The Role
Own Inc42’s motion-graphics output across premium explainers, data visualizations, event AVs, stage films, promos, and multi-platform channel motion. Build reusable motion systems and integrate AI tools into production for higher-volume, studio-scale delivery. Collaborate with video editors and producers while defining Inc42’s visual and motion language. The role emphasizes premium animation craft, storytelling, data clarity, sound synchronization, platform-native packaging, and cinematic large-format work.
Summary Generated by Built In
Inc42 is India's largest media and intelligence platform on the startup economy — covering journalism, Datalabs (India's largest free startup database, with 75,000+ companies), our flagship Editorial IPs (AI Summit, D2C & Retail Summit, FAST42, D2C Retreat), and Griffin, India's most curated private founder club.
Why This Role Exists
Inc42 is building its video function from the ground up — launching a YouTube channel from scratch, spinning up multiple video IPs, and running content across Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, LinkedIn, and X.
Inc42 runs on two things almost no one else has together: serious startup data and a serious editorial voice. As that video engine scales across platforms, we want beautiful, premium explainers — the kind of motion craft that is soothing to watch, where numbers, frameworks, and ideas animate cleanly and tell a story. We want event AVs and stage films that stand among the best in India. And we want a steady stream of promos, channel packaging, and short-form motion that looks unmistakably premium on every platform. And we want all of it built AI-first. Inc42 is moving fast on volume and ambition. We're not looking for someone who treats AI as a gimmick — we want someone who builds it into the core of how motion gets made here, and keeps pulling the next tool into the pipeline before anyone else has heard of it.
Role Mandate
Own Inc42's motion-graphics craft across four buckets:
- Premium explainers — soothing, beautiful, data-driven explainer videos for YouTube long-form and short-form across Reels, Shorts, LinkedIn, and X.
- Event AVs & stage films — best-in-India event AVs that turn data and ideas into cinematic motion.
- Promos & channel motion — YouTube promos, intros/outros, lower-thirds, and the platform-native motion system that makes every Inc42 video look premium, wherever it plays.
- AI-first production — build AI into the core of the motion pipeline to ship studio-scale output, faster, without dropping the premium bar.
What You'll Own
- AI-first motion production. This is one of the biggest parts of the role. Build AI into the core of how motion gets made at Inc42 — generative assets and backplates, AI rotoscoping and tracking, upscaling, auto-animation, image-to-video, and style transfer — so you can produce at studio scale on your own. Keep scouting and testing new tools, build the prompts, presets, and templates that make them repeatable, and lift output and turnaround without ever dropping the premium feel. You are the person who keeps Inc42's motion pipeline ahead of the curve.
- Explainer motion craft. Build premium, story-led explainers — animating data, charts, frameworks, product flows, and concepts into clean, soothing, beautiful motion. This is the heart of the role: pacing, easing, and detail so good the video is a pleasure to watch, even when the subject is a balance sheet.
- Event AVs & stage films. Concept and create the AVs that open and punctuate Inc42's flagship events (AI Summit, D2C & Retail Summit, and more) — large-format, data-rich, cinematic motion built to play on a big stage and stand with the best event films in the country.
- Data visualisation in motion. Turn Inc42's numbers — funding, market sizing, growth, CAGR, cohorts — into animated charts and visual stories that are accurate, legible, and genuinely beautiful. You make data feel effortless.
- YouTube, multi-platform & channel system. Create motion for Inc42's new YouTube IPs — long-form and short-form — and adapt it natively for Reels, YouTube Shorts, LinkedIn, and X, so the same story is packaged right for each platform. Build the reusable motion system — title cards, transitions, lower-thirds, brand animation, end screens — that keeps Inc42's video output consistent and premium across every channel. You work hand in hand with the Lead Video Editor and producers, owning the motion layer of what the team ships.
- Design & motion language. Help define the visual and motion language for Inc42 video — what we do, what we deliberately don't — and keep it sharp as the channel and IPs grow.
Tools & Technical Skills
You don't need every tool below, but you should be genuinely strong in the core stack and comfortable picking up the rest. We care about craft and showreel over a checklist.
- Adobe After Effects (core). This is the primary tool of the role — 2D motion graphics, compositing, animated typography, and data-driven animation. Deep comfort with keyframing, the graph editor, easing, masks, shape layers, and expressions is expected.
- 3D motion — Cinema 4D and/or Blender. For 3D scenes, depth, product and data objects, lighting, and camera moves. Working knowledge of at least one, with a path to mastery, is a strong plus. (Familiarity with Element 3D inside After Effects also counts.)
