As we close out a very successful 2025, QKA is looking to the future and putting in place strategic plans to best support our employees and clients. As part of this, we are excited to share that we are actively recruiting and looking to expand into the Rocky Mountain region.
In today’s Q&A, President Aaron Jobson and Studio Lead Joel Williams, who is based in Denver, share more about the firm’s vision and goals for this effort.
What prompted this desire for expansion, and what factors drew you to the Rocky Mountain area?
Aaron: As part of QKA’s long term planning and development, we have focused on sustainably growing the firm and improving the quality of our work to broaden the impact we can have on learning environments. This first resulted in establishing and growing a second office in Oakland in 2020 to broaden our access to talented professionals and better serve our clients in the Bay Area. To sustain this growth, we recently began to look beyond Northern California to bring in new team members and, longer term, for opportunities to apply our expertise and approach to making a difference in new communities.
Over the past 40 years, QKA has developed a unique approach blending expertise in learning space design and sustainability with a personal commitment to our projects and clients, prioritizing a high level of technical quality. We are excited about the opportunity to adapt and apply this approach to new challenges. With Joel re-locating to the Denver metro area several years ago, we saw a strong opportunity to build a team and a presence in the area. We look forward to making new connections, learning more about the region, building a strong team and finding ways to adapt our culture and approach to support projects and communities in California and the Rocky Mountains.
Joel: Affirming Aaron’s sentiments, QKA’s interest in expanding to the Rocky Mountain region is rooted in the evolution of our firm over the past several years. As we transitioned to an ESOP structure—passing ownership from our founders to the broader team—we became increasingly intentional about safeguarding the culture and values that define us. Our ESOP transition reinforced our commitment to remaining independent while positioning the next generation of leaders to guide QKA’s future.
To meet our long-term goals, we recognized the importance of expanding our recruitment footprint beyond the San Francisco Bay Area. The Denver metro region emerged as a compelling opportunity: like the Bay Area, it supports a strong outdoor-oriented lifestyle, a community that values sustainability and environmental stewardship, and a deep civic commitment to high-quality public education. The region has also experienced significant population growth and strong community investment in schools. In the 2024 election alone, Colorado voters approved $5.85 billion in new school bonds statewide—more than half of which are concentrated in the Denver metro area—underscoring a sustained need for educational facilities.
With myself already based in Colorado, establishing a QKA presence in the Rocky Mountain region became a natural next step. Building a team there will broaden our talent pipeline, increase our capacity, and help us pursue sustainable, mission-aligned growth in the years ahead.
What positions are you initially hiring for and what types of projects will these employees be working on?
Joel: Our initial hiring efforts are focused on building a small but highly capable core team—one that can support both our established California projects and our long-term goal of pursuing work locally in Colorado.
These roles include:
• An experienced Project Architect
Ideally someone with strong relationships in the Denver metro K–12 market and an entrepreneurial mindset. This person will play a central role not only in project execution but also in shaping the identity and culture of our emerging Colorado studio. Over time, this individual may grow into a studio leadership position as the team expands.
• A Job Captain
A technically strong designer with K–12 experience and a high level of Revit/BIM proficiency. This role will help maintain the quality and consistency of our project documentation and support project teams across both regions.
To start, these hires will contribute to ongoing projects throughout California, collaborating closely with our Oakland and Santa Rosa teams. As the Colorado team grows, they will also support our efforts to pursue and deliver educational projects within the Rocky Mountain region.
Looking more long term, what are your goals for growth in this region?
Joel: Long-term, our vision is to build a sustainable and locally rooted presence in the Rocky Mountain region—one that complements our California practice while expanding the depth and diversity of our internal resources. As the region’s school districts continue to invest in new and modernized facilities, we see an opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the educational landscape while strengthening our firmwide capacity.
Aaron: These early hires will form the foundation of the 8–10 person full-service studio we hope to build by the end of the decade, strengthening our internal capabilities and positioning QKA for sustainable growth across both states. Our goal is to develop a cohesive team that can deliver the same level of design quality, technical excellence and client service that QKA is known for, whether working on projects in Colorado or collaborating with our Oakland and Santa Rosa teams.