Director of Design Intelligence

HBA is advancing from AI experimentation to structured AI ownership. We are hiring a Senior Architect with strong AI capability to join us as the Director of Design Intelligence in Singapore office.

The Director of Design Intelligence will define, build, and lead HBA's global AI design architecture - embedding intelligent systems into creative, visualization, and delivery workflows to enhance design quality, operational efficiency, and competitive advantage. This role bridges technology and business strategy, ensuring AI investments translate into measurable value, stronger client relationships, and elevated market positioning.

This is a senior strategic role working alongside the Senior Leadership Team, in coordination with Design and Digital Transformation leadership, with a distinct mandate focused on AI-driven design intelligence rather than platform implementation.

This position reports to the CEOs of HBA.

Qualifications and Requirements:

1. Education & professional qualifications:

- Minimum 12 years of experience in architectural design with proven track record in digital design, AI, creating BIM and automation workflow, etc.

- Professional qualification: Bachelor's degree or above in Architecture from a reputable university

2. Digital design & technical experience:

- Experience in using generative AI & Real-Time Visualization & Immersive Technologies in architectural & interior design projects (e.g., Midjourney, Nanobananas, Unreal Engine, Unity, VR/AR platforms)

- Strong experience and knowledge on parametric & computational design

- Expert in Revit, AutoCAD etc.

- Experience in programming & automation

3. Other requirements:

- Client facing & experience in team leading

- Strong stakeholder management experience

- Experience in architectural competition

- Hospitality / mixed use hospitality or luxury residential projects preferred

The Director of Design Intelligence will:

. Define and execute HBA's global AI design strategy aligned with the firm's digital roadmap.

. Establish best-practice frameworks for AI-assisted design workflows across all studios.

. Standardize AI-driven rendering and visualization pipelines to ensure visual consistency, brand alignment, contextual accuracy, and production stability.

. Develop data-informed master planning and test-fit tools integrating environmental, regulatory, spatial, and efficiency metrics.

. Build and oversee proprietary parametric and computational systems enabling rapid design iteration, optimization, and scenario testing, including AI-assisted early-stage layout enhancement.

. Research, evaluate, and implement AI integrations across proposal development, concept design, visualization, modelling, and delivery workflows.

. Deploy secure, locally hosted AI/LLM environments to support project management, research synthesis, quality control, knowledge capture, and proposal development through structured semi-automation.

. Identify and implement AI-driven efficiencies within production processes, modelling methodologies, and rendering services to reduce timelines and improve output quality.

. Collaborate with HBA's R&D team to develop scalable, sector-specific innovation tools and frameworks.

. Establish governance, compliance, and intellectual property protection standards related to AI deployment.

. Define performance metrics and report on measurable impact, including productivity improvements, cost efficiencies, and revenue contribution.

. Lead structured AI adoption and targeted upskilling across studios and leadership.

. Build and curate HBA's proprietary Design Intelligence Database - aggregating project data across 10,000+ hotel references, 1,600 designers creative outputs, and 138 studios into a centralized, searchable knowledge asset for advisory and competitive differentiation.

. Develop AI-driven connected knowledge systems (design knowledge graphs) to prevent intelligence loss across project lifecycles - linking design decisions, client feedback, brand standards, and lessons learned across studios and geographies.

. Drive a dual adoption strategy: top-down (leadership-mandated standards and workflows) and bottom-up (grassroots innovation capture, studio-level experimentation, and designer-led tool development).

. Support HBA's evolution toward an advisory positioning with operators, developers and high-end clients - leveraging AI-generated insights, data-driven design, and enhanced capabilities to elevate HBA's role from design vendor to strategic partner.

. Architect an AI Agent ecosystem - a system pyramid of intelligent agents handling workflow optimization, prompt libraries, rendering pipelines, and cross-studio coordination, enabling scalable, semi-autonomous design support.

. Implement AI-enhanced proposal and presentation systems that transform how HBA communicates value to clients - shifting from vendor-style deliverables to partner-level strategic narratives.

. Lead cross-sector AI integration spanning HBA's full service portfolio: Hospitality Interiors, Architecture and Landscape, F&B, Leisure, Marine, Branded and other Residences etc.