Architecture Recruiters: 13 Firms for Architects and Design Leaders

API Partners publishes testimonials from leaders at SOM, HKS, ZGF, Pelli Clarke & Partners, Perkins&Will and Leo A Daly, each attributed by role rather than by name. A partner at ZGF says the firm "hired several critical leaders" through API's work, and the managing director quoted from Perkins&Will calls API a longtime partner for its most critical searches.

API describes its model as retained (opens in a new tab) and covers C-suite executives, practice and design leaders, and leaders in business development, operations, finance and marketing. It says its team draws on experience as registered architects and designers; founder Lonny Rossman is a licensed architect. The firm has recruited for the built environment since 1995 and also advises on succession, mergers and compensation.

On Archipro's testimonials page (opens in a new tab), first published in 2022, Tatiana Milan, a senior HR director, describes working with founder Leslie Swisher while she was at OBMI, when its international offices were growing and specialized talent was hard to find. Shorter testimonials come from an architect at Humphreys & Partners Architects and the director of architecture and interior design at TKS Developers.

Archipro says it has recruited only in architecture and design since 1992. Its FAQ (opens in a new tab) names the roles it fills most often: senior architects and landscape architects, senior designers, directors of design, project managers, project architects, BIM managers and Revit and AutoCAD drafters. It also supports project placements that can convert to permanent employment after a trial period.

On Bespoke's employer page (opens in a new tab), Maria O'Meagher, practice manager at Genton in Melbourne, says that since working with Bespoke it has filled key positions it had struggled to fill. Meredith Fisher of Cera Stribley in Melbourne and Sophie Tait of Studio PDP in London are also quoted. The employer page's only US testimonial comes from Havwoods, a wood flooring company in New York, so ask for references from US practices. Across all its markets, Bespoke reports 1,028 firms hiring through it in a 12-month period and 18,112 jobs filled in 22 years.

The firm runs three models. Permanent search is paid only when you hire. Contract staff come with hourly rates agreed upfront, and Bespoke handles contracts, timesheets and payroll. Its retained strategic search (opens in a new tab) covers practice leads, studio directors and heads of discipline. Candidates' CAD skills are assessed with KnowledgeSmart tests. Bespoke was founded in London in 2004.

Among the pages read in October 2026, EDP's was the only one publishing a placement fee percentage: 20% of the negotiated salary for a direct hire. The one-page site names no client, placement or testimonial.

Owner Eileen Padro says she has recruited for the architectural and engineering design industry for over 30 years and has worked as a CAD designer and an interior designer. The site says it recruits architects, engineers and designers and also offers recruiting consulting.

Brian Schaer, an associate principal at TVS Design, says in a testimonial that he has worked with Interior Talent for over five years and values its "right fit" methodology. Emilio Perez, a vice president at SB Architects Miami, credits its team with experience recruiting for executive positions in interior design. Many of its other published client testimonials come from interior design, furniture and retail companies.

Its architecture page lists principals, directors of architecture, studio leaders, senior and project architects, intern architects, CAD managers, sustainability designers and interior architects, hired full-time, remote or as temps. Its employer page (opens in a new tab) offers engaged search and, for senior-level professionals, retained search, without a published fee. Interior Talent says it has recruited for architecture firms since 2003 and follows up after a hire with 30/60/90-day check-ins. One client mentions a placement guarantee, but the page does not publish its terms.

NDH's client section shows the logos of Gensler, Perkins&Will, HOK, NBBJ, Gehry Partners, Morphosis, AECOM and Stantec, among others. These logos do not identify the roles filled, so ask which searches it ran for firms like yours.

The firm says it has specialized since 1998 in creative and technical roles for architecture, interior design and landscape architecture, from the C-suite to managers and designers. The roles it lists run from drafters, job captains and licensed architects to studio leaders, principals and managing directors.

DesignForce's homepage reports 426 "satisfied clients" across its business, without a reporting period or an architecture-specific total. It provides career and workforce consulting for architecture, engineering and general contracting firms, including strategic hiring (opens in a new tab).

Its hiring section carries the heading "Success Based Fee Structures" and says the firm removes financial incentives tied to placements, so the fee basis is unclear from the page. It also offers succession planning, organizational design, university recruiting and leadership coaching. The firm has traded as DesignForce since 2010 and became a certified B Corporation in 2022.

Gillian's site leads with real estate development and construction; architecture is one of the sectors it lists for permanent executive search, alongside asset management, finance and real estate law. It names no clients on the pages read.

President Kipp Gillian is a mechanical engineer who studied architecture for three years and spent a decade in construction project management. The firm describes itself as a retained and contingent recruiter, and a sister service, Request For Talent, supplies consultants for project-based work.

The firm says it works only on architecture, engineering and planning recruitment across North America, for clients from small private firms to large public consultancies. Its homepage testimonials carry no names.

Its services page (opens in a new tab) describes two fee structures: a partial retainer, with an engagement fee when the search begins and the final payment after it is completed, and a monthly retainer reviewed every three months. Carol Metzner founded the firm in July 1989 after managing employment at an ENR top 500 firm. It also runs board searches, HR consulting and merger introductions.

Helbling & Associates' address, helblingsearch.com, redirected to ZRG Partners when it was read in October 2026. ZRG says it runs executive searches for C-suite, vice president and director-level roles and project executives at architecture, engineering and construction firms. It also covers leaders in operations, finance, business development, marketing, HR and legal, and lists commercial, industrial, interior and landscape architecture among its client types.

ZRG is a global talent firm that also offers interim leadership, embedded recruiting and consulting.

4 Corner's published figures are firm-wide: 16,750+ placements since 2005 and a 93% client retention rate. Its architecture and engineering page quotes a designer whose contract role became permanent, without naming the employer.

The page covers contract staffing, contract-to-hire, direct hire, resume sourcing and executive search for roles from drafters to licensed architects and engineers. Its page said in October 2026 that candidates could often be sent for review as quickly as a day later, depending on the position. Fees depend on the service. The firm is based in Orlando and says it has placed engineering professionals in 100 US cities.

Alpha Apex Group's architecture page reported 2,000+ placements worldwide and a 43-day average time to fill full-time hires in October 2026. It also says new candidates reach the hiring manager's inbox within 72 hours. The page does not define the start of either timeline, the endpoint of "time to fill" or which searches the 72-hour claim covers. The page does not identify these figures as architecture measures and names no architecture client or case.

The page describes executive search for design leadership and specialist recruitment in sustainable design, urban planning and related disciplines, matched to the firm's culture. It does not publish a search model or fee, so agree both directly.

Randstad's UK architecture team recruits for permanent and contract roles, from Part II architectural assistants and architects to senior architects, architectural technologists, interior designers, building surveyors and BIM technicians. The page names no client or placement and publishes no fee.

It says its screening goes beyond Part I, II and III qualifications and software skills such as Revit, AutoCAD and BIM to assess communication and collaboration, and that it partners with CIAT. Randstad's US engineering and design page also lists architects and architectural drafters.