Lead Product Designer

Runwise is looking for a Lead Product Designer who is highly motivated, results-oriented, and focused on business growth opportunities.

ABOUT THE ROLE AND OUR TEAM:

Runwise (www.runwise.com) is a fast-paced New York City based energy startup that controls and runs heating systems in 6000+ buildings throughout the Northeast. Runwise’s unique hardware and software services significantly reduce energy usage - substantially lowering costs and carbon output. As of today, Runwise’s technology takes the equivalent of 35,000 cars worth of carbon emissions off the road each year.

As our Lead Product Designer, you’ll bring clarity to complexity and reinvent how people in thousands of buildings interact with their heating, cooling, and energy systems. This isn’t a role where you finesse a single screen for six months—you’ll own end-to-end design of real, high-impact features, ship quickly, and iterate often with feedback from real users. You’ll work closely with PMs, engineers, and (very real, very busy) building operators to design intuitive tools that make even the guts of a mechanical room feel obvious. The interfaces you create will directly impact how buildings save energy, keep tenants comfortable, and reduce carbon emissions at scale. We’re a little obsessed with thermostats. We like people who are honest, curious, and deeply care about the work they produce. If that sounds like you, we’d love to meet.

Responsibilities will include, but are not limited to: 

• Own end-to-end product design on high-impact features, from research and exploration to polished delivery.
• Redesign and improve critical tools such as our mobile dashboard, utility account integrations, and HVAC system control wizards.
• Shape how Runwise handles alerts, sensors, and system controls—everything from high-level dashboards to the nitty-gritty of setpoints.
• Collaborate closely with PMs, engineers, and building staff to ship quickly while solving real-world problems.
• Conduct user research and field testing, ensuring designs work effectively in basements, boiler rooms, and 40-year-old equipment environments.
• Maintain and evolve our design system—keeping it clean, consistent, and easy to use.
• Balance speed and intentionality—delivering iterative improvements while driving toward elegant long-term solutions.

Who you are:

• A perfectionist when it comes to delivering simple, usable, and beautiful product experiences.
• Someone with an incredible eye for detail who also holds the team accountable for gorgeous user experiences.
• Experienced in shipping real product design work (not just polished portfolios).
• Comfortable designing for complex systems, operational tools, or real-world dashboards.
• Skilled at shaping copy and flows as much as typography and layout.
• Thrives in a fast-paced environment with lightweight process and heavy ownership.
• Curious about buildings, HVAC systems, and how real people use tools in the field.
• Bonus points if you’ve worked on complex operational tools or thought “this control screen could be better.”

Our product principles:

• Make the complicated simple. If it’s clear in a boiler room, we’ve done it right.
• Ship things you’re proud of. Grandma should be able to appreciate the flow.
• Watch people use it. Screenshots are fine. Field visits are better.
• Make a dent. It’s not just about shipping. It’s about changing something for the better.

This role may be perfect for you if:

• You’re comfortable starting in Figma without needing pixel-perfect specs.
• You’re curious about how real-world systems actually work.
• You’d rather design heating loops that help people than dopamine loops that hook them.
• Iterating on a design dozens (or even hundreds) of times sounds like a fun path to better solutions.

How to apply:

Send us a few projects or screens you’re proud of. Figma links, PDFs, websites—anything that shows how you think and build. Tell us what you worked on, and what problems you solved. Don’t self-reject—if this feels 60% like you, reach out. We hire people, not checkboxes. Let’s design systems that heat, cool, and actually matter.

This is an excellent opportunity to join a fast-growing company and create a career path beyond this initial role. You will be surrounded by talented people where you will learn about real estate and software/managed services sales at a very fast growing tech company, whilst having a tangible impact on reducing carbon emissions across the country.

Salary: $160,000-$200,000 (varied on experience and market rate)

What you believe: 

• No job is too small.
• Sincerity builds trust.
• Setbacks fuel progress.
• Efficiency is vital.

Benefits:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• HSA & FSA options
• Paid Parental Leave
• Access to Talkspace & Health Advocate
• Flexible PTO
• Commuter Benefits
• 401K
• Company-paid life insurance
• Voluntary supplemental life insurance
• Free in-office lunch on Wednesdays
• Hybrid work environment
• Summer Fridays
• Monthly L&D Series
• Employee Resource Groups (e.g. DEIB Committee, Run Club)

This is an excellent opportunity to join a fast-growing company, one of the true leaders within energy efficiency in the Northeast. You will be surrounded by talented people, including working very closely with our co-founder and sales leader. Your success will also make a tangible impact on reducing carbon emissions across the country, within the cities where we operate.