Careers

Kaplan Thompson Architects prioritizes sustainability, creative design, and technical excellence for single-family homes (both new and renovations), multi-family residential, educational, and non-profit design projects.

If you see links to job postings above, we are seeking candidates who currently live or are willing to move within commuting distance of our office in downtown Portland, Maine and are able to work in-person for the first six months of employment.

Our workload and commitment to efficiency, project productivity, our clients, and the environment are rigorous, but so is our desire to foster a sense of community amongst our team and our peers. We enjoy monthly company social hours, compete and sometimes not place last in an industry bowling league, and maintain dedicated Slack channels for photos of our canine or feline companions. As if that’s not enough, let’s just say that after hours, we aren’t afraid to push up our sleeves and turn the conference room table into a ping pong arena.

We were also the first architecture firm in Maine to go through the International Living Future Institute’s Just label process to optimize policies that improve social equity and enhance employee engagement.

If you are ready to be dazzled by our stunning assortment of nutritious office snacks, we are ready to meet you!

Company Expectations

You bring:

• Affability, a positive attitude, patience, and respect for your coworkers
• Joy and creativity to your projects and your workplace
• An emerging design vision, drive and a deep belief in a more
  sustainable future
• The ability to push boundaries and think unconventionally

You embrace:

• Planning and organizing to meet timely goals
• Collaborating with other team members and external partners
• Active participation in the health and vibrancy of the business
• Maintaining rigor in quality of work and written communications

You are comfortable with:

• A flexible environment with options for both in-person and
  remote work
• An open, collaborative team approach and a collegial studio
  atmosphere
• Communicating when you see room for improvement and
  coming to the table with solutions
• Communicating when you need help moving forward more
  efficiently

You can expect from us:

• The opportunity to work on high-performance, net zero energy, Living Building Challenge, and Passive House projects
• Professional development support and resources
• A portfolio of mission-driven projects
• A family-friendly compensation and benefits package that meets or exceeds local industry standards

Benefits

• Hybrid/flex work – Once the initial six-month training period concludes (and you have endured enough of our terrible jokes), we offer a flexible environment with options for both in-person and hybrid work. Some members of our team maintain a permanent desk in the office, others take advantage of flex work-stations for several days of in-office time per week. We value your time and a healthy work-life balance. We observe a 40-hour work week, and time spent on project work beyond your weekly obligation is reimbursed quarterly as comp time or a cash bonus.
• Retirement – KTA offers a 401(k) benefit plan that allows you to save for retirement. With this plan, KTA will match your contributions up to 4% of your salary. There is no waiting period to receive these benefits.
• Medical/dental/vision – Our benefits package also includes 100% medical coverage on Health Insurance and 100% coverage on Disability Insurance.
• Education benefit – We encourage all employees to spend $600 and two days of education time throughout the year, which might include attending a conference, taking a class, or participating in another approved activity.. Discretionary training is also provided to support individual professional development.
• Travel stipend – A commuting stipend of $60/month will be provided, and may be either spent towards a parking space, bus pass, or kept by you if an alternate form of transportation is used.
• Vacation/sick/holiday – All employees get 3 weeks of paid vacation / personal / sick time annually to start. We also offer 10 paid holidays including 3 paid floating holidays.
• Community benefit – We offer one paid Community Day with the entire office and up to 24 matched hours over the year for any a Community Service project you would like to pursue.
• Licensure – Designers interested in achieving licensure also enjoy access to company-paid training materials and reimbursement of ARE expenses upon successful completion of tests.
• Compensation – We offer competitive salaries in alignment with prescribed AIA rates at or near the top levels for the region. Profit sharing bonuses are distributed in accordance with hours worked and success of the office.

The Team

Curious who you might be working with? And maybe volunteering, picnicking, studying, or bowling with? Get to know the team a little better!

Meet the Team

Don’t see the right opportunity?

If you’re not seeing the right opportunity, but still think you’d be a good fit at Kaplan Thompson Architects, send us an email at hiring@kaplanthompson.com and introduce yourself.

Kaplan Thompson Architects is an equal opportunity employer. In order to provide equal employment and advancement opportunities to all individuals, employment decisions are based on merit, qualifications, and abilities. We do not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age or disability. We apply the same non-discrimination requirements with respect to the treatment of our customers, vendors, and suppliers.