How To Become A Project Architect: What It Is and Career Path

What is a project architect and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted Expert

Christy Graves

If you like to earn an annual average salary of $72,714, consider applying as a Project Architect. with a job growth rate of 8%, you also have the chance to further your career depending on the path you plan to pursue. You can be a Project Manager, an Owner/Operator, a Construction Manager, and a Senior Construction Manager.

As a Project Architect, you will be spearheading and overseeing the design and development of construction projects. You will be coordinating with the client in order to identify the needs of the projects and understand what needs to be done. You will be preparing documents and ensuring that procedures meet the laws.

As you can see, you have a great responsibility, so you need to possess certain skills and traits. You need to have great organizational skills, good visualization skills, and excellent communication skills. You will be dealing and working with different people, so you should know how to work with them.

What general advice would you give to a Project Architect?

Christy Graves

Professor/Program Manager, Seminole State College of Florida

I would advise the graduate to learn from everyone they work with within the workplace environment. Even though a degree in architectural engineering technology is valuable, it's impossible to learn everything you need to know to be successful in the industry by taking classes in school and earning a degree. Do not be afraid to ask others for help when you aren't sure about the task you've been assigned to do. In addition, keep up with new technology. Remember, learning should be a lifetime pursuit. It shouldn't end with earning a degree.

ScoreProject ArchitectUS Average

Salary

6.0

Avg. Salary $76,812

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

7.2

Growth Rate 3%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.32%

Asian 16.38%

Black or African American 2.33%

Hispanic or Latino 12.08%

Unknown 3.96%

White 64.93%

Gender

female 19.09%

male 80.91%

Age - 45

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 45

Stress Level

7.2

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

10.0

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

3.5

Work Life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a project architect

Explore project architect education requirements

Most common project architect degrees

Bachelor's

74.1 %

Master's

18.0 %

Associate

5.3 %

Start to develop specific project architect skills

Skills	Percentages
Revit	20.65%
Autocad	9.99%
Sketch	5.92%
SketchUp	5.17%
Healthcare	4.91%

Complete relevant project architect training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 2-4 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New project architects learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a project architect based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real project architect resumes.

Research project architect duties and responsibilities

Manage the distribution of and collection of RFQ from and to contractors and sub-contractors.
Manage design team (s) & consultants of various projects throughout NYC & Washington DC.
Advise clients on means to achieve actionable goals through sustainable design practices per USGBC leer standards.
Lead teams in developing use cases, models, systems, and interfaces leveraging J2EE technology.

Get project architect experience

Generally, it takes 2-4 years to become a project architect. The most common roles before becoming a project architect include architect, architectural internship team lead and project manager.

Prepare your project architect resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your project architect resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a project architect resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Project Architect Resume templates

Build a professional Project Architect resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Project Architect resume.

Apply for project architect jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a project architect job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do project architects rate their job?