Senior Lead Motion Designer at Red Door Collaborative in Seattle, Washington, United States

Job description

• Remote (US-based, Pacific hours) · Full-time · $105,000–$120,000 annually, DOE Applications accepted on a rolling basis until the position is filled.
• We're hiring a Senior Lead Motion Designer to own motion design at Red Door — leading the discipline, setting the quality bar, and representing motion to our clients and prospects.
• In this role you'll lead a small team of full-time animators and a rotating group of individual collaborators, and you'll also get your hands into the work when capacity and complexity demand it. The split between directing and doing will flex with project load — this isn't a role where you've fully stepped back from the craft.
• But your primary responsibility is the discipline: the team, our standards, and the client relationships. On the client side, this role goes beyond execution.
• You'll be a key voice in how Red Door presents and sells motion design — identifying opportunities to expand motion work within existing accounts, articulating the value of motion in client conversations, and helping prospective clients understand what's possible.
• You'll report to our Associate Creative Director and work alongside Creative Project Managers, discipline leads in Visual Design and Content, and our small but mighty team of creatives delivering excellent work, day after day.

Responsibilities

• Discipline leadership and mentorship: Lead, direct, and develop a team of animators and several contracted collaborators. Set expectations, give direct and constructive feedback, and establish what "excellence" looks like within the motion discipline. You're building a team that does great work consistently — not just when you're in the room.
• Motion production: Stay hands-on with motion work when project load or complexity requires it. Create and direct animatics, motion graphics, branded motion pieces, and UI/interface animation to a high standard. Your work sets the bar your team reaches toward.
• Creative direction and quality control: Review work across the motion discipline before it leaves the team. You're not checking boxes — you're evaluating whether the animation serves the client's intent, tells the story clearly, and clears our quality bar. Flag what needs another pass and explain why.
• Client representation and motion evangelism: Be a credible, compelling voice for motion design in client-facing settings. Identify opportunities to expand motion work within existing accounts, participate in new business conversations, and help clients understand what motion can do for their marketing and communication needs. This is a material part of the role — not a secondary responsibility.
• Creative standards and process: Establish and maintain creative standards, workflows, and production practices for the motion discipline. Partner with Creative PMs to keep motion work moving through production phases without losing quality. When standards drift, you bring them back.
• Cross-discipline collaboration: Work closely with the ACD, CD, and other discipline leads (Visual and Content design). Motion doesn't live in isolation — you'll collaborate across disciplines on integrated projects and contribute to how Red Door's creative output comes together.

Requirements

• You have 7+ years of professional motion design experience — creating animatics, motion graphics, and branded motion for real clients in a production workflow. Not adjacent to the work but doing it.
• You've led or mentored other animators or motion designers — this isn't a first-time leadership role. You've given hard feedback, helped someone develop their craft, and know what it takes to build a discipline that produces consistent work.
• You have agency experience — not adjacent to agency work but embedded in it. You know the pace, the client dynamics, and the particular pressure of delivering motion work on deadline.
• You have strong proficiency in Adobe After Effects and working familiarity with Cinema 4D, Maya, Premiere, and Frame.io. You don't need to be equally expert in all of them, but you understand the ecosystem and can speak to it credibly.
• You're comfortable in client-facing settings — presenting work, fielding questions, and identifying opportunities to expand the scope of what motion can do for a client. This isn't a stretch for you; it's energizing.
• You have a reel and portfolio that shows both your craft and your range — work you made, projects you directed, and examples that demonstrate how your motion thinking serves a client's communication goals.
• You've worked with enterprise clients — tech organizations, professional services, large-scale marketing campaigns. You understand the complexity, the stakeholder layers, and the long timelines that come with large clients.
• You have an open, growth-oriented mindset about AI and are curious about how AI-assisted tools and workflows might expand what your team is capable of. We're exploring this actively — we need someone who wants to be part of that exploration.
• Bar Religion Output Dynamics Constructive Feedback Support Animation AI Options Graphics Collaboration Load Salary Hiring Demand Compensation Timelines Campaigns Insurance Quality Control Presentations Pressure Design Business Marketing Leadership Communication

Skills

Required

• Adobe After Effects
• Cinema 4D
• Maya
• Premiere
• Frame.io
• Leadership and mentorship
• Client-facing communication
• Creative direction and quality control
• Motion production
• Cross-discipline collaboration

Benefits

• This is a salaried, exempt position with an annual salary of $105,000–$120,000, depending on experience. We offer a full benefits package: PTO, paid holidays, health coverage (medical, dental, vision — plus HSA/FSA options), 401(k) with match, life and disability insurance, a charitable matching program, and stipends to support your remote setup and ongoing work-from-home costs.