National Behavioral Health Design Leader

The role

The Behavioral Health Design Leader will lead the planning and design of environments that support care, safety, dignity, and recovery. You will work with clients and integrated design teams to translate care models and operational needs into architectural and interior design solutions.

What you will do

• Lead behavioral health planning and design from early programming and concept development through project delivery.
• Partner with clients, care providers, staff, and other stakeholders to understand services, workflows, safety needs, and goals.
• Guide architectural and interior design solutions for various behavioral health settings.
• Translate clinical and operational requirements into clear programs, functional layouts, and design concepts.
• Apply trauma-informed and evidence-based design principles.
• Integrate safety, observation, privacy, and de-escalation considerations into therapeutic environments.
• Collaborate with architects, interior designers, engineers, planners, and specialty consultants.
• Lead client workshops, design presentations, and discussions.
• Provide guidance on behavioral health design requirements, materials, furnishings, and building systems.
• Mentor colleagues, share expertise, and contribute to research, thought leadership, and business development.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in architecture, interior design, or a related design field.
• Significant experience planning or designing behavioral health environments.
• Experience leading design work and collaborating with clients and multidisciplinary project teams.
• Understanding of behavioral health care settings, clinical workflows, and the relationship between therapeutic design and safety.
• Knowledge of trauma-informed and evidence-based design principles.
• Ability to communicate design ideas clearly through presentations, drawings, and written materials.
• Strong facilitation, collaboration, and problem-solving skills.

Nice to have

• Professional architecture license or NCIDQ certification.
• Experience across more than one behavioral health setting, such as crisis care, inpatient treatment, outpatient care, residential treatment, or secure treatment.
• Experience with healthcare facility design, including coordination of applicable codes and design requirements.
• Experience developing design guidelines, conducting facility assessments, or contributing to post-occupancy evaluations.
• Experience mentoring designers or contributing to design research and thought leadership.
• Proficiency in Revit and other tools used to develop and communicate design work.

About the company

DLR Group is an integrated design firm that delivers architecture, engineering, interiors, planning, and building optimization. The firm is 100% employee-owned.