Senior Motion Designer, Android and Pixel UX

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Motion Designer, Android and Pixel UX
Company: Google
Location: Mountain View, California, United States
Job Type: Full-Time
Category: UX/Product Design Operations
Date Posted: October 23, 2025
Experience Level: 5-10 Years
Remote Status: On-site

🚀 Role Summary

• This role focuses on defining and implementing motion design strategies for Google's Android and Pixel UX, directly impacting user experience on billions of devices.
• It involves deep collaboration with cross-functional teams, including Product Managers, UX Designers, and Engineers, to ensure a cohesive and delightful user interface.
• The Senior Motion Designer will be instrumental in establishing and evolving Google's motion design language, emphasizing fluidity, natural interactions, and informative experiences.
• This position requires a strong understanding of animation principles, visual design, and how motion can effectively communicate complex information and enhance user engagement across diverse platforms and device types.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the core function is design, the "operations" aspect comes from the systematic definition, implementation, and auditing of motion design principles and patterns across a vast product ecosystem. This role operationalizes visual storytelling and user interaction through motion.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Motion Design Strategy & Implementation: Define and implement the look and feel of Google products, specifically Android and Pixel UX, through strategic motion design.
• Pattern & Best Practice Development: Create and provide reusable motion design patterns, best practices, and guidance on animations and transitions for a wide range of devices (e.g., TV, tablets, wearables, mobile) and platforms (e.g., web, Android, iOS).
• Project Leadership & Execution: Drive motion design projects from initial concept through iterations to final implementation, ensuring high-quality design proposals and execution.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with product managers, UX designers, and engineers to create motion mockups, prototypes, and define system patterns that significantly enhance the overall Android user experience.
• Quality Assurance & Auditing: Audit the quality of implemented motion design in prototypes and pre-release builds, file bugs, and triage issues to ensure adherence to design standards and optimal user experience.
• Motion Design Language Evolution: Contribute to the definition and evolution of Google's motion design language, ensuring it reinforces the Google UX brand, enhances interactivity, and delights users.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a blend of creative design and systematic operationalization of design principles. The emphasis on defining patterns, providing guidance, and auditing implementation underscores the operational rigor expected of a senior role within a large organization.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

• Minimum: Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience in a relevant field.
• Preferred: Master's degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Science, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Experience:

• Minimum: 6 years of professional motion design experience within product design, UX design, or UX/UI animation contexts.
• Minimum: Demonstrated experience with motion design principles related to physics, patterns, and visual design elements.
• Preferred: 2 years of experience leading design projects.
• Preferred: 3 years of experience working within a cross-functional organization.

Required Skills:

• Motion Design Expertise: Proven ability in creating engaging and effective motion graphics for digital products, with a strong portfolio showcasing this.
• Product & UX Design Acumen: Deep understanding of product design principles and user experience (UX) methodologies, with the ability to translate user needs into compelling motion.
• Animation & Transitions: Proficiency in designing fluid animations, transitions, and micro-interactions that enhance usability and delight users.
• Visual Design Principles: Strong grasp of visual design elements, including typography, color theory, layout, and how they integrate with motion.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Demonstrated ability to work effectively with product managers, UX designers, engineers, and other stakeholders.

Preferred Skills:

• High-Quality Craft Visuals: Experience in producing visually stunning and meticulously crafted design assets.
• AI Familiarity: Understanding of how Artificial Intelligence can influence or be integrated into user experience and motion design.
• Design Project Leadership: Proven track record of leading design initiatives from conception to completion.
• System Design & Pattern Creation: Experience in developing and documenting design systems and reusable patterns.
• Prototyping Tools: Proficiency with industry-standard prototyping and motion design software.

📝 Enhancement Note: The required experience levels and specific skill sets indicate a senior role that goes beyond individual contribution, expecting leadership in defining design systems and collaborating strategically across multiple product teams within Google's extensive ecosystem.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Demonstrated Motion Design Craft: A comprehensive portfolio showcasing a range of motion design projects, highlighting your ability to create fluid, intuitive, and visually appealing animations for digital products.
• Process & Problem-Solving: Include case studies that detail your design process, from initial concept and user research to iteration and final implementation, with a focus on how motion design addressed specific user pain points or business objectives.
• Systematic Approach to Motion: Evidence of experience in defining motion design patterns, guidelines, or contributing to design systems, demonstrating a systematic approach to ensuring consistency and scalability across products.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration Examples: Showcase projects where you collaborated effectively with product managers, UX designers, and engineers, illustrating your ability to integrate motion design seamlessly into the broader product development lifecycle.

