Senior Motion Designer, Brand Studio

About Gusto

At Gusto, we're on a mission to grow the small business economy. We handle the hard stuff—like payroll, health insurance, 401(k)s, and HR—so owners can focus on their craft and customers. With teams in Denver, San Francisco, and New York, we’re proud to support more than 400,000 small businesses across the country, and we’re building a workplace that represents and celebrates the customers we serve. Learn more about our Total Rewards philosophy.

About the Opportunity

Editing and motion are where our stories truly take shape. Pacing, sound, motion, and color aren’t finishing touches—they’re the work. They’re how we earn trust, convey clarity, and make people feel something.

Gusto is expanding our in-house creative studio inside our fast-moving, late-stage startup. We make cinematic brand films, product stories, and customer-driven narratives—and we also partner closely with our social team to bring those stories to life where our audience spends time. It’s common to shift between a polished long-form piece and fast-turn social work in the same week.

We’re looking for a Staff Motion Designer who is a hands-on maker: someone who loves editing and motion design, takes real ownership of the final product, and wants to help shape how video and motion show up across our brand. This is a senior individual contributor role, focused on post-production craft and storytelling.

In this role, you’ll own the motion and edit from rough cut through final delivery. You’ll make judgment calls about pacing, sound, animation, and color. You’ll collaborate closely with other creatives and cross-functional partners on our marketing team to produce great work that defines our brand and that has an impact. And you’ll help us raise the bar while also making the work easier to scale—through better workflows, smarter templates, and mindful use of modern tools.

If you’re energized by being close to the work, care deeply about taste, and enjoy improving both the output and the process, this role will be a top-notch fit.

Here’s what you’ll do day-to-day

Edit brand films, product stories, interviews, explainers, and social-first content

Design motion graphics, typography, transitions, and animation that serve the story—not the other way around

Shape expressive arcs through pacing, sound design, and color

Partner closely with other creatives and cross-functional partners from our marketing, comms and social teams from rough cut through final delivery

Build repeatable templates and workflows that enable faster turnaround without sacrificing quality

Use modern editing and motion tools—including AI-enabled workflows—to explore, iterate, and produce more proficiently

Keep post-production organized and deliver final assets that meet creative and technical standards

Here’s what we’re looking for

8+ years of experience editing and designing motion for brand, film, agency, or content studios

Expert-level fluency in editing and motion tools, with curiosity and judgment around emerging AI-enabled methods

A portfolio that demonstrates robust storytelling, mindful motion design, and range across formats

Sharp instincts for sound design, pacing, color, and transitions

Comfort shifting between polished, narrative-driven work and fast, social-first content

Proficient collaboration skills across creative, production, and marketing partners

A maker mindset—you enjoy improving how work gets made, not just making the work itself

Compensation Details

At Gusto, we strive to provide rewards that empower employees to achieve their financial and personal goals. We offer competitive compensation packages with a strong emphasis on equity based compensation (ownership in Gusto). To learn more about Gusto’s compensation philosophy and benefits offerings please view our Total Rewards Approach page.

Our cash compensation range for this role is $146,000/yr to $183,000/yr in Denver & most remote locations, and $177,000/yr to $222,000/yr in San Francisco, Seattle & New York. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors, including candidate experience and expertise, and may vary from the amounts listed above.

Gusto has physical office spaces in Denver, San Francisco, and New York City. Employees who are based in those locations will be expected to work from the office on designated days approximately 2-3 days per week (or more depending on role). The same office expectations apply to all Symmetry roles, Gusto's subsidiary, whose physical office is in Scottsdale.

Note: The San Francisco office expectations encompass both the San Francisco and San Jose metro areas.

When approved to work from a location other than a Gusto office, a secure, reliable, and consistent internet connection is required. This includes non-office days for hybrid employees.

Our customers come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds, not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it makes our company stronger. If you share our values and our enthusiasm for small businesses, you will find a home at Gusto.

Gusto is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate in hiring or any employment decision based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or other applicable legally protected characteristic. Gusto considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. Gusto is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. We want to see our candidates perform to the best of their ability. If you require a medical or religious accommodation at any time throughout your candidate journey, please fill out this form and a member of our team will get in touch with you.

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