Motion Design Specialist

We are open to remote candidates for this role.

Folks who specialize in motion design at Metalab are called Motion Designers. Regardless of the title, these individuals play a critical role in elevating the quality, feel and clarity of the products we create.

Motion Designers bring interfaces to life through animation, interaction design, and motion systems thinking. They create experiences that guide users, communicate intent, reinforce brand personality, and make complex interactions feel intuitive and seamless.

From early concepting and storyboarding to polished animations and interaction flows, you’re able to craft inspirational work that helps teams align around how a product should feel in motion. Whether creating production-ready assets or defining motion direction for engineering teams, you bring clarity to interaction behavior, pacing, transitions, and overall product feel throughout the design and development process.

You approach motion through the lens of user experience first by balancing timing, movement, delight, and interaction design with usability, accessibility, and product goals. You help define motion principles, interaction patterns, and scalable motion systems across key product experiences.

What you’ll do:

• Collaborate closely with designers, engineers, producers, and stakeholders to identify opportunities where motion can improve usability, communication, and overall product experience.
• Create high-quality animations, interaction flows, transition concepts, and motion studies that elevate the overall product experience.
• Partner closely with engineers to communicate motion intent clearly and ensure thoughtful, high-quality implementation in production.
• Translate business goals and product strategy into motion concepts and interaction systems that improve clarity, usability, and flow.
• Communicate nuanced motion decisions clearly across disciplines, advocating for thoughtful interaction design throughout the product development process.
• Bring client brands to life within digital products while expanding and extending existing visual systems through motion.
• Help improve internal motion workflows, tooling, and processes that accelerate quality and collaboration.
• Help promote an inspiring, collaborative and inclusive environment for the team.
• Mentor and support other Motion Designers through feedback, collaboration and craft leadership.

What we’re looking for:

• 3+ years of motion design experience at a studio, product company, digital agency, or as a freelancer
• Strong portfolio demonstrating motion craft, interaction thinking, and product sensibility
• Strong understanding of UX, interaction design, and user-centered thinking
• Ability to translate complex ideas into intuitive, polished motion experiences
• Experience communicating motion intent and interaction behavior clearly to engineering teams
• Strong visual design instincts with sensitivity to timing, pacing, composition, and movement
• Ability to give and receive thoughtful feedback in collaborative environments
• Proficiency with Figma, Lottie/Bodymovin, and motion design workflows
• Experience with tools such as Rive, Spline, After Effects, or Cinema 4D is a plus
• Familiarity with front-end implementation or creative development is a strong bonus