Junior Designer – City Design

Job Description

Junior Designer – City Design (Year One Program) | SOM

The Tone:
This is an early career position at SOM, a global firm renowned for creating the most sustainable and impactful architecture, engineering, and planning projects worldwide. The Junior Designer – City Design role is part of the Year One Program, specifically designed to bridge formal education with professional practice through a suite of events and creative initiatives. Within SOM’s interdisciplinary firm, you will gain hands-on experience in small, dynamic studios while leveraging the extensive resources and diversity of a global organization. Your ideas and creativity will be valued from day one, as SOM encourages you to propose bold ideas for the future of design and make your mark in the profession.

The TL;DR
• Role: Early Career
• Type: Full-time
• Location: Global Firm (Hybrid)
• Pay: $55000–$60000 yearly
• Team: Junior member of the CDP Team, reporting to project leaders.
• Mission: To generate planning and design ideas, conduct research, and contribute to all graphic and visual production for city design projects, ensuring adherence to practice protocols and quality standards.
• Tech Stack: AutoCAD, Rhino, Grasshopper, Enscape, Lumion, parametric and rendering software, Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office, Revit

What You’ll Actually Do
• Design & Visualization: Generate planning and design ideas, conduct research, develop diagrams, and render site plans while contributing to comprehensive graphic and visual production.
• Conceptual Application: Apply strong conceptual design ability to projects across varying complexities and scales, beginning to integrate interdisciplinary criteria to advance urban design aspects.
• Technical Understanding: Develop a basic understanding of planning and urban design concepts, building typologies, infrastructure systems, and land development considerations, enriching designs with technical knowledge.
• Collaboration & Communication: Effectively communicate project progress and ideas internally through written, oral, and visual means, actively collaborating with the project team.
• Professional Growth: Manage workload to meet deadlines and actively participate in the Year One Program and office development activities like lectures and design reviews.

The Must-Haves
• Background: Recent completion of a professional Degree in Architecture, Planning, Urban design, or Landscape Architecture; Early Career level.
• Experience: Interest in large-scale planning, mixed-use and transit-oriented development, and working in an intensely collaborative professional environment.
• Skills: Proficiency in AutoCAD, Rhino, Grasshopper, Enscape, Lumion, parametric and rendering software, Adobe Creative Suite, and Microsoft Office.
• Bonus: LEED accreditation preferred; Revit proficiency a plus.