Senior Motion Designer at AI Lab - $70-$120/hr W-2

Weekday; Athens (GA); Hybrid; USD 96,000 - 165,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

W-2 Employment

Job summary

Weekday is seeking an experienced Senior Motion Designer (After Effects) with AI tooling experience to join a leading AI lab's Generative AI team. You will design realistic motion graphics challenges, develop reference deliverables, and evaluate AI-generated animations.

The role blends traditional motion design with code‑driven workflows and requires a strong portfolio and communication skills. The position is fully remote for candidates based in the United States, with a 40‑hour work week,

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional experience in motion design or related field.
• Expert‑level proficiency in Adobe After Effects with advanced workflows.
• Hands‑on experience with code‑driven animation tech (Remotion, Three.js, FFmpeg or similar).
• Portfolio/showreel demonstrating shipped motion design work and code samples.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with AI teams to design motion design tasks and evaluate AI-generated outputs.
• Create reference deliverables using After Effects and other tools for production readiness.
• Develop code‑driven animations and graphics (Remotion, HTML5 Canvas, Three.js, WebGL).
• Build evaluation rubrics and quality standards for motion design workflows.
• Provide structured feedback to improve AI‑generated creative content.

Skills

5+ years exp

After Effects

Strong writing

Code-driven animation

Creative judgment

Tools

Remotion

HTML5 Canvas

SVG

Three.js

WebGL

GSAP

FFmpeg

Runway

Kling

Luma

Midjourney

ComfyUI

Job description

Compensation Stands Out: At $70-$120/hr on a W-2 basis, this role pays above market for senior motion designers (industry median is roughly $45-$75/hr for senior freelancers). The AI lab context drives the premium — your expertise directly shapes model training data, which is a high-value, specialized function.

Skills You’ll Build: This role sits at the rare intersection of traditional motion design and AI/ML workflows. You'll gain hands‑on experience:

• Evaluating and benchmarking generative AI video/animation models
• Developing quality rubrics and evaluation frameworks for creative AI outputs
• Writing and applying code‑driven animation pipelines (Remotion, Three.js, FFmpeg)
• Working directly within an AI lab's extended workforce — a career differentiator in 2024-2025

Career Trajectory: Experience training AI models for motion design is an emerging specialty with very few qualified practitioners. This role could position you as a go‑to expert in "AI creative evaluation" — a field that is growing rapidly as more studios adopt generative tools.

Green Flags: W-2 status (not 1099) means employer tax contributions and potential benefits. The role values both creative judgment and technical coding skills, suggesting a culture that respects hybrid creatives.

Watch For: No mention of career progression, PTO, or benefits beyond W-2 classification. The "client" framing suggests this is a staffing arrangement, not a direct hire — which may limit long-term stability or upward mobility.

This role is for one of our clients

Compensation: $70 - $120 per hour

Job Overview

We are looking for an experienced Senior Motion Designer (After Effects), AI Expert to join a leading AI lab's Generative AI team and contribute to the development of next‑generation AI models. This role is ideal for a creative professional with strong motion design expertise, advanced After Effects skills, and hands‑on experience with code‑driven animation and emerging generative media tools.

You will use your creative and technical judgment to design realistic motion graphics challenges, develop high‑quality reference deliverables, and evaluate AI‑generated animations and video content. Your expertise will help improve how advanced AI systems understand motion design principles, animation workflows, visual storytelling, and production standards.

The ideal candidate brings a strong portfolio of professionally shipped motion design work, proficiency in industry‑standard creative tools, and the ability to combine traditional motion graphics techniques with code‑based animation workflows.

This is a fully remote, full‑time W-2 employment opportunity open to candidates based in the United States. The role requires a dedicated commitment of 40 hours per week, Monday through Friday.

