Hiring
Build the studio with us.
We are a six-person practice growing into a body of work — five completed climbing gyms, a four-acre racquet club, an award-winning public installation, a 65,000 SF mixed-use development in construction, and the studio's own building, recently published in Dezeen — that has earned the right to be picky about who we hire next.
Working at DBS
A small studio with a real method.
We are a design-led commercial practice built around a small set of typological commitments and a clear philosophy of construction. The work is consistent, ambitious, and — most of the time — getting built. The studio is small enough that everyone owns real project work and large enough that no one is the only person holding a project together.
Our pace is sustainable on purpose. We do CA in person. We do studio reviews on Fridays. We expect people to read, travel, think, and have lives outside the studio that make the work better. We write down our method and we expect new hires to argue with it.
For the longer-form version of how we think about the work, read the approach.
How we operate
A few rituals we have written down.
These are the operational habits that hold the studio together. Not benefits — closer to the answer to the question "what is it like to actually work here."
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Weekly site visit
Every active construction project is visited weekly, by the design team that drew it. Drawings finish in the field.
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Friday review
A standing two-hour studio review every Friday. Every project sits up on the wall; everyone reads everyone else's work.
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Research stipend
An annual stipend for each team member to fund travel, books, courses, conferences — the things that broaden the work.
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Documented mentorship
Each team member has a written growth plan, reviewed twice a year. We tell people what we expect them to learn and how we will help.
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Studio library
A working architectural library on site, curated and growing. Borrow anything, keep nothing forever.
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Quarterly studio dinner
The studio takes an evening together every quarter — a long meal, a reset, a chance to talk about what the practice is becoming.
Open roles
Currently hiring.
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Design Lead
Full-time · Austin, in-studio
A design-ownership role for an architect with five to eight years of experience and a clear point of view on the experiential-venue and adaptive-reuse work the studio is committed to.
- Lead the design of two to four concurrent projects from concept through construction administration, with a path to associate or partner.
- Five to eight years of design experience in commercial or hospitality architecture; licensure (or active path to licensure) preferred.
- Experience with adaptive reuse, experiential venues, or developer-led work strongly preferred.
- Compensation commensurate with experience and ownership; standard benefits plus the studio rituals listed above.
- To apply: send a cover letter, portfolio (PDF or link, please), and the names of two professional references to careers@derrington.co.
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Architectural Designer (any level)
Full-time · Austin, in-studio
For designers earlier in their career who want to do project-ownership work inside a small studio, with serious mentorship and serious construction exposure.
- Two to five years of professional experience preferred; we also consider exceptional new graduates.
- Project work spans schematic through construction administration; we don't silo design and documentation.
- Construction administration is part of the role from day one — you will be on-site weekly.
- To apply: send a cover letter, portfolio, and a few sentences about what you want to learn next to careers@derrington.co.
Not a match for an open role but interested in the studio? Send a note to careers@derrington.co anyway. We keep an active file of designers we'd like to work with when the timing lines up.