Architect CV Examples & Writing Guide

A CV for a project architect with eight years in practice, ARB registered since 2021. The name, practices and university are made up. Each project bullet names the building type, size and construction value, the RIBA stages she led and a result a director would care about: approval rounds, variations, RFI turnaround, a sustainability rating achieved.

Architecture practices are mostly small; a director or studio lead reads your CV, often the same day, next to your portfolio sample. Larger practices add an in-house recruiter or an agency and an applicant tracking system. Both look for the same four things.

• Registration status. ARB registered (and since when), or which RIBA Parts you hold and how far your PEDR and Part 3 have got. It decides your title, your charge-out rate and how much of a job you can run on your own.
• Project types, sizes and RIBA stages. A practice that does healthcare wants to see hospitals and clinics; a practice that does housing wants home numbers, tenures and podium construction. Say which RIBA stages you ran on each project, since "worked on" a £50m scheme could mean anything from visuals to contract administration.
• Software. Revit is the default in most larger UK practices, with ArchiCAD and Vectorworks common in smaller ones. They check for Revit or ArchiCAD proficiency, plus Rhino or SketchUp for design, Enscape, Lumion or Twinmotion for visualisation, Bluebeam for mark-ups, and Adobe for presentation. Match the advert.
• The portfolio sample. Two or three pages attached to the CV with drawings, not just visuals: a wall section, a plan, a detail. It proves the CV.

“I read the registration line, then the project list, then I open the portfolio. If someone says project architect on a £50m building, I want to see a wall section they drew and hear how many RFIs they answered. Renderings alone tell me very little.”

In the UK only people on the register kept by the Architects Registration Board (ARB) may call themselves architects in business, under the Architects Act 1997. The traditional route has three stages: an ARB-prescribed first degree (Part 1, usually three years), a master's-level qualification (Part 2, usually two years) and Part 3 (professional practice and management), with practical experience recorded along the way, usually in the RIBA PEDR. ARB has been reforming the routes, and an architect apprenticeship now exists, so describe your stage in the words your course or Part 3 provider uses. Where you are on that route belongs near the top of the CV.

• Required for the title "Architect": registration with ARB. Without it, use "Architectural Assistant", "Architectural Designer" or "Architectural Technologist". The protection applies across the UK. Check ARB's guidance before listing anything.
• Expected: ARB-prescribed Part 1 and Part 2 qualifications (most are also RIBA-validated). List the degree, school and Part; add studio prizes, a thesis title or a year abroad only if you are early in your career.
• Strong plus: BREEAM AP, Certified Passivhaus Designer, RIBA Conservation Register, principal designer training, and Revit or ArchiCAD certification. Name the issuing body and year.
• RIBA membership is not a legal requirement, but "RIBA Chartered Member" (registered architects) or student membership is standard and practices notice it.
• Do not write "BREEAM certified" about yourself. Buildings receive a BREEAM rating; people are BREEAM Assessors or Accredited Professionals.

Three lines: registration status and years, the building types and RIBA stages you know, your biggest project with its size, and one result or specialism. Architecture students and career changers use a short career objective instead.

A good architecture bullet names the project type and size (homes, square metres, construction value, storeys, structure), your role and the RIBA stages you handled, the tools, and a measurable result. Here are seven rewrites drawn from real architectural work.

List 10 to 14 skills in three groups: practice skills, software and building knowledge. Put software the advert names first. If you are strong in Revit, say what you do with it (model management, families, phasing, worksharing) rather than just listing it.

• Practice: briefing, concept design and spatial coordination, technical design and detailing, Building Regulations compliance, planning applications and conditions, specifications (NBS), tendering, contract administration (JCT), consultant coordination, client presentations.
• Software: Revit (and Autodesk Construction Cloud), ArchiCAD, Vectorworks, AutoCAD, Rhino and Grasshopper, SketchUp, Enscape, Lumion, V-Ray, Twinmotion, Navisworks, Bluebeam Revu, Adobe InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator, NBS Chorus, Procore or Asite, Deltek or similar for project accounting, Microsoft Office.
• Building knowledge: the structures and building types you know (timber frame, CLT, steel, concrete; housing, healthcare, education, commercial, civic), the Building Regulations and Approved Documents, the Building Safety Act 2022 regime for higher-risk buildings, accessibility (Part M), envelope and waterproofing detailing, sustainable design standards (BREEAM, Passivhaus, Part L).
• Leave off: "creative", "passionate about design", "hand sketching" unless the practice asks for it. Show design ability in the portfolio, not the skills list.

Practices hire Part 1 and Part 2 students knowing they have not run a project. They are hiring for software speed, drawing quality, the ability to take direction and finish, and a sense of how buildings go together. Your CV and your portfolio sample have to show those together.

1. 1Header: name, contact, portfolio link, and your status (BA (Hons) Architecture, Part 1, 2026, or MArch Part 2 student, graduating 2027). Add how much experience you have logged in PEDR.
2. 2Career objective, two or three lines: course and graduation date, placement experience or a notable studio project, your software, the role and start date you want.
3. 3Software section near the top, honest about level: Revit (intermediate, two studios and one placement), Rhino and Grasshopper (advanced), Enscape, Adobe Creative Suite, laser cutting and 3D printing.
4. 4Experience: placements first with real drawing tasks (planning and Building Regulations drawings, mark-ups, visuals, models). Then studio work as "Selected academic projects" with type, size and what you produced. Then any job that shows reliability: retail, campus jobs, tutoring, labouring on site.
5. 5Education with studio prizes, design competitions, a year abroad and relevant modules (structures, building technology, environmental design). Attach a two- to three-page portfolio sample with at least one technical drawing.

• Two pages is normal for most UK architects; one page works for Part 1 students. Many practices also like a separate one-page project list with type, size, value, role and RIBA stages for each project.
• Design matters, but readability matters more. A clean grid, one accent colour, good typography and generous margins signal design judgement. Avoid two-column layouts with text in the margin, tiny type and graphics that an applicant tracking system cannot read.
• Portfolio: attach a two- to three-page PDF sample (under 10 MB) with at least one plan, one section or wall section and one detail, plus a link to the full portfolio. Practices judge the sample more than the CV.
• No photo, no date of birth. File names: Lastname-Firstname-CV.pdf and Lastname-Firstname-Portfolio-Sample.pdf.
• Keywords to mirror from the advert: "Revit" or "ArchiCAD", "RIBA Stage 4", "technical design", "contract administration", "residential" or your building type, "project architect", "job runner", "Building Regulations", "planning", "BREEAM", "ARB registered" or "Part 2" or "Part 3".
• If you are a software, cloud or data architect, this page is not for you: those jobs sit in IT and their CVs follow the software engineer pattern (stack, systems, scale).
• In the US the document is called a resume, the title depends on a state licence and the route runs through NCARB (the AXP and the ARE). This page follows UK conventions.

Run the finished CV through the cvplex ATS checker with the advert pasted in. It flags software the advert names that you left out, project bullets without a size or RIBA stage, and layout elements that a tracking system may misread.