Motion Designer, Performance Creative

Job Description:

Dentsu Creative's Motion Team is looking for a mid-level Motion Designer. You'll work in a highly creative environment, across campaign, brand, and social content — concepting and delivering motion design for some of the biggest brands in the world. Your primary focus will be one of the most recognized names on the planet — a marquee client we can only reveal once you're in the room. Working closely with other creative thinkers, you'll put animation principles and visual storytelling into practice to bring ideas and concepts to life through motion. You'll own your projects, build systems that help the team move faster, and be comfortable leading your own work in a fast-paced agency environment.

This role is to be based in our NYC office and be on-site at least 3 days/week.

• Own motion projects end-to-end — from concept and pitch through design, animation, and final delivery

• Collaborate with Creative Directors, Art Directors, Producers, and Project Managers to deliver on-brand, on-time work

• Build and maintain reusable templates, motion systems, and toolkits that improve team speed and consistency

• Design for platform — Be versed in best-practices to deliver content designed and optimized for TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, paid social, and other channels

• Manage multiple projects with shifting deadlines without sacrificing quality

• Source and mix music and sound for motion deliverables

• Maintain brand consistency across all work in line with client guidelines

• Contribute to the team's creative culture — share ideas, give feedback, help improve how we work

• 3–5 years of professional experience as a motion designer, ideally in an agency, studio, or in-house creative team

• Strong portfolio/reel showing range across social, campaign, and brand work — we want to see design thinking, not just keyframes

• Expert-level After Effects — including expressions, shape layer animation, and familiarity with the plugin ecosystem

• Proficiency in Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere Pro

• Strong graphic design and typography skills — you should be able to design a beautiful frame before you animate it

• Combining live-action footage and motion design should be second nature

• Working knowledge of Cinema 4D or Blender — enough to bring 3D elements into motion work (not a VFX role, but 3D literacy is expected in 2026)

• Understanding of social platforms, trends, specs, and what makes content perform

• Basic audio editing — syncing sound to motion, mixing, selecting music

• Disciplined file organization — clean project files, consistent naming conventions, and handoff-ready file management

• Clear communicator — can present work, take feedback constructively, and articulate design decisions to clients and teams

AI is being integrated into our workflows. We expect you to be actively using it, not just aware of it.

• Use AI tools to speed up your process — generating references, iterating on concepts, exploring layouts, streamlining repetitive tasks. Tools like Google VEO, Nano Banana, Adobe Firefly, Claude, Copilot and others. are evolving fast. Stay curious and share what works.

• Your design eye, animation instincts, and storytelling are what matter most. AI helps you move faster — it doesn't replace taste and craft.

• Experience with Figma, Rive, or Lottie for web/interactive motion

• After Effects scripting (ExtendScript, JSX)

• Experience building motion systems or templates at scale

• This is not a VFX-heavy role — if your reel is mostly compositing, particles, and simulation, this probably isn't the right fit

• This is a role for a designer-animator hybrid who loves moving between campaign and social work, collaborates well, and wants to help build something great

#LI-Hybrid #LI-MS5

Additional Information

At dentsu, we believe great work happens when we’re connected. Our way of working combines flexibility with in-person collaboration to spark ideas and strengthen our teams. Employees who live within a commutable distance of one of our hub offices, currently located in Chicago, metro Detroit, Los Angeles, and New York City, are required and expected to work from the office three days per week (two days per week for employees based in Los Angeles). Dentsu may designate other Hub offices at any time. Those who live outside a commutable range may be designated as remote, depending on the role and business needs. Regardless of your work location, we expect our employees to be flexible to meet the needs of our Company and clients, which may include attendance in an office.

The annual salary range for this position is $71,875 - $85,000. Placement within the salary range is based on a variety of factors, including relevant experience, knowledge, skills, and other factors permitted by law.  

Benefits available with this position include:  

• Medical, vision, and dental insurance, 

• Life insurance,  

• Short-term and long-term disability insurance, 

• 401k, 

• Flexible paid time off, 

• At least 15 paid holidays per year, 

• Paid sick and safe leave, and 

• Paid parental leave. 

Dentsu also complies with applicable state and local laws regarding employee leave benefits, including, but not limited to providing time off pursuant to the Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act, in accordance with its plans and policies.  For further details regarding Dentsu benefits, please visit www.dentsubenefitsplus.com. 

To begin the application process, please click on the “Apply” button at the top of this job posting. Applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis, and qualified candidates will be contacted for next steps

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