Principal Architect & Market Lead – Education & Residential

At EXP, we’re driven to provide innovative solutions for the world’s built and natural environments. As a team of architects, engineers, designers, and planners, we create spaces that shape communities and inspire learning. Here, you join a collaborative, entrepreneurial culture within an employee-owned firm that values diversity, innovation, and lasting partnerships.

Are you ready to design your future?

Be our next Principal Architect & Market Lead – Education & Residential

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Your Work Environment at EXP

This leadership role is accountable for driving both strategic growth and design excellence within EXP’s educational architecture practice across South and Central Florida, with potential for expanding the practice into other geographic markets as success is demonstrated. The successful candidate will leverage current personal  expertise in K-12 and higher education programming and  design to build client partnerships, lead pursuits, and position EXP as a trusted partner for school districts and universities across the region.

You will serve as both a practice leader and business developer, responsible for winning work and expanding our presence in a competitive market where population growth, aging infrastructure, and educational innovation are fueling demand for new and modernized facilities.

The successful candidate will play a pivotal role in identifying opportunities, cultivating relationships with decision-makers, and delivering exceptional design solutions that reflect EXP’s mission of understanding, innovating, partnering, and delivering.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Growth & Market Leadership

• Develop and execute a comprehensive three-year strategy to grow EXP’s educational architecture practice, focusing on both K-12 and higher education markets.
• Leverage relationships and market insights to position EXP for success in the region’s largest and most active education capital programs.
• Experience working on residential buildings, student housing, dormitories, and repair/rehabilitation projects to strengthen EXP’s multidisciplinary approach across education and housing portfolios.
• Identify, pursue, and capture new projects through deliberate, relationship-driven engagement with key education clients.
• Collaborate closely with Regional Marketing, Business Development, and Operations to align pursuits with EXP’s long-term growth strategy.

Key Target Clients

To maximize addressable opportunity, this role will focus on high-growth, high-investment education agencies that collectively represent the largest upcoming pipeline of school and campus projects in the region over the next five years. The successful candidate will be expected to proactively engage and expand existing or build new relationships with the following institutions to position EXP as a design leader for educational facilities, with a significant measurable market share in the space: 

• Miami-Dade County Public Schools
• School District of Palm Beach County
• Collier County Public Schools
• Pasco County Schools
• Monroe County School District
• Florida International University (FIU)
• University of Central Florida (UCF)
• Florida Atlantic University (FAU)
• University of Florida (UF)
• Florida College System (FCS)

Florida-based Public Housing Authorities, Affordable Housing Agencies, and University Housing Departments (student housing & residential life divisions) as secondary but strategically aligned targets for campus-adjacent and residential portfolio growth.

Client Engagement & Business Development

• Create, leverage, build and maintain long-term relationships with facilities directors, procurement officials, and executive leadership at target school districts and universities.
• Serve as the primary client manager for key accounts, leading strategic growth efforts in collaboration with EXP’s operations and marketing teams.
• Represent EXP at conferences, client meetings, and education-sector forums across Florida with active involvement and leadership positions to promote our thought leadership and design excellence to our peers.
• Develop capture plans and pursuit strategies tailored to each client’s capital priorities, aligning EXP’s services with their long-term facility goals.
• Leverage experience in residential buildings to identify cross‑sector opportunities supporting both academic and residential facility needs.
• Collaborate with proposal, engineering, and design teams to produce winning submissions that differentiate EXP through innovation and client value.

Operational & Project Leadership

• Oversee the d