Technical Lead - Sydney
About the Role
As a Technical Lead, you'll provide technical leadership throughout the project lifecycle, working closely with Project Leads, Design Leads and consultants to develop practical, coordinated and buildable design solutions that support the project objectives and design intent.
You'll be responsible for overseeing technical decision-making, resolving complex design and construction challenges, and ensuring the project appropriately addresses functional requirements, statutory obligations and relevant codes and standards. Through effective coordination across disciplines, you'll help manage project risk and support successful project outcomes.
The role requires strong technical expertise, sound judgement and a detailed understanding of building systems, construction methodologies and documentation standards. You'll guide project teams in the production and review of documentation, ensuring deliverables are coordinated, accurate and suitable for approval, procurement and construction.
About us at Populous
At Populous, our teams design the places where people love to be together. From stadiums and arenas to convention centres, airports, mixed-use developments, and entertainment precincts, we have delivered many of the world’s most iconic and community-defining projects.
With projects spanning Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Americas, we bring global expertise and local insight to every design. Our Sydney team is central to this network, delivering impactful projects locally and across the region with a focus on sustainability, innovation, and community.
Why Populous
We don’t consider ourselves just another architecture and design practice. At Populous, we believe our strength lies in our people and their diversity of experiences. Across APAC, our team represents over 35 nationalities, and we actively celebrate and support this.
We provide our people with:
- The opportunity to contribute to projects of global significance in Sydney and across APAC
- A collaborative international network of experts and design leaders
- Career development opportunities, including leadership training, mentorship, and global mobility
- A vibrant workplace culture where creativity, collaboration, and innovation are valued
- An environment where everyone can be themselves and grow their careers in any direction they want, all while being in an inclusive and supportive workplace
- Oh, and we’re recognised as one of the best places to work in Australia! We’ve been recognised as a Work180 Top 101 Employer for Women two years in a row, winners of two Work180 Workplace awards and recognised as a HRD 5 Star Employer!
What will you be engaged in?
As a Technical Lead, you will:
- Provide technical leadership across projects, supporting the development of coordinated, buildable and compliant design solutions.
- Contribute to the design, documentation, specification and delivery of complex architectural projects.
- Lead the technical development and coordination of projects from design through documentation and construction support.
- Ensure project outcomes align with the client brief, relevant codes, statutory requirements and industry standards.
- Review and guide the resolution of complex technical, construction and detailing challenges.
- Coordinate architectural interfaces between structure, façade, services, interiors, landscape and other project elements.
- Lead multidisciplinary coordination with consultants, specialists and project stakeholders to achieve integrated design outcomes.
- Review drawings, models, specifications and documentation to ensure quality, accuracy and consistency across project deliverables.
- Establish and maintain documentation standards, technical quality and quality assurance processes across the project team.
- Identify technical, compliance and coordination risks early and work collaboratively to develop appropriate solutions.
- Support Project Leads and Design Leads in balancing design intent, functionality and buildability considerations.
- Participate in design reviews, technical workshops, coordination meetings and stakeholder presentations.
- Provide technical guidance, mentoring and support to project team members throughout project delivery.
- Review consultant information and ensure external inputs are effectively integrated into project documentation.
- Oversee the production and delivery of coordinated documentation packages to support approvals, procurement and construction.
- Build strong working relationships with clients, consultants, contractors and internal project teams.
- Contribute to broader technical leadership, project delivery initiatives and continuous improvement activities across the practice.
What we are looking for
To succeed in this role, you will bring:
- Master’s degree in architecture from a recognised university.
- Current Architectural Registration in Australia (desirable).
- Approximately 8-15 years' professional experience, or equivalent, within an architectural practice.
- Demonstrated experience leading the technical delivery of complex architectural projects through design, documentation and construction phases.
- Strong knowledge of the National Construction Code (NCC), Australian Standards, accessibility requirements and statutory approval processes.
- A detailed understanding of building systems, construction methodologies, materials and technical detailing.
- Extensive experience developing, reviewing and coordinating architectural documentation for complex projects.
- Proven ability to identify, assess and resolve technical, compliance and coordination issues.
- Strong multidisciplinary coordination skills, with experience working closely with consultants, contractors and specialist advisors.
- Excellent quality assurance and documentation review capability, with a focus on accuracy, consistency and risk management.
- Advanced BIM and Revit proficiency, with a strong understanding of digital design and documentation workflows.
- Strong communication skills and the ability to confidently present technical matters to clients, stakeholders and project teams.
- Demonstrated ability to mentor and support team members while fostering technical excellence across project teams.
- Strong problem-solving skills, attention to detail and a practical, solutions-focused approach.
- Ability to balance design intent, functionality, compliance and buildability to achieve successful project outcomes.
- Experience working on complex or large-scale sports, entertainment, aviation, civic or major public infrastructure projects will be highly regarded.
At Populous, we’re not only looking for technical skills but also for people who share our passion for creating places where communities come together.
We design the places that bring people together — and we know that happens best when our own team reflects the diversity of the communities we serve. We encourage people of all identities, abilities, and lived experiences to apply and join us in shaping the future of design.
Send us your CV and portfolio and come help us design the places that bring people together.