Process Documentation:

• Workflow Design & Optimization: Provide examples of how you have designed or optimized workflows for motion design creation, from concepting and storyboarding to asset delivery and implementation feedback.
• Implementation & Automation: Illustrate your understanding of how motion designs are implemented in code (e.g., Lottie, native code) and any experience you have in automating or streamlining the handoff process between design and engineering.
• Measurement & Performance Analysis: Show how you have measured the impact of motion design, whether through user feedback, A/B testing, or qualitative analysis of user interactions, and how this data informed subsequent design iterations.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a senior role at Google, the portfolio is critical. It needs to prove not just creative talent but also a structured, process-oriented approach to motion design that can scale and be integrated into complex product development cycles. Demonstrating an ability to define and operationalize design standards is key.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

• Estimated Range: $151,000 - $222,000 USD per year.
• Explanation: This range is based on the provided US base salary information for this full-time position. Google's compensation structure typically includes base salary, performance-based bonuses, equity awards, and comprehensive benefits. The specific salary within this range will be determined by factors such as the candidate's experience, skills, qualifications, and the exact work location.

Benefits:

• Performance Bonus: Potential for annual bonuses tied to individual and company performance.
• Equity: Stock options or grants as part of the overall compensation package.
• Comprehensive Benefits: Includes health insurance (medical, dental, vision), retirement savings plans (e.g., 401k), paid time off, parental leave, and other wellness programs.
• Professional Development: Opportunities for continued learning, training, and attending industry conferences.
• Employee Perks: Access to various on-site amenities and services typical of Google's campus environments.

Working Hours:

• Standard: The role is full-time, typically requiring approximately 40 hours per week.
• Flexibility: While on-site, Google often offers a degree of flexibility in daily work schedules, allowing for effective management of personal time and work responsibilities, provided project deadlines and team collaboration needs are met.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range provided is a base salary only, excluding bonuses and equity, which are significant components of Google's total compensation for senior roles. The benefits package is also highly competitive and a major draw for candidates.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Technology (Software, Hardware, Internet Services, AI) Company Size: Google is a large, multinational technology corporation with tens of thousands of employees globally. This scale means established processes, extensive resources, and opportunities for impact across a vast user base. Founded: 1998 (Google)

Team Structure:

• Operations Focus: The UX team at Google is a multidisciplinary group comprising UX Designers, Researchers, Writers, Content Strategists, Program Managers, and Engineers. This Senior Motion Designer will be part of the Android and Pixel UX group.
• Reporting Structure: Typically, Senior Designers report to a Design Lead or Manager, who in turn may report to a Director or VP of UX/Product. Collaboration is highly matrixed.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: This role is deeply embedded in cross-functional teams. The Senior Motion Designer will work daily with Product Managers (defining strategy and requirements), UX Designers (shaping overall user flows and interactions), and Engineers (ensuring feasibility and implementation of designs).

Methodology:

• User-Centric Design: Google's core philosophy, "Focus on the user and all else will follow," drives all design decisions. Motion design is seen as a critical tool to enhance this user-centric experience.
• Data-Informed Iteration: While creativity is paramount, motion design proposals and implementations are often informed by user research, A/B testing, and performance data to ensure effectiveness and impact.
• Systematic Pattern Development: A key operational aspect is the creation and maintenance of design patterns and style guides to ensure consistency and efficiency across a wide range of products.

Company Website: https://www.google.com

📝 Enhancement Note: Google's culture emphasizes innovation, data-driven decision-making, and a strong user focus. For a Senior Motion Designer, this translates to opportunities to shape the visual language of products used by billions, within a highly collaborative and technically sophisticated environment.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Senior Motion Designer. This level signifies a high degree of expertise and autonomy. The role is expected to not only execute complex design tasks but also to influence design strategy, mentor junior designers, and contribute to the evolution of design systems and processes. The scope of impact is global, affecting core Google products.

Reporting Structure: The Senior Motion Designer will report to a Design Manager or Lead within the Android and Pixel UX organization. They will work within project-based teams, collaborating extensively with peers in UX Design, Product Management, and Engineering. This matrixed structure is typical for large tech companies, allowing for flexibility and diverse project involvement.