- Editing & finishing — Premiere Pro and/or DaVinci Resolve. To assemble, time, and grade your pieces, and to hand off cleanly to the video editors.
- Design & asset prep — Illustrator, Photoshop, Figma. For building and cleaning up the vector and image assets your animations are made from.
- Plugins & extras. Trapcode Suite (Particular, Form), Element 3D, and similar; plus Lottie / Bodymovin for lightweight web and app animations is a bonus.
- Sound & timing. Strong sense of sound design and music sync — motion that hits on the beat. Basic comfort cutting audio to picture.
- AI motion tools. Hands-on with at least some of the current generation — e.g. Runway, Kling, Topaz (upscaling), AI rotoscoping/tracking — used in real production, not just demos.
- Fundamentals. The animation principles (timing, spacing, anticipation, easing), typography in motion, colour, and composition. These matter more than any single piece of software.
Success Metrics
- Craft quality — a consistent premium, soothing finish on explainers and a cinematic bar on event AVs.
- Data clarity — complex Inc42 data turned into motion that is accurate, legible, and beautiful.
- AI leverage — share of the pipeline meaningfully AI-assisted, the cadence of new tools brought in, and the studio-scale output it unlocks.
- Output & turnaround — volume of finished motion work, with AI and reusable systems lifting speed over time.
- Channel consistency — a coherent motion system across YouTube, short-form, and events.
- Stage impact — event AVs that land in the room and travel well on social afterward.
Who You Are
- A motion artist, first and last. Your reel is full of moving images — explainers, AVs, promos — not static design boards. Motion is your craft, not a side skill.
- Obsessive about the detail. Easing curves, timing, spacing, kerning in motion, the half-frame that's off. Premium is your default.
- A data storyteller. You can take a chart or a stat and make it feel alive and effortless — clarity first, beauty always.
- Strong on the stage format. You understand large-format AVs — pacing for a room, music sync, scale — or you're hungry to get there fast.
- Multi-platform fluent. YouTube long-form, Shorts, Reels, LinkedIn, and X are different products to you, and you package motion to land natively on each.
- Genuinely AI-native. AI is already core to how you work — generative assets, image-to-video, roto, upscaling — not a demo you tried once. You move faster than artists who don't, you reach looks that used to be out of budget, and you're always testing the next tool. For us, this is non-negotiable.
- Reference-driven. You study the best explainer and motion studios in the world, and you can name why their work works.
- Open background. Studio, agency, in-house, or freelance. We care about the reel, the taste, and the craft — not pedigree.
What We Offer
- A canvas of premium, high-visibility work — explainers, flagship event AVs, and a fast-growing YouTube presence.
- Real data worth animating, and an editorial team that knows the story you're telling.
- An AI-first environment with room to experiment and upgrade the craft.
- A meaningful budget for tools, plugins, and the kit to do premium work.
- Competitive compensation, plus meaningful ESOPs.
- Delhi-based, hybrid.
How To Apply
Apply with:
- Your showreel — and links to the explainers, AVs, or promos you're proudest of.
- A one-line note on which tools you live in and which you're learning.
- Your CV.
Skills Required
- Strong expertise in Adobe After Effects, including keyframing, graph editor, easing, masks, shape layers, and expressions
- Professional motion-design showreel featuring explainers, event AVs, promos, or similar moving-image work
- Strong understanding of animation principles, motion typography, color, and composition
- Hands-on production experience with current AI motion tools such as Runway, Kling, Topaz, AI rotoscoping, or AI tracking
- Ability to create data-driven, story-led explainers and animated charts
- Strong sound-design and music-sync skills, with basic audio-to-picture editing ability
- Working knowledge of Cinema 4D or Blender
- Experience with Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve
- Experience with Illustrator, Photoshop, or Figma for design and asset preparation
- Experience with Trapcode Suite, Element 3D, Lottie, or Bodymovin
- Experience creating large-format event AVs or stage films
- Experience adapting video motion for YouTube, Reels, Shorts, LinkedIn, and X
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The Company
What We Do
Inc42 is India’s startup media and intelligence platform, serving tech leaders and business decision-makers with incisive reporting, startup and technology news, research, market intelligence, and industry insights. Its broader offering includes Inc42 Plus membership, conferences and events, BrandLabs branded content, Datalabs reports and deal data, and executive courses for founders, investors, and operators, helping inform and connect India’s technology and startup ecosystem.
