Function: Lighting Design, Ardeo by KEUS Designation: Principal Lighting Designer Reports To: Ardeo Business Head

Location:
Hyderabad (Corporate HQ), with frequent travel to city teams and project sites Position Type: Full-time | Leadership About Keus KEUS is a premium smart home automation and architectural lighting company that designs, engineers and delivers integrated luxury living experiences in India. Its wireless ecosystem brings lighting, climate, curtains, media and security together on a sole platform, with products and software developed in-house. Ardeo by KEUS is the company’s in-house architectural and technical lighting brand. Launched at Design Democracy in 2023, Ardeo offers a curated range of indoor and outdoor luminaires for premium residences and design-led spaces. The range includes downlights, track lights, wall washers, profiles, strip lights, submersible lights and outdoor landscape lighting. KEUS has enabled more than 4,000 homes across India. It runs experience centres in Hyderabad’s Financial District, Bengaluru’s Lavelle Road and Worli in Mumbai, plus an experience lounge in Greater Kailash II, New Delhi, with a flagship Delhi experience centre under development. Its business also extends to Pune, Baroda, Coimbatore, Nagpur, Ahmedabad and Indore. KEUS works closely with architects, interior designers and Interior Design Associates (IDAs), combining design-first thinking with technology, manufacturing capability and the ability to deliver nationally. Ardeo released its technical lighting catalogues in 2025, reflecting a growing product range and continued investment in lighting design. Discover more about our vision and offerings: ●Visit our website: www.keus.in ●Ardeo: https://www.keus.in/lighting ●Watch us on YouTube: KeusSmartHome ●Follow us on Instagram: @keussmarthome Join us in shaping the future of luxurious Smart living. Position Overview: We are looking for a Principal Lighting Designer to set the creative and technical standard for Ardeo by KEUS across India. This is a hands-on design leader who leads the PAN India design team. The role owns Ardeo’s design identity, the quality of every lighting design we deliver, the design direction on large projects, and the handling of design escalations. It also develops the design team and works with the Ardeo Business Head on design-led growth. The role is supported by a Technical Design & Quality Lead and City Lead Designers. That leaves the Principal Lighting Designer free to focus on creative direction, large projects, design leadership, key relationships and building capability. Team & Structure: The Principal Lighting Designer will lead: ●Technical Design & Quality Lead: technical drawings, BOQ review, standard details, design audits and lighting libraries. ●City Lead Designers: Hyderabad (in place), plus Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi NCR. Responsible for day-to-day design delivery, turnaround against SLAs, CRM tracking, resource allocation and support to the Sales team. ●Design operations are run by the City Lead Designers and monitored directly by the Ardeo Business Head. ●AI design tools are built by the Design Automation Product Lead, who reports to the Ardeo Business Head, with design sign-off from the Principal Lighting Designer. ●The role works with central L&D; on training, Marketing on sales collateral, and Technical/Projects on execution.

Key Responsibilities
A.



