Architect / Project Lead - Real Estate Developer (Client-Side)

Job Description

Location: Central London

Salary: £58k-£62k (negotiable)

Exclusive via Grõ Careers.

You’ve mastered delivery in practice.

Now it’s time to own outcomes.

This is a rare, front-row transition into real estate development - Opportunities like this don’t come around often… and this one is exclusively through Grõ Careers.

The Opportunity

Join a rapidly scaling London real estate developer on an initial FTC (strong path to permanent). A string of recent acquisitions - including high-end existing building projects - means multiple schemes are kicking off.

You’ll step straight into ownership of a 25-unit Central London scheme: an adaptation of an existing Grade II listed hotel, currently at RIBA Stage 2, and lead it through to completion with day-to-day support from an in-house PM and a project architect reporting to you.

It’s hands-on, commercial, and consequential. You won’t just produce - you’ll steer.

What You’ll Do

• Drive the project through planning, tender, and delivery.
• Lead coordination across consultants, contractors, and client teams; chair meetings, track decisions, and run risk/change.
• Own the information set: planning packs, tender/construction packages (Revit proficiency strongly ), reports, trackers.
• Safeguard heritage quality while unlocking buildability and value.
• Communicate with clarity - to leadership, planning officers, and stakeholders - keeping momentum and certainty.

Why This Is Different

• True client-side ownership: influence viability, design, and delivery - not just the drawings.
• Lean, empowered team: fewer layers, faster decisions, visible impact.
• Career-defining pivot: build the commercial range most architects never get - and open routes into development leadership.
• Exclusivity: this opportunity is run solely through Grõ Careers; we’re shaping the shortlist with the client’s directors.

You’ll Thrive Here If You Have

• 5-10+ years’ experience leading high-end residential / existing-building projects, ideally in London.
• Confidence navigating heritage and central London planning - the realities, not just the rhetoric.
• A record of taking schemes through Stage 2-4 to tender, and on-site follow-through.
• Comfort in a lean setup: you can lead people and still roll up your sleeves on production.
• A design eye complemented by a commercial lens - you see the bigger picture of projects, not just aesthetics.
• Nice to have: London estates exposure (e.g. Grosvenor Licence to Alter), polished client comms, and Revit fluency (, not essential).
• If your background includes leading London retrofits (e.g. Grade II/heritage*), complex mixed-use, or major landowner clients (The Crown Estate, British Land), you’ll feel at home here.

Your Next Chapter Includes

• £58k-£62k base (FTC) with strong potential to convert to permanent.
• Flexibility to work from home (2 days remote).
• Immediate ownership of a notable Central London scheme.
• Daily proximity to commercial decision-making - real estate from the inside.
• A platform to accelerate into development management.

How to Apply

Send your CV to Grõ Careers by hitting the apply button. Shortlisted applicants will be invited to share a concise portfolio. Additional details will be shared discreetly with shortlisted architects only.

About Grõ Careers - Your Route into Real Estate

We specialise in helping architects transition into real estate: client-side development, design/development management, and project leadership. Our approach is selective, hands-on, and ethics-first - we map routes, sharpen narratives, and prepare you for the commercial realities so you can land and deliver with confidence. Many of our opportunities are exclusive and not widely advertised - like this one.