BIM Lead Dubai

Role Overview

BIM Lead in Dubai at SOM, a global architecture, engineering, and planning firm committed to creating sustainable and impactful work through creative, interdisciplinary teams.

Company Overview

SOM is a collective of professionals shaped around six core values: Ideas (meritocracy of ideas and active contribution), Knowledge (lifelong learning and skill development), Product (excellence in concept, quality and delivery), Individual (highest standards of professionalism and personal integrity), Team (interdisciplinary integration and open collaboration), and Firm (transformative contributions and constant innovation).

Role Purpose

The BIM Lead shapes digital workflows, standards, and practices across projects and the office. This role ensures excellence in BIM model development, coordinates with consultants and internal teams, drives innovation in tools and processes, and leads staff in applying BIM best practices and emerging technologies.

Key Responsibilities

Digital Strategy & Workflow

• Lead definition, planning and documentation of digital work-flow strategies, objectives and coordination of data management on Projects through close collaboration with Project Digital Coordinators and fellow leaders in Computational Design, High Performance Design, and Visualization.
• Contribute to tools and processes related to project specifications, tracking of material lists, energy, water and carbon use intensities on Projects.

BIM Model & Documentation

• Initiate the BIM model(s) and drawings in collaboration with Project Digital Coordinators according to appropriate standards.
• Advise and support Project Digital Coordinators in the preparation and maintenance of the Project LOD Matrices and BIM Management Plans in close collaboration with Project Manager and Project Team leaders.
• Advise and support Project Digital Coordinators and Team members as well as Junior and Intermediate BIM technologists in developing BIM model(s), drawings and other project deliverables.
• Provide both narrowly focused and widely diverse support in production of Project BIM and project documentation process.
• Coordinate with Project Team leaders to assure continuity, consistency and quality of Project BIM and its output.

Quality Assurance & Compliance

• Promote, monitor and track overall quality of BIM content and deliverables across all projects in the Office.
• Monitor, track and course-correct Project Team compliance with appropriate BIM standards and guidelines.
• Perform quality assurance testing of new BIM-related tools.

Coordination & Vendor Management

• Advise and support project teams in the coordination of Project BIM models, process management and objectives with other disciplines and consultants.
• Manage a collaborative relationship with consultants, consultant BIM Managers and knowledge resources to ensure that deliverables are coordinated, integrated, and support the performance goals of the Project.
• Serve as primary contact with BIM-related software vendors for technical support.

Standards & Best Practices Development

• Identify, categorize and organize strategies or issues specific to Project scale from office-wide and firm-wide scope through coordination with BIM Leads and Managers from other offices.
• Engage with the Office of Technology Digital Practice Team and peers and collaborate across departments and offices to develop, manage, coordinate and implement standards, guidelines, best-practices, tool development and software used by architects for all BIM and related Project workflows and deliverables.
• Lead organization, management and maintenance of BIM and other related resources in collaboration with the Office of Technology Digital Practice Team.
• Lead regular office and firm-wide BIM coordination and standards development meetings; engage BIM Leaders in other disciplines.
• Collaborate with fellow BIM Leads in other offices to advance standardization and alignment of design, modeling and documentation practices related to BIM, standardization of Project deliverables including graphic appearances, and optimize resource and workflow efficiency for tools and processes surrounding BIM.
• Collaborate with fellow BIM Leads in other offices to advance quality control and assurance initiatives related to BIM deliverables.
• Keep informed of industry standards, trends and developments related to BIM practices and proactively disseminate new knowledge to peers and all users in the firm.

Training & Knowledge Transfer

• Work with the Office of Technology Digital Practice team to collaborate in the development of training materials for SOM's Architectural BIM standards and best practices.
• Organize and conduct training sessions to promote BIM standards, best practices and related tools and workflows on a regular basis.
• Collaborate with fellow BIM Leads in other offices to advance training of BIM Technologists and Architects as appropriate in new tools and processes.

