Robert Sens

New York City based digital product designer, team leader & ultra-runner.

I design interactions, lead teams, drive strategy, steer projects, climb big hills, and run ultra marathons.

Ro

Ro’s Top-of-funnel

Defining & operationalizing merchandising & storytelling that built trust & drove conversion.

Barkbox

One Bark

Crafting & piloting a brand-centric vision for a unified, customer-oriented CX.

NBC News

Building & leading a design team

Establishing a design capability – building & leading the in-house product design team at CNBC.

Ro

Ro's onboarding

Aligning experience with customer value to reduce friction & increase conversion.

More of my work
Smiling man with light brown hair wearing a blue shirt and black jacket, indoors.

About me

I’m an interaction designer, systems thinker and team leader with a collaborative, pragmatic approach to design. I operate across all stages of a project – from vision, through to design strategy and execution.

My career journey

As a generalist, I straddle the line between product, communication & visual design. I've led people & projects within companies of varying size – from early stage startups, to agencies and Fortune 500 environments.

Logos of Pratt, CNBC, RESERVE, frog, BARK, and partial logos on a white background.

6 principles that frame how I design & lead

Facilitation is the cornerstone

Fostering ideas, facilitating decision making, and shepherding a vision across an organization of diverse viewpoints is the lion's share of a designer's responsibility.

Design is a team sport

Great design rarely originates from the brilliance of a single individual, it is born from the collective input of multiple individuals, cross-functional teams, and diverse viewpoints.

Great designers sweat the details

Measure twice, cut once. Whether you are designing a complex interaction or writing copy for an error state – always be thoughtful & precise

Design thinking needs to be balanced with design doing

Uncovering patterns & insights in research, and utilizing hypothesis-driven ideation to provoke new thinking.

Empathy & analysis are a designer’s core skillset

Pixels are an ante to the game - Engineering impact by analyzing needs, emotions and context is what makes a designer great.

True insights are derived from observation & collaboration

Only by observing and collaborating can we uncover the valuable insights that will shape impactful design.

Smiling man in cap and sunglasses holding Broken Arrow Skyrace 23K medal, wearing a Rab jacket.

Running is the other half

Trail races, road marathons, long days in the mountains. The same approach I bring to design: build the base, trust the process, show up on the day.

A few highlights

A selection of recent efforts from the trail and road.

Runners hiking Rocky mountain trail with trekking poles during Broken Arrow Sky Race in Squaw Valley.
Broken Arrow: Triple Crown

Three consecutive & demanding days of racing in Olympic Valley (VK, 46k, & 23k).

2025
Olympic Valley, CA
Medal with JFK profile and text '63rd Annual JFK 50 Mile Official Finisher 2025' on red, white, blue ribbon.
JFK 50 Mile

50-miles point-to-point. The oldest continuously held ultra in the USA.

2025
Frederick, MD
Group of runners hiking on a trail through dry brush with mountains in the distance.
Black Canyons

Follows the historic non-motorized Black Canyon Trail along increasingly rocky, technical, and hilly terrain in the Sonoran Desert.

2025
Sonoran Desert, Arizona
Hikers trekking on a rocky mountain ridge surrounded by pine trees and distant mountain layers at dusk.
Northeast Ultra 8

8 gnarly routes in the Northeast, each completed in less than 24 hours. Finisher #68!

2022
Northeast Region, USA

From the field

Race reports & route write-ups from the mountains, trail and road.