Creative Automation Motion Designer (12 months FTC)

DEPT®; London (KY); Hybrid; USD 60,000 - 87,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible hybrid policy

Pension and private healthcare

26 days holiday plus bank holidays

Cycle to work scheme

Learning and development opportunities

Buddy programme

Job summary

DEPT® in London is seeking a Creative Automation Specialist within Global Studios to design and animate templates in After Effects that integrate with Lightspeed to render assets at scale. The role blends technical motion design with creative problem solving, focusing on scalable automation.

You’ll need a strong After Effects background, experience with JS basics, and a portfolio showing technical creative work.

Qualifications

• Comfortable writing and using expressions in Adobe After Effects.
• A portfolio demonstrating creative projects with a clear technical aspect.
• A deep understanding of Adobe After Effects.
• Knowledge of the basic principles of JavaScript.
• A keen interest in and knowledge of third party scripts, plugins and extensions for Adobe software.

Responsibilities

• Build reusable creative automation templates in Adobe After Effects.
• Help solve creative challenges with novel and clever technical solutions.
• Become an expert within our in‑house automation engine Lightspeed—our proprietary Adobe After Effects extension for building and designing creative automation templates.
• Take pride in your work and have excellent project file ‘housekeeping’ skills — name your layers!
• Be an ambassador of the entire creative automation team.

Skills

After Effects expressions

Adobe After Effects

JavaScript basics

Third‑party scripts/plugins

Proactive and self-motivated

Strong communication

Tools

Lightspeed

Job description

DEPT® is a Growth Invention company built to help the world’s most ambitious brands grow faster. Operating at the intersection of technology and marketing, our 4,000+ specialists deliver growth invention services across Brand & Media, Experience, Commerce, CRM, and Technology & Data. We’re 50|50 tech and marketing, partner-led, and first to move. Clients include Google, Lufthansa, Meta, eBay, and OpenAI. We have been certified B Corp and Climate Neutral since 2021.

JOB PURPOSE

This role is part of our Global Studios team. We create emotive yet conversion-focused ideas, products and campaigns at scale and speed. Our specialty is hyper-personalised, digital communications that change perceptions, shape new behaviours, and shift market share for our clients.

This role is dedicated exclusively to Creative Automation—using technology to produce creative assets at scale. You will be designing and animating templates in Adobe After Effects that integrate with Lightspeed, our proprietary automation engine, to render the assets at scale.

You need to be naturally curious, technically-minded, and eager to experiment. We’re looking for candidates who never shy away from a challenge, are excited to find new and novel solutions to creative problems and who, most importantly, enjoy the more technical side of motion design and animation.

WHAT YOU’LL DO:

• Build reusable creative automation templates in Adobe After Effects.
• Help solve creative challenges with novel and clever technical solutions.
• Become an expert within our in-house automation engine Lightspeed—our proprietary Adobe After Effects extension for building and designing creative automation templates.
• Take pride in your work and have excellent project file ‘housekeeping’ skills — name your layers!
• Be an ambassador of the entire creative automation team.

WHAT YOU BRING:

• Comfortable writing and using expressions in Adobe After Effects.
• A portfolio demonstrating creative projects with a clear technical aspect.
• A deep understanding of Adobe After Effects.
• Knowledge of the basic principles of JavaScript.
• A keen interest in and knowledge of third party scripts, plugins and extensions for Adobe software.
• Proactive and self-motivated with strong initiative.
• Eager to learn and develop new and existing skills.
• Meticulous attention to detail.
• Independent and confident, but works well with others.
• Process-driven and a great communicator.

WE OFFER

• A flexible, hybrid working policy (2 days from the office, depending on location).
• An excellent salary based on experience and equal pay policies.
• Pension, free private healthcare, mental health support, and company sick pay scheme.
• 26 days paid holiday (plus UK Bank Holidays).
• Help getting you to work with a season ticket loan and cycle to work scheme.
• Enhanced family friendly policies to support new parents.
• Social and Cultural Events, plenty of opportunities to connect with colleagues through organised activities and celebrations.
• Inspirational Talks, bringing the outside in with regular guest speakers and events.
• Learning and Development, supporting your growth with continuous opportunities to learn and advance.
• Buddy Programme: You will be paired with a ‘Buddy’ to help you through your first weeks’ at DEPT®.
• A reputation for doing good. DEPT® has been a Certified B Corp® since 2021 and named ‘Agency of the Year’ at both The Lovies and The Webby Awards.
• Awesome clients. Whether big or small, local or global — at DEPT® you’ll get the opportunity to work with clients of all sizes and across all industries. And we celebrate all of our successes together!
• The opportunity for possibility. We want to enable you to do what you do best and help you develop your skills further with training, development and certifications.
• Global annual DEPT® Cares Month in which employees come together and donate their skills to support local charities.

We are open to a few different levels for this role.

WHY DEPT®?

We are a Growth Invention company built to help the world’s most ambitious brands grow faster. Operating at the intersection of technology and marketing, we create what is next by pioneering ideas, acting fast, and moving further because standing still just is not in our DNA.

We are drawn to people who stay curious, move with intent, and never stop inventing. Our culture runs on three values: better together, relentlessly curious, and get sh*t done. It is how we work, how we grow, and how we make things that matter.

At DEPT®, you will find the freedom to explore, the space to collaborate, and the trust to make a real impact for our clients, for each other, and for the world we are helping to build.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION

At DEPT®, we take pride in creating an inclusive workplace where everyone has an equal opportunity to thrive. We actively seek to recruit, develop, nurture, and retain talented individuals from diverse backgrounds, with varying skills and perspectives.

We also encourage you to reach out to us and discuss any reasonable adjustments we can make to support you throughout the recruitment process and your time with us.

Want to know more about our dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion? Check out our efforts here.