Operations Impact: Motion design at this level directly impacts user engagement, product perception, and the overall usability of Google's flagship products. By creating fluid, natural, and informative interactions, the Senior Motion Designer contributes to user retention, satisfaction, and the reinforcement of the Google brand identity. This operational excellence in motion design translates directly into business success through improved product adoption and user loyalty.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership in Design Systems: Opportunity to lead the evolution of motion design within Google's comprehensive design systems, setting standards and influencing future product development.
• Specialization & Expertise: Deepen expertise in specific areas of motion design, animation physics, or AI-driven design for future specialized roles.
• Mentorship & Team Development: Mentor junior motion designers and UX professionals, contributing to the growth and skill development of the wider design organization.
• Cross-Product Influence: Expand influence to other Google product areas or platforms, leveraging established expertise to drive design innovation across the company.
• Technical Specialization: Develop deeper technical skills in animation implementation, scripting, or exploring new animation technologies.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Senior" title implies a trajectory beyond individual contribution. Growth here involves strategic influence, mentorship, and potentially leadership in defining design operations and best practices for motion across Google's vast product portfolio.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: On-site. Google is known for its vibrant, campus-like work environments designed to foster collaboration, innovation, and employee well-being. Office Location(s): Mountain View, California, USA. This location is Google's headquarters and a hub for many product development teams.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Spaces: The work environment will feature a mix of open collaborative areas, meeting rooms equipped with advanced technology, and potentially dedicated quiet zones for focused work.
• Tools & Technology: Access to state-of-the-art hardware, software licenses (e.g., Adobe Creative Suite, motion design tools like After Effects, prototyping tools), and internal Google design tools and platforms.
• Team Interaction: Frequent opportunities for spontaneous and scheduled interactions with design, product, and engineering teams, encouraging knowledge sharing and rapid problem-solving.

Work Schedule: While a standard 40-hour work week is expected, Google often promotes a culture that balances demanding project timelines with employee well-being. This can include some flexibility in daily hours, with an emphasis on delivering results and meeting project milestones, especially given the on-site requirement for deep collaboration.

📝 Enhancement Note: The on-site requirement for this role is crucial. It signals a need for high-bandwidth, in-person collaboration, essential for complex, multi-disciplinary projects like those at Google's scale.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A recruiter will review your application, focusing on resume and portfolio link.
• Portfolio Review & Technical Interview: Expect a deep dive into your portfolio with design leads or senior designers. This will assess your motion design craft, process, problem-solving skills, and understanding of UX principles. You'll likely be asked to present specific case studies.
• Cross-Functional Interviews: Interviews with Product Managers and Engineers to assess your collaboration style, ability to articulate technical and design concepts, and understanding of product development workflows.
• System Design/Challenge: Potentially a design exercise or case study, either take-home or in-session, to evaluate your approach to a real-world design problem relevant to Android/Pixel UX.
• Behavioral & Cultural Fit Interviews: Assess your alignment with Google's values, your approach to teamwork, leadership potential, and how you handle feedback and ambiguity.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate for Impact: Showcase 3-5 of your strongest, most relevant projects. Prioritize quality over quantity.
• Tell a Story: For each project, clearly articulate the problem, your role, the process you followed, the challenges you faced, your solutions, and the measurable impact of your work. Use visuals, videos, and concise text.
• Highlight Operations: Emphasize how you operationalized design – e.g., creating reusable patterns, contributing to design systems, defining implementation guidelines, or collaborating efficiently with engineering.
• Showcase Craft & Strategy: Balance beautifully executed motion examples with clear explanations of the strategic thinking behind them.
• Provide Context: Clearly state the project goals, target audience, and your specific contributions, especially in team projects.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand Google's UX: Familiarize yourself with the design language and user experience of Android and Pixel products.
• Focus on User Problems: Frame your solutions around user needs and business objectives.
• Articulate Your Process: Be prepared to walk through your design process step-by-step, explaining your decisions and rationale.
• Consider Implementation: Think about the technical feasibility of your design solutions and how they might be implemented by engineers.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process at Google is rigorous and multi-faceted. For a Senior Motion Designer, the portfolio review is paramount, serving as the primary gateway. Demonstrating not just creative output but also a systematic, collaborative, and impact-driven approach is key.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Motion Design Software: Adobe After Effects is a standard. Proficiency with tools like Framer Motion, Principle, or related animation plugins/libraries is highly beneficial.
• Prototyping Tools: Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD. Experience with tools that support advanced prototyping and animation features is expected.
• Design Collaboration: Tools for version control, asset management, and feedback loops within a team context.

Analytics & Reporting:

• User Research Platforms: Familiarity with tools used to gather user feedback and insights.
• A/B Testing Tools: Understanding how to interpret data from experiments to inform design decisions.
• Metrics Dashboards: Ability to understand and potentially contribute to dashboards that track user engagement and product performance.

CRM & Automation:

• Not directly applicable: While not a CRM or automation role traditionally, understanding how design assets integrate into product pipelines and user journeys is important.

📝 Enhancement Note: While specific tool requirements aren't detailed, proficiency in industry-standard motion design and prototyping software is a given. The ability to work with tools that facilitate collaboration and integrate with engineering workflows is crucial for a successful operationalization of design.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• User Focus: All design decisions, including motion, are centered around enhancing the user's experience and understanding.
• Innovation & Boldness: Encouragement to explore new ideas, push creative boundaries, and develop groundbreaking solutions.
• Collaboration & Teamwork: A strong emphasis on working together across disciplines and teams to achieve common goals.
• Data-Driven Decisions: Utilizing data and user insights to inform design choices and measure impact.
• Excellence & Craft: A commitment to high-quality execution and a meticulous approach to design detail.

