Runway Remote Work Policy 2026: Is Runway ML Actually Remote Friendly?

If you’re looking at Runway as a potential employer and remote work matters to you, the official “remote-first” label deserves scrutiny. We analyzed Runway’s open roles, cross-referenced with Glassdoor reviews, and looked at how the company actually operates day-to-day. Here’s the unfiltered picture.

The short answer: Runway is remote-friendly with a strong New York hub, not fully remote-first. Brooklyn is where founders, research leadership, and core creative teams are concentrated. Remote is genuinely available for many engineering roles, but if you’re in research, design, or leadership, expect the NYC gravitational pull. If you want a truly distributed AI video company, we’ll point you to better options below.

Runway Remote Policy at a Glance

What “Remote-First” Actually Means at Runway

Runway describes itself as remote-first and states that employees can choose to work remotely full-time, meet up with colleagues in their area, or visit a hub occasionally — with no stated requirement to come into any office. In practice, the picture is more nuanced:

• Many roles are genuinely remote-eligible. Engineering, applied research, and some product roles are available across the United States without a mandatory office requirement.
• NYC is where creative decisions happen. Runway was founded in New York, and the founders, design leads, and most research leadership remain Brooklyn-based. The gravitational pull toward the NYC hub is real, especially for roles that touch the creative product directly.
• International remote is not broadly offered. The London and Tel Aviv offices exist but are in-office positions. There is no work-from-anywhere international policy for most roles.
• Async works — until it doesn’t. Employees note that remote working “works well” for focused individual work, but key creative and strategic conversations skew in-person. Being remote at Runway means accepting that some decisions will be made in the room without you.

Which Roles Are Actually Remote at Runway?

Based on our analysis of Runway’s active job listings, the remote-eligible positions cluster in specific areas:

• Engineering (Backend, Infrastructure, ML) — The largest pool of remote-eligible roles. Software engineers, ML engineers, and infrastructure roles are frequently listed without a location requirement or as “Remote (US).”
• Applied Research — Select research scientist and applied research roles list remote as an option, particularly those involving generative video, audio, and multimodal models.
• Technical Recruiting & Operations — Support and operational roles often carry remote flexibility.

What’s notably not remote? Core research leadership, product design, and senior creative roles. If you’re a designer or a research lead hoping to build Gen-3 Alpha from a different city, you’ll likely be expected in Brooklyn or at least making regular trips.

Runway Office Locations

Runway has expanded from its original New York base to a multi-city presence across three continents:

While the global footprint reflects Runway’s ambition, the international offices are largely in-office positions. Runway does not currently offer remote work from countries where it doesn’t have an established entity.

What Employees Say About Remote Work at Runway

Glassdoor reviews paint a mixed but generally positive picture. Employees value the culture and the creative mission, but the NYC pull and pace get called out consistently:

The 4.0/5 work-life balance score on Glassdoor reflects a company that respects balance in principle but pushes hard on speed and quality in practice. The “remote-first” label is genuine for many roles, but don’t expect it to translate into 9-to-5 hours regardless of where you sit.

Runway vs. Peers: ElevenLabs, Synthesia, Pika & OpenAI

If remote flexibility is a priority, here’s how Runway stacks up against its closest peers in the AI video and creative AI space:

The clearest contrast is ElevenLabs — Runway’s most remote-friendly peer. ElevenLabs is genuinely distributed across 30+ countries with no single office dominating culture. If you want to build AI audio or video technology without any office pull, ElevenLabs is the better fit. OpenAI sits at the other extreme: SF-first, with remote roles limited to select senior positions. Runway sits comfortably in the middle.

See our full remote-friendly AI companies guide for companies where remote is the default, not the exception.

Open Positions at Runway

Runway has open roles in research, engineering, product, design, and operations. Many engineering positions are available remotely across the United States, while creative and leadership roles skew toward New York.

For the full list of live openings with location filters, visit the Runway jobs page or explore the Runway culture profile for Glassdoor ratings, employee reviews, and a breakdown of culture values. You can also read our Runway compensation guide for salary and equity benchmarks.