Senior Graphic Designer w/ Motion
Senior Graphic Designer (Motion Potential a Plus) — Creative Studio (AU-based, fully remote)
Job Title: Senior Graphic Designer — with motion potential Hours: Full-time, 40 hrs/week (open to part-time, 25–30 hrs/week, for the right person) Schedule: Australian business hours overlap required (At least 5–6 hours of daily overlap with AEST is essential — you'll be reviewing work directly with our onshore creative directors. Type: Long-term, direct hire. We want someone who stays for years and grows with us. Salary: USD $2,150–$3,950, depending on experience and the strength of your portfolio. Top of range available for proven senior designers with strong type, system thinking, AI-augmented output, and demonstrable motion ability or potential.
Important: This is a senior creative role. We are not hiring junior designers, Canva-only generalists, or template adapters. If your portfolio doesn't show original brand systems, considered typography, and real layout sensibility, this role isn't right for you yet — and that's okay.
A note on motion: Your primary craft is graphic design — brand, identity, layout, campaign. But part of this role's growth path is motion. We don't expect you to be a senior motion designer on day one. We do expect you to either already have basic motion ability (After Effects, Lottie, simple animation) or be hungry to grow into it fast — and to show us proof you can. We'll invest in your growth here. AI-driven motion tools (Runway, Veo, Sora, Kling, Cavalry) are part of how we'll get there.
About Us
We are Nice Wolf, a creative studio based in Australia. We have three businesses under one roof:
Nice Wolf Studio — brand, campaign, content, and design work for clients who want their work to actually land.
Human Terrain — film and photo production for cinematic, considered creative.
Journey Maker (Digital Locals) — an AI-powered concierge product for hotels and their guests.
Our team has decades of award-winning experience working on global brands. Our onshore creative directors are world-class — they've shipped work you've seen, for clients you'd recognise. We're looking for one senior designer to work directly alongside them, taking projects from raw idea to finished system across brand and campaign work.
We move fast, we hold a high bar, and we use modern AI tooling aggressively to scale our output without dropping quality. We're not interested in designers who are scared of AI, and we're not interested in designers who think AI replaces craft. We want someone who uses both.
The Role
You will be the senior graphic design hand at the studio — embedded with our onshore creative director, leading execution across:
Brand systems — building from the ground up. Logos, marks, type systems, colour, grid systems, and the rules that hold them together.
Campaign and content design — print, digital, OOH, social — with consistency across the full system.
Editorial and layout — long-form documents, decks, brochures, lookbooks, pitch documents.
Design system thinking — building scalable component libraries, brand kits, and templates that let the whole team move faster without going off-brand.
Motion (now or growing into it) — bringing identities and campaigns to life through animation. AI-driven motion tools are part of how we scale this; we'll support you in growing this side of your craft.
AI-augmented production — using the latest generative tools to scale ideation, mood, and output. We'll teach you our stack; you'll bring your own.
You will work directly with our creative director on the toughest, most ambitious work, and own end-to-end execution on more straightforward projects yourself. You'll occasionally jump into Canva to crank out variants or templates for the broader team — not because that's the level of the role, but because senior designers in small studios stay close to the production floor.
This is not a Canva designer role. But you should be happy to work in Canva when the job calls for it. The same way a senior chef will still slice an onion when the kitchen needs it.
What You'll Do
Design brand systems from scratch — identity, type, colour, grid, application, guidelines.
Develop visual identities into full campaigns across print, digital, social, and editorial.
Lead typography and layout decisions across long-form documents, decks, and brochures.
Build and maintain design systems, component libraries, and brand kits in Figma and Canva so the whole studio benefits from your structure.
Animate — at whatever level you're at today, with the support to grow. Whether that's logo reveals, simple identity loops, social cuts, or more ambitious motion work, you'll be encouraged to push your motion craft. AI-driven tools (Runway, Veo, Sora, Kling, Cavalry, Lottie) will be part of your kit.
Use AI tools (Midjourney, Firefly, Krea, Topaz, Claude, Runway, Veo, etc.) to scale your output — generating moodboards, references, base assets, motion clips, and ideation faster than humanly possible alone. We expect you to push these tools further than most people do.
Collaborate directly with our creative director and the broader team. Take direction. Push back when you disagree. Bring your own opinion.
Review work from junior creators and AI-generated output. You're a quality gate.
Help shape how we work — propose new tools, new workflows, new ways to scale output without dropping the bar.
Required Skills (Must Have)
You must have all of these. Please do not apply if you do not.
A senior-level portfolio. We need to see real, original brand systems, real type and layout sensibility, and considered campaign work. If your folio is mostly Canva templates, social tiles, and minor adaptations, this is not the role for you yet.
Strong fundamentals. Typography. Composition. Colour. Hierarchy. The non-negotiables. We can tell within 30 seconds of looking at your portfolio whether you have these.
Brand identity experience. You have built brands from the ground up — not just laid out other people's brands. We want to see the marks, the systems, and the thinking behind them.
Strong typographic sensibility. Pairing, scale, hierarchy, kerning. You sweat the details. You know when type is set well and when it isn't.
Layout and editorial chops. You can take a long-form document, a deck, or a campaign system and make it sing. Grid, rhythm, hierarchy.
Figma fluency. Components, variants, auto layout, design tokens. You build organised files that other people can pick up.
Canva willingness. You don't have to love it, but you have to be willing to use it. Our broader team works in Canva, and you'll occasionally produce templates, decks, and variants there.
AI tool fluency. You actively use generative AI tools in your workflow — Midjourney, Firefly, Krea, Topaz, or similar. You can show us how you've used them on real projects, not just experimentally.
Design system thinking. You don't just make one-off assets — you build the system that lets the next ten assets ship faster.
A creative opinion. You are not a robot. You have a point of view. You can defend it, refine it, or change it when you're convinced — but you have one. Designers without opinions don't survive here.
Comfort with feedback and collaboration. You'll work directly with senior creative directors. You should welcome sharp feedback, give sharp feedback in return, and push the work forward without ego.
Strong English, written and spoken. You'll be reviewing work on Zoom with creative directors and occasionally clients.
Motion Track — Required at Some Level
You need to land somewhere on this spectrum. The further along you are, the higher in the salary band you'll sit:
Already capable: You have shipped real motion work — logo animations, social cuts, identity systems with motion, explainers, or short branded animations. After Effects fluent. Bonus for Cavalry, Cinema 4D, Blender, or Lottie.
Capable basics + hungry: You can do basic motion (simple After Effects, animated logos, Lottie exports, or Canva/Figma motion) and you've actively been growing this side of your craft. You can show us proof — even small experiments, AI-driven motion tests, or self-initiated practice.
Strong fundamentals + serious intent: You don't have shipped motion work yet, but you've been experimenting with AI motion tools (Runway, Veo, Kling, Sora) or learning After Effects on your own. You have a clear plan to grow this skill and you can demonstrate self-direction. This option is the bottom of the salary band — you'll grow into the higher tiers as your motion work develops.
If motion holds zero interest for you, this isn't the right role.
Nice to Have (Bonus Points)
Strong existing motion graphics experience (After Effects, Cavalry, Cinema 4D, Blender, Lottie).
3D and CGI work (Cinema 4D, Blender, Octane, Redshift).
Editorial and print design experience (real print, not just print mockups).
Type design or custom letterform experience.
Experience working remotely with international (especially AU, US, or UK) creative teams.
Hospitality, travel, or luxury brand experience (helpful for Journey Maker).
Experience working with creative agencies or in-house brand teams at a senior level.
Experience training or mentoring other designers.
Experience designing for film, photo, or content production (titles, posters, supers, lower thirds).
Our Tech Stack
These are the tools we work with daily. Strong existing experience with the design tools is essentially required at this level. Experience with the operational tools is a plus; we can teach you those.
Design (you should be strong in most of these):
Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign)
Figma (advanced — components, variants, design tokens)
Canva (for fast adaptations and team templates)
Motion (current ability or active learning required):
After Effects (basic to advanced — depending on where you sit on the motion spectrum above)
Lottie / Bodymovin for web-friendly motion
Cavalry, Cinema 4D, or Blender — bonus
AI-driven motion tools (Runway, Veo, Sora, Kling) — willingness to use these is essential
AI tooling (we expect fluency in some, willingness to learn the rest):
Midjourney, Firefly, Krea
Runway, Veo, Sora, Kling (for motion and video)
Topaz (upscaling and enhancement)
Claude / ChatGPT (for ideation, writing, and AI-assisted production)
Studio operations (you'll pick these up):
Notion (our entire operating system)
Slack, Google Workspace, StoryChief
Who You Are
You are a senior brand and graphic designer with real range. You move from logo to layout to campaign without losing the thread.
You have taste. You can articulate why something works, not just feel it.
You have opinions. You'll tell us when an idea isn't strong enough. You'll defend your own work and revise it when the argument is good.
You are systems-minded. You build tools and templates that make the next person's work easier.
You are fast and ambitious with AI. You see it as leverage, not as a threat. You'll push our AI workflows further than they are today.
You are calm and collaborative. You work well with senior creatives. You don't need to be the loudest voice in the room to have impact.
You are proud of your craft. You sweat the kerning. You notice the rounded corner that doesn't match the system. You care.
Who You Are NOT
To save us both time, please do not apply if:
Your portfolio is mostly Canva templates, basic social tiles, or copies of other people's brand work.
You are a junior or mid-weight designer hoping this will be a stretch role. It's not.
You have zero interest in motion. Even if you're not strong at it today, you need to want to grow there.
You are uncomfortable with AI tools, or you think they're "cheating."
You can't speak confidently in English on a Zoom call.
You consider yourself a creative director rather than a hands-on designer. This is a hands-on senior role.
You can't take feedback without taking it personally.
How to Apply
We will only consider applications that follow these instructions exactly. This is your first test of attention to detail — and senior designers, of all people, should have it.
Send your application with the following, in this order:
1. Subject line: Senior Graphic Designer — [Your Full Name]
2. A short note (under 200 words). Why does this role interest you? What about Nice Wolf, Human Terrain, or Journey Maker caught your eye? Be specific. We will not read generic AI-generated cover letters — and we can spot them instantly.
3. Your portfolio. This is the most important part of your application. Send a link (Behance, Dribbble, personal site, Notion, or a PDF — we don't care about the format, only the work).
Inside your portfolio, please make sure we can see:
At least one full brand identity you built from the ground up (logo, type, colour, applications)
At least one editorial or campaign piece that shows your layout and typographic sensibility
One example of design system or template work — Figma library, brand kit, component system, or similar
One motion piece or motion experiment — at any level. If you have shipped motion work, show us. If you're learning, show us a self-initiated test, an AI-driven motion piece, or even a 5-second logo animation. We want to see where you are today.
One example of AI-augmented work — show us where AI fitted into your process and what it produced
4. Your CV or LinkedIn URL.
5. A 60–90 second Loom video introducing yourself. Tell us:
Your name and where you are based
The most ambitious creative project you've worked on and what your role was
One AI tool you use in your work and how you use it
Where you sit on the motion spectrum today, and where you want to be in 12 months
One creative opinion you hold strongly (we want to see if you have one)
Do not script it. We want to see how you think on your feet.
6. The word "DEN" somewhere in your application. This is how we know you read this job ad properly.
7. Your expected monthly salary in PHP and your earliest start date.
What Happens Next
We review every application that follows the instructions above. Applications that skip steps will not be reviewed.
Shortlisted candidates get a paid design test (4–8 hours, paid at your full rate). The brief will be a real-world creative challenge — brand fragment, layout exercise, or campaign system.
Strong candidates from the test will be invited to a 45-minute video interview with the founder and one of our creative directors.
Final decision within 2–3 weeks of application.
We are looking for one excellent person. Take your time with your application — we will take ours reading it.
Apply via https://www.linkedin.com/company/nicewolfco/ We do not respond to messages on other platforms.
