Responsibilities

• Creative Assessment & Execution: Lead the conceptualization and execution of high-impact design and motion concepts for web, social campaigns, event experiences, brand video, and digital products.
• Motion Pipeline Ownership: Establish and optimize the agency's motion design standards and best practices, including building scalable motion asset systems that support high-volume output without sacrificing brand consistency or craft quality. Own and continuously refine motion design workflows end to end, including capacity forecasting, escalation protocols, and bottleneck prediction across simultaneous high-volume workstreams.
• AI-Integrated Production: Operate within AI-supported creative production workflows, partnering with technical and AI-focused team members under established human-in-the-loop guardrails to balance speed, scale, and creative quality.
• Client & Pitch Leadership: Own creative presentations for major client accounts and high-stakes new business pitches. Effectively articulate the strategic 'why' behind creative and motion-driven choices to non-creative stakeholders.
• Account-Creative Alignment: Manage friction points between creative timelines and account or client demands, protecting production quality and team capacity while maintaining a collaborative cross-functional relationship.
• Team Management & Mentorship: Directly manage a team of motion designers and brand designers, including formal performance reviews and development planning. Foster a culture of continuous learning, creative experimentation, and technical growth, while holding the team to clear delivery and craft standards.
• Brand Guardianship: Act as the primary guardian of Highwire’s own visual brand, while simultaneously ensuring clients' visual systems remain cohesive and forward-thinking across all mediums.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with Digital Strategy and Copy leads to ensure copy and visuals work in perfect harmony to drive measurable business results.

Requirements

• Experience: 8+ years of professional design and motion experience, with at least 3+ years in a dedicated creative leadership or player-coach role (agency experience heavily preferred). Demonstrated direct people management experience, including conducting formal performance evaluations, is required.
• Portfolio: A portfolio demonstrating ownership of brand, motion, and video storytelling at a campaign or systems level, not just individual pieces, alongside strong typography, layout, and UI/UX fundamentals.
• Technical Mastery: Expert proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (After Effects, Premiere, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign) and Figma. Experience with 3D software (Cinema 4D or Blender) is a massive plus. Experience with Final Cut Pro and DaVinci Resolve is helpful.
• Design Systems: Deep experience creating, scaling, and maintaining comprehensive digital and motion design systems.
• Strategic Intuition: Strong understanding of UX/UI principles, digital accessibility standards, and multi-platform social media optimization.
• Culture Fit: A thriving-under-pressure mentality with strong judgment for managing competing priorities across multiple concurrent projects. Working knowledge of AI-integrated creative workflows, including comfort operating within human-in-the-loop guardrails for AI-supported concepting and production.

Preferred

• Agency experience preferred
• Experience with 3D software (Cinema 4D or Blender) is a massive plus.

Benefits

• Competitive salary with merit-based opportunities for growth
• Flexible hybrid work model tailored to your schedule and lifestyle
• Generous vacation policy, including extended summer and winter breaks
• Early log-off on Fridays through our Empower Hours program
• 401(k) plan with employer matching
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, plus FSA options
• Paid parental leave benefits
• Commuter benefits
• Annual Growth Mindset stipend for books, events, or learning experiences
• Monthly technology reimbursement