competitiveness.
• Ability to quickly and accurately assess the scope of implementation of proposed innovation/design proposals and up-to-date on current trends and innovation in the sector.
• Strong communicator and relationship builder, with the ability to be diplomatic while providing a strong design leadership voice in successful engagements across a large organization.
• Commercially astute and able to develop credible ROI`s for design initiatives with a good ‘real world’ sensibility when proposing design strategies.
• Knowledge and application of brand standards in a franchise environment.
• Strong ability to create and understand technical design drawings including architectural, interiors, millwork, mechanical, plumbing, electrical, and life safety drawings.  Demonstrated knowledge of FF&E (furnishings, finishes and equipment) and OS&E (operating supplies and equipment). Ability to work as an individual contributor that creates and communicates design experiences, style and aesthetic using digital and physical design boards, free-hand sketches, layouts or other drawings, design guides and specifications to provide clarity of design direction.
• Must have knowledge of national building codes and accessibility requirements.  Ability to remain current with construction trends, code requirements and design through participating in annual continuing education classes. 
• Demonstrated ability to effectively manage $1 million + design projects with minimal direction, including demonstrated ability to manage large design project budgets and small-scale construction projects.
• Must have project management experience in organizing, planning and executing complex, large and scale projects from conception through implementation.
• Demonstrated proficiency marking up technical drawings in Bluebeam Revu and creating/editing documents in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint along with high proficiency and everyday use of Adobe Creative Suite applications.  CAD, Revit, 3D modeling, illustration and graphic design proficiency is preferred.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Number of employees supervised: Direct 1   Indirect 8

This position independently hires and supervises teams of contractors and professional consultants for each project.

Decision making responsibilities (Key Decision Rights):

• Delivery of commercialized innovations and designs (delivery of agreed targets).
• Review of prototype plans and specifications for technical detail of architecture and construction for safety regulations, brand standards, design principles and technical specifications. 
• Management of all aspects of the Brand’s design programs (design strategy guides, prototype drawings, and FF&E SRD Schemes for guestrooms and public spaces), including planning and carrying out all related projects and activities from start to finish working with internal and external key relationships.
• Use of strong judgment and decision-making skills in determining practical applications for hotels when reviewing design boards, product submittals, cost analysis and brand initiatives.  This position makes a careful study of various internal reports and determines current conditions, trends and competition, thereby ensuring that our hotel brands maintain a competitive edge in their marketplace.
• Decisions to revise brand standards may be made after thorough research and evaluation of specification requirements.
• Independently complete the successful implementation of a variety of daily projects, or work as a part of the Design & Construction team to independently handle smaller portions of large projects (e.g. communication, contracts, vendor relations, etc.).

CONTACTS (Key Relationships)

Internal Key Relationships –

Global Brand Management, Global Guest Experience / Innovation and Marketing Teams, Global and Regional Brand Standards, Consumer Insights, Design & Construction/Technical Services, Regional Franchise Development, Operations, Legal, Risk Management, and Food & Beverage

External Key Relationships –

Franchise Owners, Senior Corporate Franchise Management, Management Companies, Contractors and Architectural and Interior Design Firms.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

Ability to travel 15% of time required.

Majority of work is performed in a normal office environment.

The statements in this job description are intended to represent the key duties, essential nature and level of work being performed.  They are not intended to be all responsibilities or qualifications of the job.       

What we offer

We’ll reward all your hard work with a great salary and benefits – including great room discount and superb training.

Join us and you’ll become part of the global IHG family – and like all families, all our individual team members share some winning characteristics. As a team, we work better together – we trust and support each other, we do the right thing and we welcome different perspectives. You need to show us you care, that you notice the little things that make a difference to guests as well as always looking for ways to improve - click here to find out more about us.

At IHG Hotels & Resorts, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. IHG Hotels & Resorts provides equal employment opportunities to applicants and employees without regard to an individual's, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, marital or familial status, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law. IHG is committed to promoting a culture of inclusion where everyone feels safe, respected and valued. We seek talent from all backgrounds to join our teams, and encourage our colleagues to bring their authentic and best selves to work.