Building Product Designer

Cedar•Austin, TX

About The Position

Help reinvent how housing gets designed, permitted, and built in America. Cedar is building the operating system for urban housing delivery. We combine architectural expertise with software, automation, and data systems to dramatically accelerate how projects move from land acquisition to approved designs and construction. The result: faster timelines, higher quality, lower risk, and more housing in the cities that need it most. Our team blends architects, engineers, and product builders. We design real buildings — and we build the software systems that make great architecture scalable. Cedar is hiring a Building Product Designer to help shape the architectural “products” that power our catalog — the repeatable building types and families that developers use as the starting point for real projects across cities. This role is focused on the overall design language, typologies, and aesthetic coherence of the catalog as a whole. You’ll define how Cedar’s building products should look, feel, and evolve over time — ensuring they’re compelling, consistent, and adaptable across sites and markets. You’ll work closely with our Architectural Systems Designer, who focuses on the underlying systems, specs, and constructability of these products. Together, you’ll turn real-world constraints (codes, zoning, construction methods) into scalable, high-quality building designs that can be deployed nationally. This is a hands-on design role for someone who cares deeply about housing quality, urban form, and repeatable architecture — and is excited about turning great design into a product.

Requirements

Professional experience in architectural design, building typology development, or housing-focused design work
Strong design sensibility around form, massing, facade language, and urban context
A practical mindset: you care about beautiful buildings, but you’re grounded in real-world constraints (codes, zoning, cost, constructability)
Strong communication skills — you can articulate design intent and translate it into usable frameworks for others
Excitement about using software and automation to scale good design

Nice To Haves

Experience designing repeatable building types or working within design systems (prefab, modular, pattern books, housing portfolios, etc. is a plus)
Comfort collaborating across disciplines — especially with systems-focused designers, engineers, and product teams

Responsibilities

Own the design direction and aesthetic coherence of Cedar’s building catalog
Define and evolve building typologies (e.g., small multifamily, mid-rise, courtyard, etc.) and their visual identity
Develop base design concepts that can flex across zoning contexts, site constraints, and markets
Partner closely with the Architectural Systems Designer to ensure product designs align with real-world systems, specs, and constructability
Create clear design guidelines and reference designs that can be extended by Cedar’s internal teams and tooling
Help establish Cedar’s architectural “brand” — what our buildings look like, how they sit in neighborhoods, and how they age over time
Collaborate with product and engineering teams to translate architectural intent into scalable, software-driven workflows
Iterate on designs based on real project feedback from permitting, construction, and developer input