UI Animator / Motion Designer

Locations:

• Culver City, CA (Hybrid) – $81.00/hour
• Cupertino, CA (Hybrid) – $91.00/hour

Duration: 12-Month Contract

Overview

Our client is seeking an experienced UI Animator / Motion Designer to create exceptional motion experiences for consumer software applications. This role is ideal for a highly collaborative designer who combines a deep understanding of animation principles with strong interaction design skills and a passion for crafting polished, intuitive user experiences.

Working alongside product designers, engineers, marketing, and QA teams, you'll transform static concepts into engaging interactive experiences that enhance usability and delight users. The ideal candidate has extensive experience shipping production-ready UI motion, excels at prototyping, and understands how to balance creative vision with technical performance.

Responsibilities

UI Motion Design

• Design and animate engaging UI motion for new features, screens, and user interactions across consumer applications.
• Create motion that enhances usability, reinforces product behaviors, and improves the overall user experience.
• Develop polished animations that align with platform standards and product design systems.
• Apply strong animation fundamentals including timing, easing, anticipation, staging, and visual hierarchy.

Prototyping & Interaction Design

• Partner closely with product designers to transform static designs into interactive animated prototypes.
• Rapidly prototype interaction concepts to validate user experience before engineering implementation.
• Iterate on motion concepts based on user feedback, design reviews, and stakeholder input.
• Explore creative solutions while maintaining usability and accessibility.

Engineering Collaboration

• Work directly with engineering teams to ensure motion designs are accurately implemented in production.
• Deliver clear animation specifications, timing documentation, easing curves, and interaction behaviors.
• Collaborate throughout development to ensure animations meet quality, performance, and platform expectations.
• Balance visual quality with technical constraints, device performance, and platform capabilities.

Motion Design Systems

• Build, maintain, and evolve reusable motion libraries and animation systems.
• Help establish motion standards that ensure consistency across products and experiences.
• Contribute documentation and best practices for animation workflows and implementation.

Cross-Functional Partnership

• Collaborate with product, engineering, marketing, QA, and other cross-functional partners throughout the product lifecycle.
• Communicate project scope, priorities, timelines, and trade-offs effectively.
• Manage multiple concurrent projects while maintaining a high standard of design quality.
• Contribute innovative ideas that elevate product experiences and user engagement.

Required Qualifications

• 7–10 years of professional experience in UI animation, interaction design, or motion design for digital products.
• Expert-level proficiency with Adobe After Effects.
• Experience using modern prototyping tools such as Principle, Figma, or similar platforms.
• Comfortable working within AI-assisted and "vibe coding" workflows.
• Proven experience partnering with engineers to deliver production-ready UI animations.
• Strong understanding of animation principles and interaction design.
• Deep familiarity with motion guidelines for iOS, Android, and web platforms.
• Strong project management and organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• A portfolio demonstrating shipped UI animation and interactive motion design work.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with 3D animation or motion design.
• Portfolio showcasing motion graphics beyond UI and interaction design.
• Basic coding or scripting knowledge.
• Experience contributing to design systems or motion libraries.
• Passion for creating intuitive, engaging, and highly polished digital experiences.

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Motion Design, Animation, Interaction Design, Graphic Design, Human-Computer Interaction, or a related field preferred.
• Equivalent professional experience will also be considered.

Mathys+Potestio is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all individuals are treated with respect and dignity. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, veteran status, military service, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws.