Join our Team: Practice Innovation & Delivery Lead -– Design Systems, Technical Quality & Practice Performance
Practice Innovation & Delivery Lead: Design Systems, Technical Quality & Practice Performance
JA Projects is seeking a senior, systems-minded architect to join the studio in a practice-wide leadership role. This position has been created in response to the studio’s growth, increasing project complexity, and an expanding international profile.
This is not a project-hero role and not a conventional Senior Architect position. It is a leadership role focused on how the practice works – technically, operationally, and strategically – with the aim of making the studio more robust, efficient, and future-facing.
They are not there to design better than others – they are there to make everyone design and deliver better, faster, and more safely.
Success in this role is measured by studio performance and resilience, not by individual project authorship. This is a destination role for the right person – offering authority, trust, and long-term impact rather than a stepping stone to partnership.
The role carries real authority to set, implement, and evolve practice-wide systems, standards, and ways of working.
The Role
The Practice Innovation & Delivery Lead will take responsibility for the technical, systemic, and performance foundations of the studio. They will work closely with the Founder and project leads to ensure that JA Projects delivers consistently high-quality work, while continually improving the way the practice operates.
This role is about designing the practice, not just the projects.
Core Responsibilities
1. Design Systems, Standards & Innovation
- Ownership and evolution of practice-wide design systems, workflows, and standards
- Integration of innovation and AI to improve productivity, coordination, and quality
- Oversight of BIM / CAD standards, templates, and information structures
- Stewardship of studio knowledge, precedents, and shared resources
- Authority to prototype, test, and embed new tools and workflows across the studio
2. Technical Quality, Risk & Assurance
Practice-wide responsibility for technical quality and consistency
Oversight of technical design submissions and escalation support on complex or high-risk matters
Quality assurance processes at key RIBA stages
Post-issue and post-completion reviews, embedding lessons learned back into practice standards
Oversight of design risk management, CDM processes, and technical compliance
(Day-to-day planning and building control submissions remain with project leads; this role provides senior oversight where complexity or risk demands.)
3. Practice Performance & Delivery
Resource planning, workflow oversight, and studio-wide coordination
Supporting project leads with delivery planning, programme realism, and scope awareness
Establishing clear, repeatable delivery frameworks that reduce friction and risk
Providing operational continuity and senior cover during periods of international travel
4. Capability, Mentorship & Culture (Light-Touch)
Raising the technical baseline of the studio through mentorship and guidance
Supporting project leads in complex technical or delivery moments
Shaping technical training priorities
This role does not hold responsibility for HR processes, formal performance management, or disciplinary procedures.
Role Boundaries (Important)
This role does not take ownership of:
Highest-level client relationships
Design vision, authorship, or creative direction
External reputation, profile, or positioning of the practice
Final commercial or fee decisions
These responsibilities remain founder-held or shared at leadership level. The Practice Innovation & Delivery Lead operates alongside these functions – strengthening, not replacing them.
Who This Role Is For
This role will suit someone who has significant experience in architectural practice and technical delivery; thinks systemically and enjoys improving how things work; is calm under pressure and trusted in moments of complexity; wants authority and impact without needing ownership or partnership; and is motivated by practice-wide excellence rather than individual credit.
The role will evolve in response to the needs of the practice and the strengths of the successful candidate. We are interested in people who want to help shape the role – not simply occupy it.
Practicalities
Working pattern: 3–5 days per week (by agreement)
Salary: Competitive, dependent on experience and days
Location: London (with flexibility)
Start date: February/March 2026 (with flexibility)
DEADLINE: Thursday 29 January 2026
How to apply
Please send the following documents to jobs@ja-projects.com with the subject reference ‘Practice_Innovation_and_Delivery_Lead’. Please note that applications sent to any email address or platform other than the designated one will be disregarded.
Covering letter, outlining (one A4 page)
Your reasons for applying
Contribution you seek to make.
CV (one A4 page, double-sided)
Early applications are encouraged; however, we expect most submissions in January.
About JA Projects
Founded by Jayden Ali, JA Projects is a London- and New York-based architecture and urban design studio delivering large-scale mixed-use development, housing, estate regeneration, and masterplanning alongside internationally recognised cultural projects. The practice combines technical rigour with a strong social and cultural agenda, shaping cities as well as experiences.