Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Motion Graphics and Video Editor

🎯 Role Definition

The Motion Graphics and Video Editor is responsible for conceptualizing, designing, animating and editing visual content that communicates brand messages and supports marketing, editorial and product goals. This role blends motion design, video editing, compositing, and delivery pipeline management to produce broadcast-quality spots, social-first assets, explainers, UI demos, and long-form video. The ideal candidate translates briefs and scripts into polished motion pieces, iterates quickly with stakeholders, manages post-production workflows, and ensures technical delivery across platforms.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Junior Motion Graphics Designer / Video Editor
Multimedia Designer or Content Producer
Broadcast Editor or Video Production Assistant

Advancement To:

Senior Motion Graphics Designer / Lead Video Editor
Post Production Supervisor or Head of Video
Creative Director or Content Studio Director

Lateral Moves:

UI/UX Motion Designer
Visual Effects (VFX) Artist
Content Strategy or Social Video Lead

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead the end-to-end production of motion graphics and video projects: conceptualize, storyboard, animate, edit, color grade, mix audio, and export final deliverables optimized for broadcast, web, and social platforms while ensuring brand consistency and narrative clarity.
Translate creative briefs, scripts and storyboards into detailed animatics and motion design concepts that align with campaign objectives, audience insights, and key performance indicators.
Design and animate original 2D and 3D motion graphics assets — including character animation, kinetic typography, infographics, and UI/UX motion — using After Effects, Cinema 4D, Blender or similar tools to achieve a high-quality visual language.
Edit multi-camera and single-camera footage in Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro or Avid, shaping pacing, rhythm and continuity to deliver emotionally resonant and on-message stories.
Create polished visual effects and composites using advanced keying, rotoscoping, tracking, and particle systems to seamlessly integrate live-action footage with motion elements.
Manage color grading and correction workflows in DaVinci Resolve or Lumetri to achieve consistent tone and broadcast-level color accuracy across all outputs.
Prepare and transcode master files into multiple codecs, aspect ratios and resolutions, handling platform-specific requirements for YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, connected TV and broadcast delivery.
Build and maintain reusable After Effects templates, motion libraries, and project presets to scale production efficiency for rapid campaign turnarounds.
Collaborate directly with creative directors, producers, copywriters, designers and marketing stakeholders to iterate concepts, incorporate feedback, and meet brand and legal requirements.
Oversee audio post-production including dialogue cleanup, sound design, Foley integration and final mastering to broadcast standards; coordinate with audio engineers when needed.
Implement and enforce file-naming conventions, version control, and archival workflows in cloud or local asset management systems to ensure reproducibility and disaster recovery.
Optimize motion and video content for discoverability and engagement by applying metadata best practices, closed captions, thumbnails, and platform-specific formatting to improve reach and accessibility.
Troubleshoot technical issues in post workflows, plugins, codecs, and rendering pipelines, and recommend hardware/software upgrades that improve throughput and reliability.
Drive creative problem solving for complex sequences by developing proof-of-concepts, animatics, and pitch reels to secure stakeholder approval and streamline production decisions.
Produce on-brand motion templates and toolkits for in-house teams and external agencies to maintain consistency across campaigns and product launches.
Lead or mentor junior editors and motion designers, providing feedback on animation principles, editing techniques, file organization and career development.
Coordinate with external vendors, production houses and freelancers to scale capacity for larger shoots, VFX-heavy sequences, or specialized animation needs.
Ensure compliance with broadcast standards, legal clearances (music, stock footage) and internal approval pipelines prior to publishing or delivery.
Maintain up-to-date knowledge of motion trends, emerging formats, and new tools; experiment with AR/VR, interactive motion, and real-time engines (e.g., Unreal Engine) to expand creative possibilities.
Manage project schedules, prioritize tasks across multiple simultaneous projects, and consistently meet deadlines while balancing creative quality and production constraints.
Produce vertical and short-form adaptations of long-form pieces tailored for social-first consumption, A/B testing variants for performance optimization, and iterate based on analytics feedback.
Create clear technical documentation and runbooks for encoding settings, preset exports and delivery checklists to reduce errors in final deliverables.