Key Responsibilities

• Collaborate with AI research and engineering teams to identify knowledge gaps and improve model performance in motion graphics, kinetic typography, animated overlays, and code‑driven video production.
• Design challenging, real‑world motion design tasks that assess creative quality, technical accuracy, animation principles, and production readiness.
• Create high‑quality reference deliverables using Adobe After Effects and other relevant tools, ensuring editable project files and production‑ready outputs.
• Develop code‑driven animations and graphics using technologies such as Remotion, HTML5 Canvas, SVG, Three.js, WebGL, or similar frameworks.
• Evaluate AI‑generated motion graphics, animations, and video outputs for timing, easing, typography, visual hierarchy, tracking, safe areas, and audio synchronization.
• Provide structured, detailed written feedback to improve the quality and accuracy of AI‑generated creative content.
• Build evaluation guidelines, quality standards, and detailed rubrics for motion design and animation workflows.
• Develop or apply scripted technical checks to validate rendered outputs, including format, duration, frame rate, and other production specifications.
• Work with fellow creative professionals and subject matter experts to maintain consistency and quality across AI training and evaluation datasets.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional experience in motion design, motion graphics, animation, or a closely related creative production role.
• A strong track record of delivering professional motion design projects for creative agencies, motion studios, post‑production houses, broadcast design teams, or established in‑house brand studios.
• Expert‑level proficiency in Adobe After Effects, including expressions, kinetic typography, 2.5D parallax, tracked composites, and advanced animation workflows.
• Experience with Cinema 4D or Blender for creating and integrating 3D elements.
• Hands‑on experience with at least one code‑driven animation or motion graphics technology, such as Remotion, HTML5 Canvas, SVG animation, Three.js, WebGL, GSAP, p5.js, TouchDesigner, Houdini, or FFmpeg‑based rendering.
• Strong understanding of editable project files and delivery formats, including After Effects (.aep), Motion Graphics Templates (.mogrt), Cinema 4D (.c4d), Blender (.blend), Lottie (.json), Rive (.riv), SVG, and Git‑based rendering workflows.
• Practical experience using FFmpeg for video encoding, concatenation, overlays, frame extraction, and media analysis.
• Professional experience with generative image and video tools such as Runway, Kling, Luma, Midjourney, or ComfyUI.
• A publicly accessible portfolio or showreel demonstrating shipped motion design work, along with a code sample that renders or animates video. Candidates should be comfortable discussing their creative and technical approach.
• Excellent written communication skills and the ability to articulate creative decisions and technical feedback.
• Availability to commit to a full‑time schedule of 40 hours per week on weekdays.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience creating motion design assets for digital campaigns, brand identities, broadcast graphics, product videos, or social media content.
• Strong understanding of visual storytelling, composition, typography, animation principles, and production workflows.
• Experience combining traditional motion graphics with procedural or generative animation techniques.
• Familiarity with multiple aspect ratios and delivery standards, including 16:9, 1:1, 9:16, and 4:5.
• Experience evaluating AI‑generated creative outputs or developing structured quality assessment frameworks.
• Work Arrangement: Fully Remote
• Employment Type: Full‑Time, W-2
• Work Schedule: 40 hours per week, Monday to Friday
• Engagement: Employment with an opportunity to work directly within a leading AI lab's extended workforce.

Is this role truly remote, or will I need to visit an office? The role is fully remote with no office requirement. However, it is restricted to candidates based in the United States and requires a standard Monday–Friday, 40‑hour-per-week schedule.

What is the compensation for this Senior Motion Designer position? Compensation ranges from $70 to $120 per hour on a W-2 employment basis, equating to approximately $145,600–$249,600 annually for a 40‑hour workweek.

Do I need coding skills, or is this a purely creative role? Both are required. You need expert-level After Effects skills alongside working knowledge of JavaScript, TypeScript, or Python, plus hands‑on experience with at least one code‑driven animation technology such as Remotion, Three.js, or GSAP.

What experience with AI tools is expected? Professional experience with generative image and video tools such as Runway, Kling, Luma, Midjourney, or ComfyUI is listed as a required qualification, indicating you should already be working with these tools.

Is this a direct hire or a staffing/contracting arrangement? The job posting notes it is "for one of our clients" and describes it as W-2 employment with an opportunity to work within a leading AI lab's "extended workforce," suggesting a staffing agency placement rather than a direct hire.