Director, Architecture, Design Services - Europe

About Four Seasons:

Four Seasons is powered by our people. We are a collective of individuals who crave to become better, to push ourselves to new heights and to treat each other as we wish to be treated in return. Our team members around the world create amazing experiences for our guests, residents, and partners through a commitment to luxury with genuine heart. We know that the best way to enable our people to deliver these exceptional guest experiences is through a world-class employee experience and company culture.

At Four Seasons, we believe in recognizing a familiar face, welcoming a new one and treating everyone we meet the way we would want to be treated ourselves. Whether you work with us, stay with us, live with us or discover with us, we believe our purpose is to create impressions that will stay with you for a lifetime. It comes from our belief that life is richer when we truly connect to the people and the world around us.

About the location:

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is a global, luxury hotel management company. We manage over 120 hotels and resorts and 50 private residences in 47 countries around the world and growing. Central to Four Seasons employee experience and social impact programming is the company’s commitment to supporting cancer research, and the advancement of diversity, inclusion, equality and belonging at Four Seasons corporate offices and properties worldwide. At Four Seasons, we are powered by people and our culture enables everything we do.

An exciting opportunity is available in our Geneva Corporate Office for a Director, Architecture, Design Services - Europe. Reporting to the Vice President, Design Services - Europe, the Director, Architecture is responsible for leading internal and external alignment in design, architecture, and construction for new build, adaptive re-use, conversion, and major CAPEX projects within the region. They provide visibility on projects with an objective to deliver them to the expected timeline, budget, and brand expectations. The role also maintains the flow of technical information between internal stakeholders and ensures decision making is undertaken in a timely manner.

What You’ll Be Doing:

Project Co-ordination

• Key Four Seasons (FS) contact for Owner and Consultant team. Responsible for coordinating multidisciplinary Design Services team as well as internal stakeholders tasked with providing FS input for new build and renovation projects within the Europe region, or as assigned otherwise.

• Review of development opportunities for potential new projects, including conversions and adaptive reuse with creation of Project Improvement Plans (PIPs), design improvement recommendations, etc.

• Coordination of design review from concept through construction document phases with objective to achieve compliance with Four Seasons Design Standards, and track discrepancies on a variance register.

• Preparation of project area programs (Area Summary) and recommended Consultant lists.

• Participation in site review to assess construction progress.

• Review shop drawings and material samples that may impact operations and all project relevant key documentation.

• Manage internal project updates and contribute to internal reports.

• Support and coordinate with the Portfolio Management team with design direction on all CAPEX and new-build related matters.

• Develop and strengthen strong client relationships to manage all company assets and capabilities from signing of deals to onset of specific property operational staff.

• Oversee maintenance of all project communication and records; motivating team to drive key milestone achievements.

• Manage upwards to keep the Regional VP, Design Services closely informed of all developments within the region.

Department Strategic Development

• Participate and contribute to development and maintenance of various brand standard documents while providing sound advice to project teams and Owners.

• Implement and maintain Four Seasons’ cutting-edge design and construction strategy in line with the company’s vision and values using all relevant resources and respecting sustainable design criteria to achieve the company’s short-, mid- and long-term objectives.

Initiatives and special projects

• Work directly with Regional VP, Design Services on special projects as required.

• Lead internal Design Services initiatives (i.e., ESG, DIB, etc.) as required.

What You Bring:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture, with a Master’s Degree preferred.

• Experience with managing multidisciplinary teams, and mentoring colleagues.

• Minimum 10 years’ experience managing the project development, design and construction of luxury hotels and resorts, residential, mixed-use hospitality, and entertainment projects in domestic and international markets.

• Minimum 3 years Hotel operator experience.

• Ability to travel as required based on project status, expected 40% of the time.

• High degree of interpersonal skills to deal effectively with all business contacts.

• Culturally sensitive and adaptable to other countries’ cultures.

• Productive self-starter, with excellent critical thinking ability and capable of working with limited supervision.

• Ability to work effectively under pressure and manage several projects/deadlines.

• Great team player, but able to work independently with some degree of ambiguity.

• Possess problem-solving and technical skills including a strong grasp of design and construction principles.

• Excellent communication skills to convey concepts in a clear and understandable fashion. Ability to effectively communicate in English is essential and other European languages (both oral and written) is beneficial.

• Disciplined adherence to schedules and consistent performance on deliverables.

• Strong knowledge of construction and design processes within the luxury segment of hospitality.

• Solid understanding of hotel planning principles. Fluent with architectural, engineering, and design industry terminology and practices.

• Ability to coordinate and cross-reference design drawings from multiple disciplines.

• Possess various computer skills including CAD/other drafting software, creative software, Microsoft Office skills, Bluebeam, and Adobe Acrobat.

This role will be a Hybrid working model, which will require 3 days per week in the Four Seasons Corporate Office located in central Geneva, Switzerland.