DLR Group is an integrated design firm with a promise to elevate the human experience through design. This fuels the work we do around the world and inspires our mission to improve the lives of our clients, our communities, and our planet. If this sparks your interest, you’re in the right place.
Our team has an opening for a Commercial Manager. DLR Group has a network of 30+ studios across the United States. For this role, we encourage exceptional applicants across the ecosystem.
Position Summary:
Join the team at DLR Group as a Commercial Manager. In this brand-new role to our firm, you will help shape how we elevate the human experience by design, bringing commercial insight to the creative process so great ideas can become successful, buildable realities. In this pivotal role, you will protect the commercial integrity of our projects while championing design excellence, bridging creative ambition with financial, contractual, and risk considerations. From early concept through construction, you will provide strategic leadership across every phase of project delivery, helping teams make informed, thoughtful decisions that balance innovation, value, and long-term success.
If you’re energized by the opportunity to partner with talented designers, influence meaningful work, and help bring exceptional ideas to life, we’d love to hear from you!
What you will do:
- Develop a project-specific risk roadmap at kickoff, aligning contract terms, commercial strategy, and execution plans while equipping key team members with practical risk management processes
- Proactively identify, communicate, and evaluate commercial, contractual, design, and delivery risks throughout the full project lifecycle
- Partner with project managers, client leaders, and legal counsel to prepare, negotiate, and manage variations and requests for additional services
- Deliver guidance and targeted education that strengthens commercial awareness and supports risk-conscious decision-making across project teams and stakeholders
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives that enhance the consistency, efficiency, and effectiveness of commercial execution firmwide
- Foster strong collaboration among project teams, commercial leadership, and legal partners while promoting a culture of commercial discipline and risk literacy across the firm
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree required
- Minimum of 10 years of commercial management experience within the design and construction industry, including work on large, complex projects exceeding $500M in construction cost
- Deep understanding of contract structures, commercial terms, project delivery workflows, and risk allocation across the design and construction lifecycle
- Demonstrated ability to assess complex issues, solve problems thoughtfully, and communicate clearly with project teams and stakeholders
- Proven ability to manage multiple priorities and competing demands in a fast-paced project environment
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, Adobe Creative Suite, and Bluebeam
Preferred Qualifications:
- Brings a proactive, self-starting approach and thrives as a collaborative partner across multidisciplinary teams
- Strong emotional intelligence and the ability to build trust, adapt communication style, and work effectively with a diverse range of colleagues, clients, and partners
- Comfortable balancing creative ambition with commercial practicality to help deliver exceptional design outcomes within sound business parameters
- Experience advancing commercial discipline and risk-aware decision-making in highly collaborative, design-driven environments
Our comprehensive Benefits at DLR Group include medical, dental, vision, disability, wellness programs, flex spending, paid holidays, and paid time off. We also offer a 401(k) plan, employee stock ownership, and bonus opportunities. Compensation considerations are based on location, experience, and skills. The suggested pay range for this position is:
DLR Group is an integrated design firm delivering architecture, engineering, interiors, planning, and building optimization for new builds, renovations, and adaptive reuse projects.
We are 100% employee-owned: every employee is literally invested in our clients’ success. At the core of our firm are interdisciplinary teams engaged in every step of project lifecycles. Our teams champion true collaboration, open information sharing, shared risk and reward, value-based decision making, and proficient use of technology to deliver exceptional design. We are pursuing the goals of the 2030 Challenge, the ME2040, and the SE2050, and are an initial signatory of the China Accord and the AIA 2030 Commitment.
Through our values – commitment, creativity, environmental stewardship, fun, integrity, ownership, sharing, teamwork – we elevate the human experience through design, together.
DLR Group follows a four-day in-office work model, with employees having the flexibility to work somewhere other than the office on Fridays.
We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action/M/F/Veteran/Disabled employer.
DLR Group Chicago, Illinois, USA Office
333 West Wacker Drive Suite 850, Chicago, United States, 60606
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