Creative Direction & Large Projects ●Define and protect Ardeo’s Design DNA: intelligent, minimal, timeless and technically precise. ●Set the creative standard for concept development, presentations and customer experience across all cities. ●Lead the design for large and strategic projects across all cities: run the intent discussions with customers, IDAs and architects, and set the design direction. The city’s lighting designer supports and carries the project through detailed design and execution. ●A large project is one with 10,000 sft or more of floor area, or an Ardeo quote value of ₹50 lakh or more with an expected final sale value of at least ₹30 lakh, plus any project the Ardeo Business Head designates as strategic. ●Review and sign off on the final design for these projects. ●Feed field and design insights into the Ardeo product roadmap, working with the Product and Engineering teams. B. Design Quality Governance ●Own the design quality framework: standards, guidelines, review checklists and the design quality scorecard. ●Through the Technical Design & Quality Lead, make sure drawings, BOQs and specifications are accurate, and the audit process is followed. ●Review audit findings and drive corrective and preventive actions across city teams. ●Reduce design-related rework and execution errors. C. Turnaround Standards, Productivity & AI Design Tools Turnaround & productivity ●Define design turnaround SLAs by project type and stage, and the design workflow City Lead Designers run against. ●Set productivity and turnaround baselines in the first 90 days, and drive improvement from there. AI & design automation ●Give design input and lighting design rules to the Design Automation Product Lead for the AI tools being built for the design team. ●Review and give final design sign-off before any tool is released to the team. ●Encourage the design team to use approved tools. D. Team Leadership & Capability Building ●Lead and develop the existing Hyderabad Design Lead. Hire or appoint the Technical Design & Quality Lead and the City Lead Designers for the other cities and build a succession pipeline. ●Day-to-day design delivery in each city stays with the City Lead Designers. The Principal Lighting Designer leads only large and strategic projects, supported by the city’s lighting designer. ●Run performance reviews, capability assessments and development plans for the design team. ●Own the content and standards of the design training curriculum and certification pathway, with central L&D; running the programme. ●Build partnerships with design institutes, academia and lighting professionals for training and recruitment. ●Lead design critiques, peer reviews and cross-city learning forums. E. Sales Support & Key Relationships ●Build and maintain relationships with priority IDAs in Hyderabad, in partnership with the Ardeo Business Head and Sales, and onboard them to Ardeo so they bring in premium opportunities.



The Hyderabad Design Lead handles project delivery for these IDAs. ●Make sure every qualified opportunity shared by the Sales team gets timely, high-quality design support within published SLAs. ●Lead the design of large projects to support Sales with lighting design solutions that are compelling, feasible and commercially viable. ●Join critical IDA, architect and customer meetings when Sales asks. ●Give Marketing design inputs for case studies, presentation resources and sample kits. F. Design Escalations & Cross-functional Collaboration ●Handle all design escalations across cities: customer, IDA, architect and site issues where the design is in question. Own the resolution end-to-end, working with the city’s lighting designer and the Technical/Projects team. ●Technical/Projects does the first triage of escalations; those with a design root cause are routed to the Principal Lighting Designer. ●Find the root cause of each escalation and turn recurring issues into changes to design standards, checklists or training. ●Work with Sales, Technical/Projects, Product, Supply Chain and Service so projects run smoothly from design through to handover. First-Year Outcomes ●Within 90 days: quality framework, turnaround SLAs and productivity baselines published; escalation process in place. ●Within 6 months: the Technical Design & Quality Lead and the remaining City Lead Designers in place, and design audits running in all cities. ●Within 12 months: measurable reduction in turnaround time, design-related rework and repeat escalations. Key Skills & Competencies: ●Creative leadership and a strong aesthetic grounded in technical lighting for premium residential projects. ●Command of lighting simulation, photometrics, technical documentation and BOQs. ●Confidence leading intent discussions with high-end customers, IDAs and architects. ●Composure and ownership in resolving customer and site escalations. ●Ability to lead through leads: setting standards, delegating and holding people accountable. ●Openness to AI-enabled design tools. ●Commercial awareness and a solid service orientation towards Sales. Qualifications &

Experience:
●Bachelor’s or master’s degree in architecture, Interior Design, Lighting Design, Electrical Engineering or a related field. ●12–16 years in architectural or technical lighting design, including at least 5 years leading design teams. ●A strong portfolio of premium residential projects; hospitality and commercial experience is a plus. ●Experience setting design standards or leading multi-location teams is preferred. ●Exposure to BIM/CAD workflows or AI-enabled design is desirable. Keus Culture: Join a team that cares about innovation, design excellence and technology-led change. At KEUS, we value creativity, collaboration, ownership and a commitment to leading the smart home and architectural lighting revolution in India. What Keus Offers: ●The chance to lead lighting design nationally for a premium smart home and architectural lighting brand. ●A design-led environment with a strong focus on innovation and qualified growth. ●Competitive compensation, leadership exposure and benefits. ●The chance to shape Ardeo’s design identity and build a lighting design organisation for the future. Keus is an Equal Opportunity Employer; We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

📌 Principal Lighting Designer (Hyderabad)
🏢 Keus Smart Home
📍 Hyderabad