Maria Finelli - Spring Performance Review 2026

Maria Finelli · Lead Product & Brand Designer

Performance Review
Spring 2026

Over the past 2 years, my role has evolved from designing outputs to building systems that scale across product, marketing, and sales.

Previous Goals

What I set out to do

At my last review, I focused on three improvement areas:

Expanding technical fluency

Going deeper on code development, systems thinking, and engineering collaboration so I can ship, not just hand off.

Leveraging AI

Using AI to expand output, speed, and creative range turning execution into a multiplier instead of a bottleneck.

Deepening product impact

Pushing beyond individual design work to shape what gets built and how it drives the business.

The ultimate goal

It wasn’t just to expand my skillset: it was to expand the scope of my impact.

The shift

The barrier has
been removed

I can now go from idea → shipped product independently. AI has fundamentally changed how I work.

1

Execution is no longer the constraint

The bottleneck has shifted away from writing code. I can go from idea to shipped product independently.

2

Engineers amplify, not gate

I ship on my own timeline and engineering expands what’s possible instead of blocking it.

3

From how to what

My focus has shifted from how to build to what’s worth building and why.

Capability

Expanded capabilities

Technical

AI coding and shipping production-ready tools
GitHub workflows, PRs, and engineering collaboration
Coursework in Python, prompt engineering, and applied AI

Creative

Stronger integration of product, brand, and marketing
Systems thinking over one-off execution

Leverage

Delegation and creative direction of freelance work
Scalable templates and repeatable systems via Figma Buzz, Slides, and Claude Skills

Output

What this unlocked

New product surfaces

Runwise Map Tool — builds trust instantly in sales conversations
AI-coded tools (sales reporting, this deck/landing system)
Elevate event landing page (concept → shipped independently)

Speed + efficiency

Faster iteration and reduced engineering dependency
Ideas shipped that previously wouldn’t have been prioritized

Scale

One-pager system now delegated and repeatable
Brand execution distributed across the org
Consistent output through freelancer direction

Pipeline Influenced

$76K+

Attributable to tools I designed & shipped

Demo Rate

3×

Improvement driven by new sales surfaces

Onboarding Completion

95%

Interactive tutorial, avg ~1 min

Transition

My role has
drastically evolved

Before

Designer

2024–2025

Designing assets
Executing work
Solving defined problems

→

Now

Systems builder

2026

Designing systems
Enabling others to execute
Defining what’s worth building

Philosophy

What drives my work

Curiosity is momentum.

Questioning if there’s a better approach and seeing opportunities others overlook.

Craft is execution.

How well something is built. Structure, detail, usability, polish.

Taste is judgment.

Knowing what’s actually worth building and what’s not worth pursuing.

Recent work

A sampling of what that looks like in practice.

Marketing

Runwise homepage

The brand’s front door, rebuilt.

Internal tool

Runwise map tool

Social proof for the sales team.

Marketing

Elevate landing page

End-to-end design & build.

Product

Interactive tutorial

Onboarding that teaches by doing.

Marketing

Smart toilet monitoring LP

End-to-end landing page for water monitoring.

New product

Smart toilet monitoring

Our newest untapped market.

Brand

Runwise careers page

Recruiting experience that sells the mission.

Evidence & Recognition

What people say about working with me

“I feel so lucky to have gotten to work with you over the last two years. You are a truly rare and incredible talent. Two down, hopefully many many more to go :)”

Lee Hoffman · President & CEO

“Maria makes everything she touches beautiful, and lately has become such a Claude Code wizard that it feels like somehow Batman got Superman’s powers.”

Shawn Hoffman · SVP, Product / Data Science

“Maria you are a design and branding goddess.”

Lee Hoffman · President & CEO

“It’s just one of a million examples of how absurdly talented she is… it’s really a privilege to work with teammates that care so much about what we do.”

Shawn Hoffman · SVP, Product / Data Science

“Major props to Maria! She built out this new site for the water monitoring product. Not only does it look amazing, but the rate at which she got it done is super impressive!”

Sulaiman · Software Engineer

“Iteration speed and attitude become needlemovers. Maria continues to sprint at mile 25 without protest.”

Joe · PM - Water

“Quick shoutout to @Maria for the awesome design as always. It looks great!”

David Colatti · Senior Software Engineer

The adjustment

Role alignment

This scope aligns with a Principal-level role defined by system ownership, cross-functional impact, and influence on what the company builds and how it grows.

Product & System Ownership

Leading design for new product surfaces (Water, onboarding, smart monitoring)
Defining what gets built—not just how it looks
AI-enabled execution → faster path from idea to shipped product
Building scalable systems that persist beyond one-off work

Brand, Marketing & Revenue

Designing end-to-end go-to-market experiences (landing pages, campaigns, ads)
Supporting a growing marketing team with scalable, reusable systems
Elevating brand consistency across web, product, and events
Direct contribution to pipeline, trust-building, and conversion

Cross-Functional Leverage

Acting as a multiplier across Product, Engineering, Marketing, and Sales
Enabling non-designers through templates and systems (Figma Buzz, toolkits)
Reducing design bottlenecks → increasing team velocity
Partnering at a strategic level, not just execution
Built and distributed custom Claude AI skills to leadership (COO), engineering, and design