Soraya studied at Canterbury College of Art, School of Architecture and graduated with a Distinction. After working for practices including Pollard Thomas Edwards and John Miller + Partners, Soraya set up practice in London with her partner Patrick Theis as a Director of Theis + Khan architects.

Theis + Khan have designed award winning community buildings such as Lumen Church in King’s Cross, Bethnal Green Health Centre and Bat and Ball station in Sevenoaks; commercial buildings such as the RIBA office headquarters in Portland Place and many private houses. The mixed-use development Bateman’s Row in Shoreditch was RIBA London Building of the Year 2010 and was shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling prize 2010.

Soraya has been a visiting tutor at Strathclyde university, an external examiner at the University of Westminster and an RIBA judge and chair for the RIBA Northern Ireland regional awards. She has also judged the RIBA President’s Awards for Research, The IBP Journalism Awards, the RIBAJ MacEwen Awards, the AJ Retrofit Awards and What House Awards.. She is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects and was awarded the Freedom of the City of London in 2017. She was a committee member of the Architecture Club, a trustee on the board of the Temple Bar Trust and was on the membership committee of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects. Soraya is currently a panel member for Design South East and is also on the Folkestone and Hythe, Canterbury and Dover design panels.