As a Senior Motion Designer in Microsoft’s Design Studio for the Social & Creative organization, you will lead the creation of expressive, high-impact motion design that drives brand storytelling across campaigns, social platforms, and experiential activations. 

You’ll partner closely with Creative Directors (CDs), Associate Creative Directors (ACDs), and cross-functional teams to shape the motion language of our brand and elevate the emotional resonance of our work. 

This role demands advanced creative vision, technical mastery, and a strategic mindset. 

You’ll be responsible for concepting and producing polished motion assets that support product launches, brand campaigns, and social content, while mentoring junior designers and contributing to the evolution of our motion systems. 

You’ll also be expected to integrate generative AI tools into your workflow to accelerate ideation, enhance prototyping, and expand creative possibilities.

Job Location: The primary location for this position is NY, NY. Additionally, this role can also be based in Redmond, WA. Candidates who do not reside in one of these two areas will be relocated.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development of motion design and animation assets for brand campaigns, social content, and experiential activations.
• Translate strategic creative concepts into compelling motion narratives that reinforce brand identity and storytelling goals.
• Collaborate with Creative Directors, ACDs, designers, writers, and producers to ensure motion enhances clarity, emotion, and engagement.
• Develop and maintain motion libraries, toolkits, and systems that support consistency and scalability across teams.
• Provide creative direction and mentorship to other motion designers, fostering craft excellence and innovation.
• Leverage generative AI tools to streamline animation workflows, prototype motion concepts, and generate visual assets.
• Stay ahead of trends in animation, design, and technology, and proactively introduce new techniques and tools to the team.

Qualifications

Required/ minimum qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree or Certificate in Design, Fine Arts, Human Computer Interaction, Visual Communications or related art field AND 4+ years experience in art design or a related art field working on computer games or entertainment or equivalent experience.

Additional or preferred qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree or Certificate in Design, Human Computer Interaction, Visual Communications or related art field AND 12+ years experience in art design or a related art field working on computer games or entertainment OR equivalent experience.
• 4+ years of experience in motion design, animation, or interaction design.
• 4+ years of experience in motion design tools such as After Effects, Figma, Lottie, Principle, or similar.
• A portfolio showcasing production-ready motion work for User Interface (UI), demos, social and product storytelling.
• 6+ years experience using related software and packages (e.g., Maya, 3ds Max, Photoshop/Adobe suite, Mental Ray, Substance Designer/Painter/Zbrush, Houdini, After Effects, Unity, Softimage).
• 6+ years experience shipping 2+ multiple projects or products end to end.
• 6+ years experience leading motion design in brand-focused environments or creative campaigns.
• 2+ years experience of hands-on experience with generative AI tools for animation, prototyping, or asset creation (e.g., Runway, Sora, Kaiber, Adobe Firefly).
   

The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $119,800 - $234,700 per year. 

There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $158,400 - $258,000 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:
https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay

This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.