Secondary Functions

Support cross-functional teams by providing video expertise for product demos, campaign launches, internal communications and event presentations.
Participate in creative kickoffs and pre-production meetings to advise on shoot requirements, lighting, framing and on-set motion reference to minimize reshoots in post.
Contribute to the team’s creative strategy by researching competitive content, trending visual formats and audience behavior to propose high-impact content experiments.
Assist marketing and social teams with rapid-turnaround edits for live events, recaps and performance-driven ads during high-volume periods.
Maintain and curate the archive of approved assets, source files and brand elements to ensure quick retrieval and legal compliance.
Provide training sessions and asset handoffs for cross-department users to enable non-editors to leverage motion templates responsibly.
Help estimate production budgets and resource needs for motion projects, including software licensing, stock purchases and freelance support.
Coordinate quality control (QC) checks and final sign-offs prior to upload or broadcast to prevent technical or content errors.
Contribute to accessibility initiatives by creating closed captioning workflows and ensuring visual content adheres to accessibility guidelines.
Actively participate in post-mortem reviews to capture lessons learned, refine processes, and continuously improve delivery pipelines and creative outcomes.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Advanced proficiency in Adobe After Effects (expressions, scripting, advanced keyframe workflows) for motion graphics creation and compositing.
Expert-level video editing in Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro X or Avid Media Composer with strong timeline management, multicam editing and proxy workflows.
3D modeling/animation and rendering experience with Cinema 4D, Blender, or Maya for motion-centric 3D assets and scenes.
Compositing and VFX skills using After Effects, Nuke or similar tools including keying, tracking, rotoscoping, and particle systems.
Color grading expertise in DaVinci Resolve or Lumetri, with knowledge of color spaces (Rec.709, P3) and broadcast-safe practices.
Sound design and audio post-production skills: cleaning, equalization, mastering and integration of licensed music and SFX.
Knowledge of video codecs, container formats, bitrate management and platform-specific delivery requirements (H.264, H.265, ProRes, DNxHD).
Experience building reusable templates, motion libraries, and project automation scripts to scale production.
Familiarity with project management and collaboration tools such as Asana, Slack, Frame.io, Wipster, or ShotGrid for review and approvals.
Strong file management, version control, and backup strategies across local and cloud-based storage.
Working knowledge of typography, layout, and visual hierarchy for motion — fluency with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop for asset creation.
Basic understanding of real-time engines (Unreal, Unity) or web animation (Lottie, Bodymovin, CSS/JS) is a plus for interactive motion projects.
Ability to prepare accessibility assets (captions, transcripts) and optimize for SEO and discoverability across video platforms.

Soft Skills

Strong visual storytelling and creative problem-solving with an eye for pacing, rhythm, and emotional impact.
Excellent communication and collaboration skills to synthesize feedback from creative leads, clients and cross-functional teams.
Time management and prioritization: reliable delivery on tight deadlines and ability to manage multiple concurrent projects.
Attention to detail and a methodical approach to QC, ensuring technical and brand standards are consistently met.
Adaptability and willingness to learn new tools, pipelines and formats as production needs evolve.
Constructive leadership and mentorship for junior team members, with a focus on scalable workflows and knowledge sharing.
Client-facing professionalism and the ability to present creative concepts and technical choices persuasively.
Proactive attitude toward process improvement, documentation, and maintaining a high-quality production environment.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Associate's degree or equivalent experience in Film Production, Motion Graphics, Animation, Digital Media, Graphic Design or a related field.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor's degree in Film/Video Production, Animation, Graphic Design, Multimedia Arts, Communication, or comparable discipline.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Film & Video Production
Motion Graphics / Animation
Graphic Design / Visual Communication
Digital Media / Multimedia Arts
Interactive Media / Computer Graphics

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3–7 years of professional experience in motion graphics, video editing, or post-production roles; portfolio required.

Preferred: 5+ years with demonstrable experience producing high-volume multi-format content for brand marketing, broadcast, or large-scale digital product teams, plus examples of both long-form and short-form work, motion templates and complex compositing.