Studio Manager

Role & responsibilities

Studio Manager Design + Build

Role Purpose

The Studio Manager is the operational right hand to the Principal and is responsible for ensuring that Unearth's Design and Build businesses operate as a coordinated, predictable and commercially disciplined practice.

The role sits across the entire studio rather than inside one functional team.

While the Design Team owns design quality, the Build Team owns execution coordination, and the Principal / Directors own strategic direction and key relationships, the Studio Manager owns the operating system that connects them.

The Studio Manager ensures that:

The right people are working on the right projects at the right time with the right information while clients are communicated with and the business gets paid.

The long-term objective is to allow the Principal to move out of day-to-day operational management and focus primarily on:

• Business strategy.
• Design leadership.
• Key client relationships.
• Business development.
• Brand and thought leadership.
• Major commercial and architectural decisions.

The Studio Manager becomes the person who makes sure the rest of the organisation actually moves.

Core Responsibilities

1. Resource Planning

Own studio-wide resource planning across Design and Build.

The Studio Manager should be able to answer at any point:

"Who is working on what, how much capacity do we have, and where will we have a problem in the next 48 weeks?"

2. Project Operations

Maintain an overall view of every active Design and Build project.

The Studio Manager should be able to identify projects that are:

On Track At Risk Off Track

and ensure that the appropriate person takes corrective action.

3. Client Management

Own the operational client experience across Design and Build projects.

The goal is to prevent every small client issue from reaching the Principal.

4. Fee Collection & Commercial Administration

Own the operational process for getting Unearth paid on time.

They own commercial follow-through.

They should be able to answer:

"What are we supposed to collect this month, from whom, and what is currently at risk?"

5. Project Commercial Control

Work with the Principal, Build Lead and Quantity Surveyor to maintain commercial visibility of projects.

The Studio Manager should identify situations where:

The team is spending more time than the project has been priced for.

This is particularly important because Unearth's target project model depends on disciplined project capacity and approximately 5-6 month project cycles.

6. Studio Management

Own the day-to-day functioning of the studio.

This includes:

• Weekly studio planning.
• Meeting calendars.
• Internal coordination.
• Leave planning.
• Attendance visibility.
• Resource allocation.
• Office systems.
• Software / subscription coordination.
• Vendor relationships.
• Office administration.
• Hiring coordination.
• Onboarding and offboarding.
• Documentation systems.

The Studio Manager should ensure that the studio does not depend on the Principal remembering everything.

7. People & Performance Management

Support functional leads in managing team performance.

The Studio Manager is responsible for ensuring the management process happens.

Functional leaders remain responsible for evaluating technical and design capability.

For example:

Design quality Design Lead

Technical architecture Technical Lead

Build execution Build Lead

Studio performance / operating discipline Studio Manager

8. Hiring & Team Development

Own the operational side of recruitment.

The Studio Manager should gradually build a system where hiring is planned, rather than triggered by someone suddenly resigning.

9. Management Information

Create a simple weekly operating dashboard for the Principal.

The Principal should not need to ask five different people for updates.

The Studio Manager should be able to provide a weekly snapshot covering:

Projects

People

Commercial

Business

The dashboard should focus on exceptions, not generate reports for the sake of reporting.

10. Systems & SOPs

The Studio Manager is responsible for making Unearth's operating systems actually work.

Process Ownership Visibility Escalation

The Founder-Right-Hand Function

The Studio Manager's most important responsibility is to gradually remove the Principal from operational dependency.

The role should absorb:

• Follow-ups.
• Coordination.
• Scheduling.
• Resource conflicts.
• Routine client communication.
• Payment follow-ups.
• Internal accountability.
• Project status tracking.
• Hiring coordination.
• Office administration.
• Recurring operational decisions.

What This Role Is NOT

The Studio Manager is not:

• A receptionist.
• An office administrator.
• A personal assistant to the Principal.
• A project manager for every individual project.
• The Design Head.
• The Build Head.
• The person responsible for every problem in the company.

The role is the operational integrator across these functions.

Preferred candidate profile

Ideal Candidate

We are looking for someone who combines:

Operations

Highly organised, systematic and comfortable managing multiple moving parts.

People

Comfortable following up, holding people accountable and having difficult conversations.

Commercial Awareness

Understands that a design studio is a business and that time, fees, utilisation and collections matter.

Client Sensitivity

Can maintain strong client relationships without overpromising.

Problem Solving

Does not simply report problems to the Principal.

They arrive with:

Problem Cause Options Recommendation Action

Architectural / Construction Understanding

Has enough understanding of architecture, design and construction to understand how the different teams interact.

They do not need to be the best designer or engineer in the studio.

They need to understand how the whole machine works.

Experience & Qualifications

Required

• 5+ years of professional experience preferred.
• Experience in an architecture, design, construction, interiors or related professional-services environment.
• Strong organisational and communication skills.
• Experience coordinating multiple projects and people.
• Strong Excel / Google Sheets / project management skills.
• Comfortable with budgets, invoices and basic financial tracking.
• Strong written and verbal communication.

Preferred

• Architecture / construction background.
• Experience managing a small professional team.
• Experience in design-build practices.
• Experience with project management systems.
• Experience with client management.
• Experience with billing / collections.
• Experience with recruitment and HR processes.

Key Performance Measures

The Studio Manager will ultimately be measured by:

Operational Predictability

Are projects and people being managed proactively?

Resource Utilisation

Are people appropriately loaded across the project portfolio?

Project Discipline

Are milestones, deliverables and actions being tracked?

Client Experience

Are clients receiving timely communication and follow-through?

Collections

Are fees being invoiced and collected on time?

Founder Dependency

How many operational decisions still require Principal intervention?

Team Accountability

Are people meeting their commitments without constant founder follow-up?

System Adoption

Are the studio's agreed processes actually being used?

Reporting Structure

Reports to: Principal / Founders

Works across: Design Team, Technical Architecture Team, Build Team, Quantity Surveying, Finance / Administration

Primary responsibility: Studio-wide operational management across Design + Build.

Role trajectory:

Studio Manager Studio Operations Lead Practice / Operations Director

The long-term goal is for this role to become the operating backbone of Unearth, allowing the founders to spend progressively more time on design leadership, business development, strategy and high-value client relationships.

Perks and benefits

Project Ontime Completion Bonus