Lead Motion Designer

ABOUT US!

At Sourcing Unicorns, we recruit globally across the creative and experiential industry, always on the lookout for exceptional talent to bring bold ideas to life. For this opportunity, we’re proud to collaborate with the team at …. to find the unicorn, the one who will truly make a difference. Together, we ensure a smooth and human-centered hiring experience that reflects the studio’s vision.

About Fivestone!

Fivestone Studios is a Nashville-based creative media agency that an international clientele trust as their creative secret weapon. Our MO is taking on giants and making heroes of our clients through an impressive arsenal of strategy, design, digital media production & interactive technology capabilities.

Our primary goal at Fivestone Studios is to make a space for creative warriors to grow, thrive and take on their own giants. We use our Five Stones as our lens for success and our foundation for a healthy culture: honor, bravery, vision, generosity and excellence. If you have a passion for teamwork, are willing to leave your ego at the door, and have a strong drive for creative excellence, we would love to talk.

Role Summary

Location: Preferred in European time zone but US / Canada / LATAM also works
Reports to: Animation Director / Creative Leadership
Works closely with: Creative Directors, Experience Designers, Producers, Technical Directors

The Lead Motion Designer is a world-class visual craft leader responsible for defining the look and visual direction of immersive content across 2D, 3D, motion, and real-time media.

This person is equally comfortable on the box — producing stunning styleframes, motion studies, and look-dev — as they are leading distributed teams of designers, animators, and boutique studios.

Their primary purpose is to scale the Animation Director by owning the creation of visual concepts, toolkits, and aesthetic systems that can be executed by global artist teams. They bring creative strategy and mood boards to life through highly refined visuals that set the tone for production.

Key Responsibilities

Visual Direction & Concept Development

• Create best-in-class styleframes, motion explorations, and visual directions across a variety of media

• Define aesthetic systems including color palettes, lighting direction, composition, motion language, and rendering approaches

• Translate strategy documents, briefs, and mood boards into comprehensive visual concepts

• Develop toolkits, look libraries, and visual guidelines that maintain consistency throughout production

Team Leadership & Scaling the Animation Function

• Lead and direct nearshore / offshore artists and boutique studios, ensuring alignment with the established visual vision

• Provide actionable, detailed feedback to maintain quality and consistency across deliverables

• Oversee visual outputs from distributed teams and ensure they meet craft and creative standards

• Collaborate closely with the Animation Director to uphold and advance the studio’s visual bar

Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration

• Partner with Creative Directors, Experience Designers, Producers, and Technical Directors to align visual design with narrative, interaction, and technical feasibility

• Support pitches and new business initiatives through high-impact visual exploration and look-dev imagery

• Ensure visual direction translates effectively into real-time engines, large-format canvases, and immersive spaces

What We’re Looking For

Experience

• 7+ years of professional experience in visual design, art direction, motion design, or animation for immersive content or digital experiences

• Demonstrated experience leading or directing distributed creative teams and vendor studios

• Proven ability to define a visual look and successfully lead its execution end-to-end

Core Capabilities

• Mastery of motion design principles, lighting, composition, and storytelling through imagery

• Strong ability to create styleframes, look-dev, and high-fidelity visual systems

• Confidence balancing hands-on craft with leadership and feedback responsibilities

• Ability to translate abstract strategy into tangible visual outcomes

Technical Proficiency

• Advanced expertise in tools such as Houdini, After Effects, Cinema 4D, Blender, Redshift / Octane, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Figma

• Experience with real-time look development tools such as Unreal, Unity, TouchDesigner, or Notch is a strong plus

• Familiarity with AI-assisted workflows or generative design tools is a bonus

Industry & Collaboration Strengths

• Background in experiential, themed entertainment, museum media, or large-scale installations is highly valued

• Strong communication skills and the ability to articulate visual intent clearly to both creative and technical stakeholders

• Highly organized, adaptable, and capable of maintaining excellence across multiple concurrent projects

Thank you for applying. We’re committed to an inclusive process and we welcome talent from all walks of life. We aim to review every application. Roles in experiential can be ultra-specialized, if it’s not a fit for this one, we may still flag your profile for future opportunities. Thanks for helping grow the Sourcing Unicorns talent ecosystem.