Gensler is a leading global architecture, design, and planning firm that has over 50 locations across 4 continents, with over 7,000 employees. Headquartered in San Francisco, the firm is highly design driven with a mission that also encompasses sustainability and innovation.
Gensler helps design some of the most high-profile and high-traffic buildings in the world, such as the Shanghai Tower as well as the New Terminal One at JFK International Airport. If you’re an aspiring consultant who’s also highly interested in architecture and design, you’ll want to keep reading. In this article, we collect all the information you’ll need to determine if a Gensler consulting career is right for you.
Firm Key Stats
- Firm Website: www.gensler.com
- Firm Headquarters: San Francisco, CA
- Firm Number of Employees: 7,000
- Firm Number of Locations: 53
- Firm Chief Executive: Diane Hoskins and Andy Cohen
- Firm Revenue: $1.2 billion
Gensler History
The Gensler history begins in 1965 when the firm was founded by Art Gensler, his wife Drue Gensler, and their associate James Follett. Originally, Gensler focused on designing corporate interiors for new office buildings in San Francisco, with initial projects including the Alcoa Building and the Bank of America Building.
Over the following decades, the firm grew rapidly throughout the US, while also diversifying their array of services to include architecture and design for airports, retail centers, commercial office buildings, urban design, and more. By the 1980s, Gensler started expanding overseas. By the 2000s, Gensler had grown to be the largest architecture firm in the US. Over the lifetime of the company, Gensler has served over 4,000 clients.
Gensler Careers
Gensler is an elite design firm that works with some of the most powerful and high-profile clients in the world to create highly visible construction projects. Working at Gensler means getting to leave your own fingerprints on some of these projects, while also gaining experience in some of the most challenging and most impactful design projects anywhere on Earth. Hence, pursuing Gensler careers is therefore quite competitive. In this section, we’ll get into the specifics on Gensler careers so you can decide if applying is the right move for you.
Gensler Internship
The Gensler internship program encompasses a summer fellowship as well as a standard Gensler internship. The Gensler internship program is robust, with interns serving in each of the company’s global offices and representing over 60 schools annually. The company has hired over 3,500 interns in recent years. The Gensler Summer Fellowship is a research-oriented position that targets innovative solutions to some of the most pressing challenges cities will have to confront in the coming years. The average Gensler internship salary works out to $60,000 annually, prorated over the term of the internship.
Practice Areas
The following are the primary Gensler practice areas:
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- Architecture
- Brand Design
- Cities & Urban Design
- Digital Experience Design
- Interior Design
- Space Management
- Strategy
- Sustainability
Industries
The following are the primary Gensler industries:
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- Construction
- Architecture
- Urban Planning
- Commercial Buildings
- Government Buildings
- Industrial Buildings
- Education
- Transportation
- Entertainment
- Real Estate
Gensler Locations
These are the Gensler Locations:
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- Gensler Atlanta
- Gensler Austin
- Gensler Baltimore
- Gensler Boston
- Gensler Charlotte
- Gensler Chicago
- Gensler Dallas
- Gensler Denver
- Gensler Detroit
- Gensler Houston
- Gensler La Crosse
- Gensler Las Vegas
- Gensler Los Angeles
- Gensler Miami
- Gensler Minneapolis
- Gensler Morristown
- Gensler Nashville
- Gensler New York
- Gensler Newport Beach
- Gensler Oakland
- Gensler Philadelphia
- Gensler Phoenix
- Gensler Portland
- Gensler Raleigh-Durham
- Gensler San Antonio
- Gensler San Diego
- Gensler San Francisco
- Gensler San Jose
- Gensler Seattle
- Gensler Tampa
- Gensler Toronto
- Gensler Vancouver
- Gensler Washington, DC
- Gensler Bogotá
- Gensler Mexico City
- Gensler San José, Costa Rica
- Gensler Berlin
- Gensler Birmingham, UK
- Gensler London
- Gensler Munich
- Gensler Paris
- Gensler Abu Dhabi
- Gensler Dubai
- Gensler Riyadh
- Gensler Beijing
- Gensler Hong Kong
- Gensler Shanghai
- Gensler Bangalore
- Gensler Bangkok
- Gensler Mumbai
- Gensler Singapore
- Gensler Sydney
- Gensler Tokyo
Career Path
The Gensler career path for consultants includes the following positions:
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- Consulting Analyst
- Consultant
- Senior Consultant
Exit Opportunities
If you’re thinking about how a Gensler career might support the rest of your career trajectory, you’ll want to consider the Gensler exit opportunities. Departing employees should be extremely well positioned to move into consulting roles with other architecture, design, and construction advisory firms. The exit opportunities should also support moving toward in-house teams at companies that manage a lot of their own construction and design projects. Departing employees might even move into consulting roles with city governments focused on urban planning.
Diversity Programs
There are many Gensler diversity programs that exist to combat exclusion and discrimination in the architecture industry, as well as in the global community. In 2020, the firm founded the Strategies to Fight Racism initiative, and from there, they created a Global Race and Diversity Committee, launched a charrette program with seven Historically Black Colleges and Universities, funded several Black Lives and Design research grants, and hired a Global Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Gensler Culture
The Gensler culture is generally praised by former employees for its rewarding compensation as well as its opportunities to skill-build while working on highly stimulating projects. The culture is described as supportive of professional development, with senior leadership offering mentorship as well as training programs. Employees enjoy a lot of office camaraderie, with a good work/life balance. Employees also praise the maternity programs as well as the DEI initiatives.
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Gensler Interview
If you want to land a job at Gensler, you’ll need to be prepared for the Gensler interview.
Firm Interview Process
The Gensler firm interview process is described as smooth, efficient, and straightforward. After submitting a resume online, applicants typically have an initial Zoom interview before being invited for multiple rounds of in-person interviews. The in-person interviews typically involve a combination of technical and behavioral questions. The firm generally tries to assess applicants’ ability to manage challenging work loads in a fast-paced environment. Questions try to assess applicants’ organizational, communicational, and management skills, with questions like, “Tell me about a time you had to juggle multiple projects at once,” and “Explain your interest and experience in [a specific type of project].”
Interviews for the more technical positions do involve case studies and portfolio examinations specific to the roles candidates are applying for.
Gensler Salaries
Of course, if you’re interested in working for Gensler, one of the things you’ll be most curious about is Gensler salaries. The average Gensler salaries for positions in the consulting track are:
- Consulting Analyst: $80,000
- Consultant: $97,000
- Senior Consultant: $175,000
The $97,000 figure for the Consultant position is impressive, though it doesn’t quite compare with the Big 3 firms, where the starting Consultant salary averages $110,000-112,000. For more salary information on hundreds of firms, be sure to check out our current Consulting Salaries Report.
Conclusion
As the largest architecture firm in the US and one of the largest firms globally, Gensler offers an unparalleled variety of opportunities to work on exciting and high-profile projects in construction and design. From airports to museums to skyscrapers, Gensler is centrally involved with some of the most exciting builds in the modern world. If you’re a design-focused consultant who’s interested in working on highly impactful projects, you should consider a career at Gensler.