Animation Director Jobs in San Rafael, CA (NOW HIRING)

Company Description

For 25 years, Level has developed marketing solutions for some of the world's most innovative brands. We believe the best solutions come from collaborative working partnerships with our clients. Whether an established brand, or a start-up, we believe in the power of creative strategy, design, and technology to solve business challenges.

Job Description

We're looking for a Motion Designer to join our growing team. In this role, you'll use motion to bring ideas to life by concepting and creating engaging, brand specific content that drives awareness, builds loyalty, and inspires action. You'll work closely with cross-disciplinary teams including Creative, Strategy, Tech, and Production to develop and execute high-quality animations and visual experiences across multiple channels.

You'll own projects from initial concept to final delivery, leading motion design efforts on key accounts and collaborating with team members to push the work creatively and technically. You will be responsible for developing, designing, and ultimately making everything from design systems, illustrations, and static compositions to 2D and 3D motion graphics pieces and visual effects, all while acting as a creative problem-solver for the artists, producers, clients, creatives and customers that you work with.

You are a master of After Effects, a wizard with Photoshop and Illustrator, and you may even know a little Cinema4D or Blender. You are curious and excited about AI and other emerging technologies and look forward to helping us ethically evolve our technical capabilities within our design and delivery processes.

 

PLEASE NOTE: Preference will be given to candidates who are local to the San Francisco, Chicago, or Los Angeles metros and willing to commit to a hybrid schedule of 3 days/week on average. Highly qualified candidates living in other markets may also be considered. Candidates must be comfortable working a schedule that aligns with Pacific Time Zone business hours. 

Responsibilities

• Design and animate 2d (and maybe some 3d) motion graphics for a wide variety of deliverables through video, social content, UI animations, email, banners, and more.
• Develop storyboards, style frames, and visual concepts in collaboration with art directors, designers, producers, and strategists.
• Lead 2D and 3D animation pipelines as needed, working closely with post-production leadership.
• Translate complex ideas into compelling visual narratives that align with brand tone, voice, and messaging.
• Use motion design to enhance UX, communicate value propositions, and create memorable branded experiences.
• Stay current on industry trends and technologies, pushing creative boundaries and integrating emerging tools like AI where appropriate.
• Solve creative and technical challenges with a proactive, solutions-first mindset.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure consistency across all touchpoints while adapting design style for different clients and media types.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in a post-production studio, ad agency, or in-house creative team with a strong digital focus.
• Mastery of Adobe Creative Suite and After Effects.
• Experience with additional 2D/3D tools (Blender, Cinema 4D, Maya, Nuke, Flame, etc.) is a plus.
• Extensive experience conceptualizing and creating a variety of visual assets including web/site animations, animated logos/product images, supers, snips, paid media, banner ads, storyboards, explainer videos, reels, shortform social, splash videos, and similar assets.
• Experience building soundtracks and audio for video/animations is a plus.
• Solid understanding of design systems, layout, typography, color theory, design composition, and motion principles including timing, easing, acceleration curves, etc.
• Strong conceptual and storytelling abilities-able to think visually and translate strategy into design.
• Experience with consumer tech brands is a plus.
• Highly collaborative but independently capable.
• Meticulous attention to detail.
• Ability to work collaboratively with cross-functional, geographically-distributed teams.
• Ability to manage multiple concurrent projects in a fast-paced, deadline-driven, continuously-evolving environment.
• Very strong interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills with a high degree of emotional intelligence.
• A digital portfolio and/or reel is required and must be submitted with your application. Your work should showcase a strong sense of animation, branding, and interactive design across video, websites, email, and banners.

Additional Information

The Power of One starts with our people! To do powerful things, we offer powerful resources. Our best-in-class wellness and benefits offerings include:

Paid Family Care for parents and caregivers for 12 weeks or moreMonetary assistance and support for Adoption, Surrogacy and FertilityMonetary assistance and support for pet adoptionEmployee Assistance Programs and Health/Wellness/Comfort reimbursements to help you invest in your future and work/life balanceTuition AssistancePaid time off that includes Flexible Time off Vacation, Annual Sick Days, Volunteer Days, Holiday and Identity days, and moreMatching Gifts programsFlexible working arrangements'Work Your World' Program encouraging employees to work from anywhere Publicis Groupe has an office for up to 6 weeks a year (based upon eligibility)Business Resource Groups that support multiple affinities and alliances

The benefits offerings listed are available to eligible U.S. Based employees, are reviewed on an annual basis, and are governed by the terms of the applicable plan documents.

We also offer medical and voluntary benefits to our freelancers and temporary employees. Voluntary benefit options include supplemental medical insurance, transportation, and parking benefits, legal benefits, pet insurance, and auto and home insurance. You must be actively employed for 90 consecutive calendar days in order to be eligible for Publicis medical and voluntary benefits. 

Level Studios is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our employment decisions are made without regard to actual or perceived race, color, ethnicity, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, disability, medical condition as defined by applicable state law, genetic information, marital status, military service and veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local laws and ordinances.

If you require accommodation or assistance with the application or onboarding process specifically, please contact usmttacompliance@publicis.com.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

 Compensation Range: USD $66,120.00 - USD $87,000.00/Annually. This is the pay range the Company believes it will pay for this position at the time of this posting. Consistent with applicable law, compensation will be determined based on the skills, qualifications, and experience of the applicant along with the requirements of the position, and the Company reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time. Temporary roles may be eligible to participate in our freelancer/temporary employee medical plan through a third-party benefits administration system once certain criteria have been met. Temporary roles may also qualify for participation in our 401(k) plan after eligibility criteria have been met. For regular roles, the Company will offer medical coverage, dental, vision, disability, 401k, and paid time off. The Company anticipates the application deadline for this job posting will be 9/1/2026.Employment Type: FULL_TIME