Job Description

Dewberry Architects Inc. is seeking a Justice Market Segment Leader to join our Fairfax, VA office. Candidates should be team-oriented, have strong organizational and communication skills, and have an entrepreneurial mindset.

Position available across various locations.

The Justice Market Segment Leader is responsible for the strategic growth, leadership, and overall performance of Dewberry’s Justice practice. This role provides vision and direction for justice-related work—including courthouses, adult & juvenile secure housing, and secure behavioral health—ensuring design excellence, strong client relationships, deep subject matter expertise, and sustainable business growth.

Serving as a leader within the Dewberry, the Justice Market Segment Leader works across offices and geographies to align market-facing strategy, delivery excellence, and client management. The role requires deep subject matter expertise, credibility with public-sector clients, and the ability to guide complex projects while mentoring teams and strengthening Dewberry’s reputation in the justice market.

Dewberry is a leading, market-facing professional services firm with more than 60 locations and 2,500 professionals nationwide. What sets us apart from our competitors is our people. At Dewberry, we seek out exceptional talent and strive to deliver the highest quality of services to our clients. Whether you’re an experienced professional or a new graduate, you’ll have the chance to collaborate with the best and brightest and work on innovative and complex projects at the forefront of the industry. Our commitment to excellence stems from our personal integrity and from other defining attributes, which we call “Dewberry at Work,” that have inspired our employees to be successful for more than a half-century.

Responsibilities

Market Strategy & Business Leadership

• Establish and execute a clear strategy for Dewberry’s Justice market segment, aligned with the enterprise strategic plan.
• Identify growth opportunities, emerging trends, funding sources, and policy shifts impacting justice facilities.
• Collaborate with Dewberry leadership to set and achieve sales, revenue, backlog, and project profitability targets for the Justice practice.
• Guide market positioning and go-to-market strategies across local, regional, and national platforms.

Client Development & Relationship Management

• Build and maintain trusted relationships with justice-sector clients and industry partners, including courts, departments of corrections, public safety agencies, and related stakeholders.
• Lead or support pursuits, proposals, interviews, and contract negotiations for justice projects.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to clients, helping align operational, community, and design objectives.
• Foster long-term client and industry partnerships that result in repeat work and expanded services.

Design Leadership & Project Oversight

• Champion high-quality, transformative, and secure design solutions that respond to the unique functional, regulatory, and social considerations of justice environments.
• Provide design and strategic oversight on key justice projects across multiple phases and locations.
• Partner with project managers and technical leaders to ensure consistency and quality of deliverables.

Cross-Office & Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration

• Coordinate justice expertise across offices, disciplines, and geographies to deliver integrated project teams.
• Share best practices, lessons learned, and innovations to elevate the Dewberry’s justice work firmwide.
• Collaborate with planning, interiors, engineering, sustainability, security, and technology teams to deliver holistic solutions.

Thought Leadership & Market Visibility

• Serve as a visible leader and advocate for justice design excellence within the industry.
• Represent Dewberry at conferences, panels, professional organizations, and community forums.
• Support publications, research, awards, and marketing efforts that highlight Dewberry’s justice expertise and impact.

Talent Development & Practice Culture

• Mentor and develop staff working in the justice market, supporting career growth and technical expertise.
• Assist with recruiting and retaining justice-focused talent.

Required Skills & Required Experience

Education & Licensure

• Bachelor’s degree in Architecture required; Master’s degree preferred.
• Architectural licensure required.
• LEED accreditation or relevant sustainability or public-sector credentials preferred.

Experience

• 15+ years of experience in architecture, with a strong emphasis on justice, courts, corrections, or public safety facilities.
• Demonstrated leadership on complex, public-sector projects and familiarity with procurement and delivery models.
• Proven success in client-facing roles and business development activities.
• Experience working across multiple offices or regions within a matrixed organization.

Skills & Competencies

• Deep understanding of justice facility planning, security principles, codes, standards, and operational requirements.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and relationship-building skills.
• Strategic mindset with the ability to balance long-term vision and near-term execution.
• Business acumen related to public-sector work, including funding, approvals, and stakeholder engagement.

Must have a valid driver’s license, good driving record and ability to pass a driving record background check.

Don’t meet every single requirement? At Dewberry we are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace for our employee’s. So if you’re excited about this role, but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the position description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may just be the right candidate for this or other opportunities.

*At this time, Dewberry will not sponsor a new applicant for work authorization.

*Dewberry is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, gender identity or sexual orientation.

*Only recipients of an offer of employment from Dewberry, will be required to submit to a background screening which may include, but is not limited to, employment verification, educational and other credential verification, driving record check, criminal background check, and an investigative consumer report. These screenings will be conducted by Dewberry’s background vendor of choice and will be conducted in compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local law.

Notice to Third Party Recruiters: Dewberry only compensates job placement recruiters that have a valid Dewberry-approved written agreement in place for recruiting services. Dewberry does not compensate third party recruiters for unsolicited job placement candidate information.