Director, Program Spaces and Design

Job Purpose

The Director, Program Spaces and Design leads the planning, design, development, and construction of Liliʻuokalani Trust capital projects and owns the long-term strategy for the physical spaces in which LT programs serve kamalei and ʻohana. The Director holds clear decision authority to direct design firms, consultants, and contractors on the Trust's behalf. This role carries a dual mandate that flexes with project cycles. During active capital work, the Director drives projects from conception through closeout, including governance, budgeting, design management, due diligence, entitlement, permitting, and construction oversight. As capital work slows, the Director shifts focus to program spaces across LT: space planning, renovations, refreshes, and the ongoing alignment of facilities with program needs. The Director supervises the Manager, Program Spaces and Design and partners closely with the Director of Strategic Initiatives, program leadership, Real Estate, and Team Services.

Essential Responsibilities

Capital Project Leadership and Governance

• Serves as LT's point of decision authority on assigned capital projects. Directs design firms, consultants, contractors, and subcontractors in the execution of planning, design, and construction activities to accomplish project goals.

• Establishes and maintains project governance for each capital project: decision-making structure, escalation paths, meeting cadence, decision logs, and clearly defined kulana (roles and responsibilities) for all project participants.

• Collaborates with pertinent leadership to establish project goals and objectives, ensuring program plans inform design rather than the reverse.

• Oversees and directs planning, design, and construction of assigned projects from conception to completion and closeout, including schematic design, design development, construction documents, bidding, and construction administration.

• Responsible for the creation, management, and reporting of project budgets, cost scenarios, schedules, and implementation plans. Develops preliminary cost estimates for prospective projects to evaluate viability and consistency with program objectives. Leads value engineering processes, presenting cost and trade-off options to leadership for decision.

• Manages all project due diligence workstreams, including environmental, archaeological and cultural, geotechnical, survey, and traffic studies. Sequences long-lead items early to protect the project schedule and budget.

• Leads consultant and vendor selection: develops and issues Requests for Proposals, evaluates competing proposals, and, in consultation with LT's legal counsel, drafts contracts and negotiates terms of agreements.

• Interacts with city and state officials, permitting agencies, design review and approval boards, and landowners to advance land entitlement, permitting, licensing, and inspection requirements.

• Ensures projects comply with applicable regulations, including city and state licensing departments, fair housing, zoning, building code, and HIOSH requirements, engaging specialized counsel and consultants as needed.

• Ensures project planning, architecture, and engineering work is aligned with the highest development and LT authority standards, holding all consultant work to the same standards.

• Keeps executives, trustees, and project stakeholders informed through a regular reporting cadence, documented decisions, and lessons learned. Prepares reports and presentations for executive team, Board of Trustees, and other stakeholders.

Program Spaces Strategy

• Owns LT's long-term program space strategy: assesses how physical environments serve programs over time and develops multi-year plans for renovations, refreshes, and new program environments across kīpuka.


• Oversees space planning, office and program layout, and maximum utilization of workspaces at LT locations, in collaboration with program leadership and facilities teammates.

• Partners with youth program and youth serviced teams to ensure spaces where frontline services are delivered are welcoming, functional, and appropriate for kamalei and ʻohana.

• Incorporates Team Services leads (People Operations, Information Technology, Administration, Facilities and Fleet, etc.) in the design and development of implementation plans for new and renovated spaces.

• Manages contractor and vendor relationships in the areas of facilities improvement, ensuring LT's good standing in the community.


Staff Administration

• Supervises the Manager, Program Spaces and Design, including work planning, coaching, and performance management. Prepares detailed, implementable project plans to be shared with the project team.

• Works alongside P