Senior Director Principal Architect

Stanford Health Care • Palo Alto, CA

5d • Hybrid

About The Position

Shape the future of healthcare environments at one of the nation’s leading academic medical centers. As the Facilities Sr. Director-Principal Architect, you will set the architectural vision for complex campuses, transforming strategic priorities into innovative, patient-centered spaces that support care, research, and growth. In this senior leadership role, you will serve as Stanford Health Care's enterprise architectural authority, shaping design strategy, standards, and capital programs across multiple campuses while leading a growing team of architectural professionals. You'll partner with executives, planners, project managers, and clinical stakeholders to deliver complex healthcare environments that advance organizational goals and patient care. The Facilities Services division enhances health through leadership, collaboration, and innovation. Our team offers essential non-clinical support 24/7, ensuring safe operations and planning for future needs. We represent the intersection of planning, construction, general services, and facilities operations. The Facilities Planning & Design (FPD) business unit leads the planning, design, and improvement of Stanford Health Care’s spaces to advance excellence in care, innovation, and experience. With expertise across Planning, Design, Land Use & Licensing, Art, Wayfinding, Signage, and Facilities Administration, FPD turns vision into reality, creating functional, compliant, and inspiring environments aligned with Stanford Medicine’s mission. The Senior Director – Principal Facilities Architect leads enterprise-wide architectural design strategy, governance, and oversight for complex healthcare capital projects and planning initiatives across Stanford Health Care. Serves as the organization's senior architectural authority, ensuring alignment of design solutions with clinical operations, patient experience, regulatory requirements, and long-term system goals. This role provides executive-level leadership across programming, planning, and design phases; directs external consultant teams; and partners with Facilities Planning & Design leadership, clinical stakeholders, and executive governance bodies to deliver high-performing, code-compliant, and future-ready healthcare environments. This role is expected to operate as an enterprise leader with the ability to lead complex operational environments beyond the primary discipline. This includes the capacity to oversee and stabilize additional Facilities Services functional areas when needed, partner effectively across diverse operational domains, and make sound decisions that balance safety, service, financial stewardship, and organizational priorities. The role requires adaptability, systems thinking, and readiness to assume broader operational accountability in support of evolving business needs. This role may be required to provide senior-level representation of the Business Unit or division in internal and external forums to ensure continuity of leadership when Facilities Services senior leadership is not in attendance.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, architecture, health or public administration, business management, construction management, planning, or a directly related field.
• 15+ years of progressively responsible architectural experience with a strong focus on technical delivery for healthcare or complex institutional projects.
• Advanced knowledge of healthcare architecture, building design, and planning principles within complex academic medical center environments.
• Deep knowledge of healthcare codes and regulatory requirements (Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) / Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD), California Building Code (CBC), Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Facility Guidelines Institute (FGI), National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)).
• Strong understanding of façade systems, materials, and building envelope performance.
• Ability to translate conceptual design into fully coordinated and executable construction documents.
• Proven ability to maintain and protect design intent through technical execution and construction phases.
• Expertise in building information modeling, design documentation, and coordination workflows.
• Strong problem-solving and decision-making skills in complex, high-risk environments.
• Ability to lead multidisciplinary teams and coordinate across architecture, engineering, construction, and operations.
• Effective communication skills with executive stakeholders, consultants, contractors, and internal teams.
• Ability to balance technical rigor, cost constraints, and schedule pressures while maintaining design quality.
• Demonstrated executive presence, including clear, concise, and influential communication with senior leadership and diverse stakeholder groups.
• Demonstrated ability to leverage emerging technologies (including AI‑enabled productivity tools, workflow automation, analytics platforms, and decision‑support tools).
• Proven ability to operate effectively in a fast‑paced environment with multiple competing deadlines, shifting priorities, and large‑scale operational demands.
• CAPL - Calif Architect Prof License required Upon Hire.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree and/or professional licensure is strongly preferred.
• PMP - Project Mgmt Professional preferred.
• Lean Six Sigma Certification preferred.
• Evidence-Based Design Accreditation and Certification (EDAC) preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead architectural vision, design standards, and capital project strategy across the enterprise.
• Manage and develop a team of architectural professionals, including direct reports.
• Guide projects through planning, schematic design, design development, and construction documentation.
• Establish and uphold enterprise architectural design standards, guidelines, and best practices across all healthcare projects.
• Provide oversight for programming, planning, and design from concept through construction.
• Ensure alignment with clinical workflows, patient safety, infection prevention, and evidence-based design principles.
• Approve key design deliverables (programs, test fits, design packages) and manage design risk.
• Serve as the primary architectural representative for SHC with external architects, engineers, and consultants.
• Define scope, expectations, and performance standards for design teams.
• Lead design reviews, quality assurance (QA)/quality control (QC) processes, and ensure consistency across projects and campuses.
• Resolve complex design, coordination, and constructability issues.
• Support system-wide master planning, campus planning, and capital programming initiatives.
• Translate enterprise growth, operational, and financial goals into facility and design strategies.
• Partner with Finance, Operations, and Capital Projects to align scope, phasing, budgets, and delivery.
• Facilitate alignment across clinical, operational, and executive stakeholders.
• Present planning and design strategies, options, and recommendations to leadership and governance bodies.
• Drive consensus and decision-making within complex, multi-stakeholder environments.
• Oversee multiple large, complex, and high-risk healthcare projects simultaneously.
• Ensure adherence to scope, schedule, budget, and quality expectations.
• Collaborate with construction teams to maintain design intent through delivery.
• Support value engineering while preserving clinical and operational outcomes.
• Mentor architects, planners, and design staff; support capability building across the business unit.
• Provide thought leadership on healthcare design trends, innovation, and delivery methods.
• Contribute to development of standards, tools, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Serves as campus architect and steward of campus design vision / master planning authority and represents SHC in leadership and enterprise levels of engagements.
• Directs Design Phase and leads for Schematic Design (SD) / Design Development (DD) / Construction Documents (CD) phases in Capital Projects.
• This position may require on-call availability during non-standard hours, including nights, weekends, and holidays, to meet business needs and respond to emergencies as necessary.

Benefits

• Stanford Health Care sets a high standard for delivering value and an exceptional experience for our patients and families. Candidates for employment and existing employees must adopt and execute C-I-CARE standards for all of patients, families and towards each other. C-I-CARE is the foundation of Stanford’s patient-experience and represents a framework for patient-centered interactions. Simply put, we do what it takes to enable and empower patients and families to focus on health, healing and recovery. You will do this by executing against our three experience pillars, from the patient and family’s perspective: Know Me: Anticipate my needs and status to deliver effective care Show Me the Way: Guide and prompt my actions to arrive at better outcomes and better health Coordinate for Me: Own the complexity of my care through coordination

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior