Creative Strategist, Motion/3D

Adobe; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 138,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Adobe in California seeks a role that turns rough briefs into clear creative direction, leveraging expertise in motion, visual effects, and 3D to guide production decisions before any work starts.

You will set expectations with customer creative and marketing teams, assess feasibility, and push back on scope when needed, surfacing gaps to product and engineering for timely resolution.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in motion, VFX, or 3D production with real directing experience.
• Ability to translate briefs into actionable creative direction.
• Experience with agency/brand/client-facing roles.
• Comfortable pushing back on scope and timeline with customers.
• Experience translating creative intent into technical specs with engineering or production teams.

Responsibilities

• Turn rough briefs into clear creative direction and defined use cases before work starts.
• Judge feasibility across motion, VFX, and 3D: what existing workflows handle now, what needs a custom build, what's out of scope.
• Work with Forward Deployed Engineering to spec out requests that exceed current capability.
• Set expectations directly with customer creative and marketing teams before production starts.
• Stay sharp in motion graphics, VFX, and 3D to judge output quality without doing the execution.
• Surface specific product and engineering gaps to internal teams, drawn from real customer requests.
• Track tools like Firefly, Runway, and Veo closely enough to adjust direction as they evolve.

Skills

Motion graphics

VFX direction

3D production

Creative direction

Tools

After Effects

Cinema 4D

Maya

Substance 3D

Generative AI tools

Job description

The Opportunity

Enterprise brands need more creative than any internal team can produce alone: dozens of branded variants a week, across every channel. Adobe's Firefly Creative Production platform can generate that volume, but it can't decide what to build, spot the real ask behind a request, or tell a quick workflow from a custom one.

That's the job: turning a rough brief into clear creative direction before anything gets generated. That means knowing motion, VFX, and 3D well enough to say what's achievable now, what needs a custom build, and what's not worth doing, and flagging platform gaps to product and engineering with enough detail to act on.

This isn't necessarily an execution role. It's about deciding what gets made, and making sure it's the right call.

What You'll Do

• Turn rough briefs into clear creative direction and defined use cases before work starts.


• Judge feasibility across motion, VFX, and 3D: what existing workflows handle now, what needs a custom build, what's out of scope.


• Work with Forward Deployed Engineering to spec out requests that exceed current capability.


• Set expectations directly with customer creative and marketing teams before production starts.


• Stay sharp in motion graphics, VFX, and 3D to judge output quality without doing the execution.


• Surface specific product and engineering gaps to internal teams, drawn from real customer requests.


• Track tools like Firefly, Runway, and Veo closely enough to adjust direction as they evolve.

What We're Looking For

• 5+ years in motion, VFX, or 3D production, with real experience setting direction, not just implementing someone else's.


• Proficiency in After Effects, Cinema4D or Maya, Substance 3D, and generative AI tools, enough to judge craft and feasibility without daily hands-on work.


• A track record of turning vague requests into clear direction, from an agency, brand team, or client-facing role.


• Comfortable pushing back on scope and timeline with customers directly.


• Experience translating creative intent into technical specs with engineering or production teams.


• A plus: familiar node-based workflows or generative AI pipelines at scale.

Who Thrives In This Role

• Prefers setting direction over delivering on specs.


• Wants customer-facing, cross-functional work over solo, heads-down work.

About Adobe

Adobe empowers everyone to create through innovative platforms and tools that unleash creativity, productivity and personalized customer experiences. Adobe’s industry-leading offerings including Adobe Acrobat Studio, Adobe Express, Adobe Firefly, Creative Cloud, Adobe Experience Platform, Adobe Experience Manager, and GenStudio enable people and businesses to turn ideas into impact, powered by AI and driven by human ingenuity.

Our 30,000+ employees worldwide are creating the future and raising the bar as we drive the next decade of growth. We’re on a mission to hire the very best and believe in creating a company culture where all employees are empowered to make an impact. At Adobe, we believe that great ideas can come from anywhere in the organization. The next big idea could be yours.

Let’s Adobe together

At Adobe, we believe in creating a company culture where all employees are empowered to make an impact. Learn more about Adobe life, including our values and culture, focus on people, purpose and community, Adobe for All, comprehensive benefits programs, the stories we tell, the customers we serve, and how you can help us advance our mission of empowering everyone to create.

Adobe is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on gender, race or color, ethnicity or national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. Learn more.

Adobe aims to make our Careers website and recruiting process accessible to any and all users. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation to navigate our website or complete the application process, email [e-mail] or call [phone].

AI Use Guidelines for Interviews

Our interviews are designed to reflect your own skills and thinking. The use of AI or recording tools during live interviews is not permitted unless explicitly invited by the interviewer or approved in advance as part of a reasonable accommodation. If these tools are used inappropriately or in a way that misrepresents your work, your application may not move forward in the process.

At Adobe, we empower employees to innovate with AI — and we look for candidates eager to do the same. As part of the hiring experience, we provide clear guidance on where AI is encouraged during the process and where it’s restricted during live interviews. See how we think about AI in the hiring experience.

Expected Pay Range

Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several U.S. geographic markets, and we pay differently based on those defined markets. The U.S. pay range for this positionis $109,400 -- $199,600 annually. Paywithin this range varies by work locationand may also depend on job-related knowledge, skills,and experience. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for the job location during the hiring process.

In California, the pay range for this position is $137,800 - $199,600

At Adobe, for sales roles starting salaries are expressed as total target compensation (TTC = base + commission), and short-term incentives are in the form of sales commission plans.

Non-sales roles starting salaries are expressed as base salary and short-term incentives are in the form of the Annual Incentive Plan (AIP).

In addition, certain roles may be eligible for long-term incentives in the form of a new hire equity award.

State-Specific Notices

California

Fair Chance Ordinances

Adobe will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment in accordance with state and local laws and “fair chance” ordinances.

Colorado

Application Window Notice

If this role is open to hiring in Colorado (as listed on the job posting), the application window will remain open until at least the date and time stated above in Pacific Time, in compliance with Colorado pay transparency regulations. If this role does not have Colorado listed as a hiring location, no specific application window applies, and the posting may close at any time based on hiring needs.

Massachusetts

Massachusetts Legal Notice

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.