Architecture Lead

Location: Remote, India (flexible hours with U.S. team overlap)

Engagement type: Full-time

Compensation: INR 3,33,550 - INR 3,81,200 CTC per month (based on experience and interview process)

Sanctuary builds nature-led, wellness-centered communities that feel alive. Our first community, in the Texas Hill Country, is designed around non-toxic materials, clean water systems, EMF-conscious design, and land that is preserved and planned with care for the ecosystem.

We’re a global team of designers, architects, engineers, and dreamers across 8 countries. Our goal is to bring healthy, sovereign communities to the edge of every major city in the world.

The Springs is the hospitality and wellness heart of our community. It’s about 89,000 sqft of program set along a natural stream, built to reimagine hospitality through nature-led, sensory, eco-wellness experiences. It includes:

• Retreat centre: Healing and longevity spaces, a meditation dome, massage cabanas, a dining hall, a community kitchen, and conference and workshop space

• Bathhouse: 20,000 sqft of spa, sauna, and pools, sculpted around water and light

• Wedding venue: A wedding hall, reception grounds, restaurants, and guest stays

• Retail and commercial: Shops, a health clinic, a bakery, and a café

• Stream and beach club: Kayaking, diving platforms, a floating water theatre, and floating saunas

• Bedouin nights: Tented stays, fire pits, and outdoor cooking

• Short-term rentals: Unconventional stays, including treehouses, cocoons, yurts on stilts, and grotto-style dwellings

This is not a typical residential project. It mixes hospitality, wellness, events, retail, and experimental structures on a sensitive natural site, and much of it hasn’t been done before in this form.

You’ll lead the Springs architecture team and own the design from concept to construction. You’ll set the direction, keep the team on track, and still do real design work yourself.

You’ll shape each building’s vision, program, and spatial strategy with leadership, our Design Architect, and U.S. consultants. Then you’ll make sure what gets built matches what was designed, on time and to standard.

A heads-up: this role isn’t for someone who needs structure handed to them. We’re a startup that moves fast, and the Springs program is still evolving. You’ll build workflows and review cycles from scratch, make the case for design choices, and keep the team focused when priorities shift.

Lead the design

• Drive the Springs buildings and site from concept through construction

• Turn an ambitious amenity program into buildable, phased, cohesive architecture

• Design structures that respond to the stream, the topography, and the Hill Country landscape

• Develop unconventional typologies (treehouses, stilt yurts, floating structures) into code-compliant, buildable designs

• Review and approve all design and documentation before it goes out

Lead the team

• Manage and mentor the Springs architects and designers with clear priorities and deadlines

• Assign work, review it, and give structured feedback that raises the bar

• Build team standards, workflows, and review cycles

• Help hire and onboard new architects

Coordinate and deliver

• Work closely with BIM modelers, structural, MEP, civil, and landscape consultants, and the construction team

• Coordinate complex systems, including pools, spa and thermal facilities, commercial kitchens, assembly spaces, and structures in or near water

• Run coordination meetings and drive open issues to resolution

• Track timelines, deliverables, and design budgets

• Ensure every deliverable meets U.S. building code, accessibility, permitting, and regulatory requirements, including floodplain and water-adjacent rules

Communicate

• Be the go-to contact for Springs architecture

• Present progress, risks, and decisions clearly to leadership and stakeholders

Must-haves

• 8–10 years of architectural experience, including 3+ years leading teams or projects

• A track record of taking hospitality, resort, wellness, or mixed-use projects from concept to construction

• Experience managing architects and reviewing their design and documentation work

• Strong command of construction documentation, consultant coordination, and building codes

• Proficiency in Revit

• Comfort working with high autonomy in a fast-paced, remote, cross-cultural team

• Confident communication with architects, consultants, and leadership

Nice-to-haves

• Experience with spa, bathhouse, or aquatic facilities

• Experience with eco-resorts, glamping, or experimental and lightweight structures

• Experience designing in sensitive natural settings (waterfronts, floodplains, preserved land)

• Experience with BIM-led workflows

• Experience on U.S. real estate projects or at international architecture firms

1. Intro interview: Role fit, experience, portfolio walkthrough, and culture fit

2. Test task: A short practical assignment based on a piece of the Springs program

3. Final interview: A deep dive into how you lead teams and projects, plus expectations and growth

Ready to Build Something That Matters?

If you want to lead design on communities that actually make people’s lives healthier, we’d love to hear from you. Apply here, and let’s talk!