Collaboration Style:

• Integrated Teams: Motion designers work as integral parts of cross-functional product teams, not as isolated specialists.
• Open Feedback Culture: Designers are encouraged to give and receive constructive feedback regularly to improve designs and processes.
• Knowledge Sharing: Active participation in design critiques, internal presentations, and sharing best practices to elevate the entire team's capabilities.

📝 Enhancement Note: Google's culture values both individual brilliance and collective achievement. For a Senior Motion Designer, this means leveraging personal creative vision while seamlessly integrating into team workflows and contributing to a culture of continuous improvement and user advocacy.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Scaling Motion Design: Ensuring consistent, high-quality motion design across a vast and diverse product ecosystem (Android, Pixel, various devices) while maintaining performance and accessibility.
• Cross-Team Alignment: Effectively communicating and aligning motion design principles and implementations across numerous product teams, each with its own priorities and timelines.
• Balancing Craft and Speed: Delivering polished, impactful motion design within fast-paced product development cycles and iterative processes.
• Defining New Interaction Paradigms: Exploring and defining novel ways motion can enhance user interaction, especially with emerging technologies like AI.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Industry Conferences & Workshops: Opportunities to attend and present at leading design and animation events.
• Internal Training & Guilds: Access to Google's extensive internal learning resources, workshops, and specialized design guilds focused on motion, UX, and AI.
• Mentorship Programs: Opportunities to be mentored by or to mentor other designers, fostering professional and personal growth.
• Exposure to Cutting-Edge Tech: Working with teams at the forefront of AI, machine learning, and new hardware, offering unique challenges and learning experiences.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges are inherent to operating at Google's scale. Overcoming them requires strong process thinking, excellent communication, and a proactive approach to problem-solving, which are key operational skills for a senior role.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Tell me about a time you had to define a new motion design pattern or guideline. What was your process, and how did you ensure adoption across teams?"
  • Preparation: Focus on your systematic approach, user research, stakeholder buy-in, documentation, and follow-up.
• "How do you balance delivering high-quality visual craft with tight project deadlines in a fast-paced environment?"
  • Preparation: Discuss time management, prioritization, efficient workflows, and knowing when to iterate versus finalize.
• "Describe a complex UX problem you solved using motion design. What was the problem, your solution, and the impact?"
  • Preparation: Prepare a detailed case study from your portfolio, emphasizing the problem, your strategic thinking, the motion design execution, and quantifiable results.

Company & Culture Questions:

• "Why Google? And why the Android/Pixel UX team specifically?"
  • Preparation: Research Google's mission, user-centric philosophy, and the impact of Android/Pixel. Connect your passion for motion design to these aspects.
• "How do you approach collaboration with engineers and product managers who may not have a deep understanding of motion design?"
  • Preparation: Emphasize your communication skills, ability to translate technical/design concepts, and your role in educating and aligning stakeholders.
• "How do you measure the success of your motion design work?"
  • Preparation: Discuss qualitative (user feedback, usability testing) and quantitative metrics (engagement, task completion rates, conversion).

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure Your Narrative: For each project, clearly outline: Problem -> Your Role -> Process -> Solution (with motion examples) -> Results -> Learnings.
• Show, Don't Just Tell: Use video clips, interactive prototypes, or GIFs to effectively demonstrate motion.
• Highlight Process: Explain why you made certain design decisions, not just what you did. This shows strategic thinking and operational understanding.
• Quantify Impact: Whenever possible, present data or evidence of how your motion design positively affected user behavior or business goals.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should focus on demonstrating not only creative talent but also strategic thinking, problem-solving skills, and the ability to operate effectively within Google's structured, collaborative, and data-informed environment.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Motion Designer position at Google:

• Submit Your Application: Carefully fill out the online application form through the provided link, ensuring all sections are completed accurately.
• Optimize Your Resume: Tailor your resume to highlight your 6+ years of motion design experience, specific achievements in product/UX design, and any experience with pattern definition or cross-functional collaboration. Use keywords from the job description.
• Prepare Your Portfolio: Ensure your portfolio link is clearly visible and accessible. Curate your strongest, most relevant work, focusing on case studies that demonstrate your process, problem-solving skills, and the operational aspects of your design work (e.g., system contributions, collaboration).
• Practice Your Presentation: Rehearse presenting your portfolio projects, focusing on clear storytelling, strategic rationale, and demonstrating the impact of your motion design. Be ready to discuss your process and collaboration experiences.
• Research Google's UX: Familiarize yourself with the design language, user experience, and current product offerings of Android and Pixel. Understand Google's core user-centric philosophy.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.

---