Innovation & Tool Development

• Identify and evaluate possible productivity gains to be made with customization and automation.
• Manage planning, development and advancement of innovative ideas and solutions to support BIM workflow and coordinate such development with other Digital Design disciplines.
• Manage custom tool development within framework and infrastructure defined by Office of Technology; manage change, adoption and integration into existing BIM workflows.
• Research, evaluate, develop, implement, document and drive adoption of new technologies and workflows as well as data management of all Projects and the associated development of staff knowledge.
• Develop and implements strategies to position and maintain SOM as a leader in BIM services and Project delivery.

Project & Business Support

• Assist with staffing of Project BIM Managers and contribute to Project plans and fee proposal development.
• Assist Marketing with BIM-related workflow or other technology-focused proposal statements in coordination with other Digital Design leaders and Office of Technology.
• Perform work on individual Projects as required.

Leadership & Mentorship

• Actively lead a team.
• Directly supervise, train, and mentor team members.
• Provide leadership and direction to project BIM Technologists as well as Architects participating in BIM modeling and document production process.
• Directly supervise, train, and mentor BIM Specialists and BIM Technologists as well as other project team members as appropriate.
• Engage in talent strategy to find specialists, leaders, and future professionals for the firm through resume review and interviews.
• Maintain collaborative relationships with the Design team and foster positive relationships with design teams.
• Demonstrate leadership in the implementation of sustainable strategies in all project assignments and the associated development of staff knowledge.
• Create and drive new ways of working through contributing to the development of services, standards, and procedures based on an understanding of the business principles that protect SOM from financial and legal risk.
• Develop and foster culture of innovation and collaboration across all offices and all disciplines.
• Contribute to regular firm-wide BIM Leadership meetings.
• Contribute to firm-wide Digital Design Leadership events.
• Keep informed of security risks in tools and processes through close collaboration with the Office of Technology.
• Effectively communicate and promote the work of the firm.

Qualifications & Experience

• Completion of a professional degree in Architecture or a related field.
• Minimum 8 years of focused professional experience in applying and developing digital tools and processes to AEC project work, including experience in Revit to document a variety of large-scale building projects.
• Demonstrated expertise in digital tools including Revit, ACC / BIM360, Dynamo, Navisworks, Revizto, AutoCAD, energy modeling, and LCA tools.
• Expert understanding and knowledge of scripting, programming, Grasshopper, Rhino and their relationship to BIM workflow.
• Demonstrated proficiency in Rhino, parametric and rendering software, Adobe Suite, and Google Workspace.
• General knowledge of architectural practice including site-planning, civil, structural, mechanical, electrical engineering, and construction.
• Demonstrated knowledge of architectural design, documentation, detailing, building materials, construction techniques, building systems selection, related engineering principles and building codes.
• Wide knowledge of concepts, workflows and tools used in other Digital Design fields such as Computational Design, Performance Analysis and Simulation, Visualization, Manufacturing, and Robotics.
• General understanding of sustainable strategies and principles including familiarity with LEED or other green building rating systems.
• LEED or other green building accreditation preferred.
• Demonstrates attention to detail and consistency in model-building, data-organization, and drawing set-up with a graphical style that is clear, consistent and artful.
• Demonstrated ability to strategize, create and coordinate complex BIM and Revit models and assemble drawing deliverable packages at all levels of detail and project stages.
• Demonstrated experience in data visualization and ability to create engaging visual communication.

Skills & Competencies

• Exhibits initiative, process innovation, problem solving, and decision quality with high attention to precision and accuracy at all levels.
• Strong supervisory, leadership and communication skills.
• Superior organizational skills and ability to distribute tasks to others with proven experience in project planning and tracking.
• Ability to work effectively in a team environment.
• Superior ability to prepare and present technical concepts and information clearly and succinctly.
• Proactively seeks out opportunities for professional growth.

Additional Information

Benefits

Health and Wellness: Medical, dental, vision, disability, and life and accident insurance.

Work/Life Balance: Flexible schedules, paid family leave, paid vacation, backup child and elder care, and an employee assistance