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Architecture & Planning Recruitment

Architecture & planning recruitment — across Canada and the USA.

PHM recruits the architects, technologists, and designers who shape the built environment — from project architects and job captains to interior designers and practice principals. Specialist, sector-fluent search across practices, developers, and institutions, on an exclusive, fee-on-hire basis.

Why this hire is hard

The fight moved from the hearing room to the front end.

Since June 2024 an objecting neighbour or community group can no longer appeal an Ontario zoning or official plan amendment — that now sits with the applicant, the municipality, the province and a short technical list. A generation of planners built careers on defending applications at the tribunal, and that work has largely gone. What a practice needs instead is someone who can get a clean approval the first time, which is a different skill and a smaller group.

What it costs while the seat is open

One missing project architect means principals doing production work. The firm still delivers — and stops winning, because nobody is out selling.

How we run it instead

Our architecture and planning recruiters ask what someone has taken through approval since the rules changed, and assess on projects actually led, at the scale and typology your practice works in.

What we recruit for

From designers to firm principals.

Genuine depth across the architecture, planning, and building design disciplines — we understand the roles and the work they answer for, not just the titles. A sample of the work and the projects we recruit for:

Skills we recruit
Architectural technologistBuilding scienceContract administrationDesignInterior designLandscape architectureMunicipal approvalsPlanning & entitlementsRevit / BIMSpecificationsSustainability / LEEDUrban designVisualization
Project types
Institutional & healthcareMaster-planned communitiesMixed-useMulti-residentialMunicipal & civicRetail & commercialWorkplace & interiors

Recruiting for the structure rather than the envelope? That work sits with our structural engineering team.

Levels from designers, technologists, and intern architects through project architects, senior designers, studio and practice leads, and principals.

How we engage

Exclusive contingency.

Retained-level rigour, on an exclusive basis, for a fee paid on the hire — no upfront retainer and the delivery risk on us. We also work standard contingency where a role suits it. How we engage →

Because we don’t run volume, an exclusive architecture mandate gets our full bandwidth — and we’re driven to deliver in less time than industry norms.

Where architecture teams work

Practices, developers, and institutions.

Architecture & design practices

Full-service and specialist practices — from concept design through construction documents and administration.

Developers & builders

In-house design and technical teams for developers and design-build contractors.

Institutional & public

Design and technical roles for institutions and the public sector shaping civic and community spaces.

Common questions

Architecture recruitment, answered.

What architecture roles do you recruit for?

The specialties and levels are listed above. We recruit them for consultancies, owners, contractors and industrial employers across Canada and the USA.

Do you recruit technologists and interior designers as well as architects?

Yes. Alongside licensed architects, we place architectural technologists, interior designers, job captains, and BIM/Revit specialists across practices, developers, and institutions.

Do you work on a retained or contingency basis?

Exclusive contingency: the same process a retained firm runs, without the retainer. We are paid when the hire is made, so the risk of not delivering is ours.

Can you advise on architecture salaries and compensation?

Yes. We provide real-time compensation insight for the specific role, region, and seniority you’re hiring for — so an offer is competitive without overpaying.

Where do you recruit architecture talent?

Across Canada and the United States. We’re headquartered in London, Ontario, Canada and work on-site where it counts and remote-fluent by design.

Are the best architecture roles even advertised?

Often not. Many of the strongest architecture and design roles are filled discreetly, through direct search — never posted, rarely described, and closed inside a small circle.

Related disciplines

Explore where else our expertise runs deep.

Get in touch

Hiring an architect or designer? Tell us the role.

An advisory conversation about the architecture hire ahead of you — and where the right person is likely to come from. Not a commitment.