Product Designer

Why does SPAN exist?

Founded by Tesla’s former head of energy, SPAN was founded because this is our Decade to Decarbonize. 

About 40% of greenhouse gas emissions are controlled by things we do in our households, decisions we make as individuals. Most of us feel powerless about confronting climate change, but the things in our basements, garages, and on our roofs directly influence the largest single slice of the problem (source). 

The answer is to electrify everything, which we do by:

1. Assisting the electric grid: The North American electric grid is the ‘world’s largest machine’. It is old, it is expensive to maintain and it was designed to transport power in one direction. And as we electrify everything, it is not equipped to handle an increase in volume of transport.
2. Upgrading our gas appliances and gasoline cars to electric. All the electricity in the world will still not power our gas dryers, furnaces, water heaters, stoves and cars. Electric versions of these appliances exist and they are safer, cheaper, cleaner, smaller and quieter.
3. Making more electricity at home. This increases the amount of clean electricity in circulation and does it without stressing the electric grid.

What is SPAN doing?

We envision a future where our homes are

• Self-reliant: They make their own energy and decide when to use that energy. They warn you of outages, prepare themselves, and adapt energy use to endure even the most severe outages.
• All-electric: Our homes cannot be self-reliant until they are all-electric. SPAN removes constraints that exist with your existing power service, allowing households to upgrade their gasoline cars and gas appliances to their electric superiors.
• Looking out for us: They tell you if something bad has happened, is happening or will happen to your most-expensive appliances
• A model citizen of the grid: They assist the grid at times of need, with little inconvenience to you.

None of this is possible without a modern-day electric panel. So we started by completely reinventing this hundred year-old appliance.

If you want to learn more, watch (span.io/decadetodecarbonize) or read (span.io/plan) about the progress we have made, the products and services we have announced for next year and how our partners are supporting us on our mission.

The Role 

As a Product Designer at SPAN, you will be joining a growing product team and reporting to the Director of Product Design. We're a small team looking for someone with great Visual Design, Interaction Design and UX principles. You will help bring life to our digital interfaces like only visual interaction design can. Ideal candidates should have a human-centric mindset. You will create products that are not only amazing to look at, but also intuitive and useful as we expand our product offerings. Join our team as we work to create each customer touchpoint more human, beautiful and best in class. 

• Lead, conceptualize, and craft our visual design language for digital experiences across a range of platforms—desktop, mobile, and SPAN devices for both product and brand experiences

• Applying your visual design process for translating research insights, into new digital products and features, and then taking them into production

• Working closely with your team members – designers, engineers, researchers, and product managers to sketch concepts, develop visual treatments, and prototype ideas to define feasible concepts

• Presenting and explaining your work to the broader Product team, stakeholders and executives

• Creating high quality, production ready work that translates seamlessly to engineering builds
  
  

Potential projects

• Apps for customers and partners

• Packaging, user manuals, promotional materials

• Website and landing pages

 

About You 

We are seeking a Product Designer who has:

• 5+ years relevant experience

• On-line portfolio showcasing excellent Visual Design, Interaction Design and UX skills(If password protected, please include password in your resume, CV or application)

• Ability to communicate design through sketches, wireframes, mockups and prototypes

• Highly skilled in Figma, Adobe Creative Suite and prototyping tools

• Comfortable working closely and communicating with software engineers, and other stakeholders across the company to ensure the spec'd design meets the user as intended

• Experience in designing mobile app and web experiences from start to finish

• Enthusiasm for an iterative design process, inspired by group critique

• Ability to work with and improve on existing look & feel and enhance it as a team-player

• Ability to negotiate and prioritize design decisions in a team setting

• A passion for design and sweating the details

Nice to have

• Experience with print design and packaging design

• Knowledge and experience in animation, interaction design and micro-moment design

• Experience writing copy for user flows

• An interest or experience with home electrical systems

• Working knowledge or interest in renewable energy

Why Span?

SPAN offers a unique opportunity at a startup based in the SOMA neighborhood of San Francisco. We are a small, diverse team of creative thinkers. We value open communication, teamwork, and a make-it-happen attitude - no job is too big or too small. We strive to make change by imagining what the future could be and building a product to complete that vision. We are looking to grow our team with talented people who are on the same mission to shape the future of energy.

Working at SPAN, you can expect:

• Competitive compensation and early equity at a well-funded, fast-growing, venture-backed company (read more on why Amazon and others invested in SPAN here and here)

• A sunny 20,000 sq ft hardware lab + office space in SOMA, a stone’s throw from Caltrain and close to BART

• Flexible hours and vacation time - we simultaneously work hard and make space for the important stuff

• Additional SPAN holidays in celebration of causes we believe in (i.e. Black History Day, International Women’s Day, Earth Day and Gay Pride & Juneteenth among others)

• Comprehensive benefits including a choice of medical plans; dental, vision, life and disability insurance

• Diversity - we are serious about this. Span embraces diversity and equal opportunity in a serious way. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. The more inclusive we are, the better our work will be.